New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) India and Pakistan are on a “promising trajectory” in their bilateral relations but both sides are aware that much more needs to be done as the way ahead is “not easy”, Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said here Thursday on day two of talks with his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani.
“We are on a promising trajectory in our bilateral relations,” Mathai said at a joint press conference with Jilani here.
“At the culmination of our second round of our resumed dialogue, we are cognizant that much more needs to be done…the path ahead is not easy,” Mathai said.
“We have decided to sit across the table and talk,” he added.
The talks that began Wednesday were held against the backdrop of the interrogation of 26/11 plotter Abu Jindal Hamza and his confession that the terror attack was controlled from Pakistan.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday said the interrogation of Jindal, who was arrested here July 21, had confirmed that the Mumbai terror attack was being controlled from Pakistan.
“We now know how the control room functioned. So, I think the dots are being connected. It is no longer possible for anyone to deny that the incident happened in Mumbai but the control of the incident, before and during the incident, was in Pakistan,” Chidamabram said.
The interrogation of Jindal, alias Syed Zabiuddin, showed how the control room of the Mumbai terror attack in Karachi functioned, the minister said.
India, however, did not hand over a dossier on Abu Jindal to Pakistan at the foreign secretary level talks as it was felt that doing so at this stage will hinder the probe.
Jindal has confessed to being in the control room in Karachi directing the 10 terrorists who launched their carnage in Mumbai, killing 166 people and injuring 238 people.
