Islamabad/New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that all matters will be on the table during his meeting with his Indian counterpart P. Chidambaram in Islamabad Saturday, even as the latter will press for a speedy trial of the Pakistanis accused of planning the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
‘We want to bring every matter which has been creating irritation (in relations),’ Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
Chidambaram will represent India at a meeting of the home ministers of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Islamabad Saturday.
He will also hold a bilateral meeting with Rehman Malik.
‘As regards bilateral meeting, they must have brought their agenda. We are also bringing our agenda,’ Malik said.
He added that all issues will be ‘on the table in a transparent and very responsible manner’.
Welcoming the ‘Indian guests’, Malik even seemed to take a dig at Chidambaram. ‘Mr. Chidambaram and I have had indirect conversations…. dossiers have been coming and going,’ said Malik.
Last week, India gave a dossier containing specific sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed is wanted in India. In the past, Pakistan had cited legal difficulties in prosecuting Saeed. So far, India has sent 11 dossiers to Pakistan.
Although terrorism figured prominently in the discussions between India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad Thursday, Chidambaram will take up the issue in greater detail with Malik.
Chidambaram is expected to press for concrete action against Saeed, who suspected by India to be the mastermind of the Mumbai carnage.
Chidambaram will also seek to know from his counterpart the status of the trial of seven Pakistanis involved in the Mumbai carnage and voice samples of the handlers of the 26/11 attack, official sources in New Delhi said.
