New Delhi, Dec 26 (Inditop) Intensifying its diplomatic offensive, India has made it clear to the US and Iran as well as Pakistan’s key allies, China and Saudi Arabia, that they need to do more to use their clout to pressurize Pakistan into acting against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Thursday night and conveyed New Delhi’s growing impatience with Pakistan’s denial and diversionary tactics.
Mukherjee also asked his interlocutors to use their considerable clout to compel Pakistan to eliminate the infrastructure of terrorism which is a threat not only to India but the world, reliable sources said.
He also impressed upon them the need for intensified international efforts to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai mayhem to justice.
Condemning the attacks, Yang agreed that the perpetrators should be punished and praised India for its “restraint and steadfastness” amid this provocative situation.
Rice assured India that the US has not relented in its efforts to persuade Pakistan to dismantle terror camps in that country.
Mukherjee conveyed a pointed message to the visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal Friday and reminded Riyadh of many levers it has to call Pakistan to account over the use of its territory as a launching pad for terror attacks against India.
Mukherjee shared evidence of the complicity of elements in Pakistan in the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks and “communicated the sense of outrage among the people of India at the audacious and meticulously planned attack mounted by elements based in Pakistan”.
“Terrorism is a cancer, we need to cut it out and destroy completely so that tragedies like Mumbai are not repeated again,” said the Saudi foreign minister, while proposing to the United Nations to set up a special international body to jointly fight the menace of terrorism.
Underlining that terrorism was “not an issue between India and Pakistan but a global problem,” Mukherjee called for “joint action by all countries”, to tackle the menace without further delay and with transparency.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also rang up Mukherjee Friday and conveyed Tehran’s support to New Delhi against terrorism in the region.
Mottaki also assured New Delhi that Iran, an influential player in the region, will ask the powers-that-be in Islamabad to intensify its efforts to crack down on terror outfits.
Mottaki’s telephone call comes days after Iran’s deputy foreign minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzadeh visited New Delhi with a message of solidarity from the Iranian president.
