New Delhi/Islamabad, Sep 21 (Inditop.com) With Islamabad arresting suspected Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York Sep 27 to review Pakistan’s action against the 26/11 terrorists.
The foreign ministers’ meeting will be preceded by talks between India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New York Sep 26 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
“The foreign secretaries meeting is being held in accordance with the decisions made during the talks between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India at Sharm-el-Sheikh in July,” Bashir said in Islamabad.
“The foreign ministers will meet to discuss the agenda prepared by the two foreign secretaries,” he said.
“The meetings between the foreign secretaries and foreign ministers of Pakistan and India in New York are the follow-up of the summit meeting held in Sharm-el-Sheikh,” he said.
Bashir said, “All the issues between the two countries, including terrorism and the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, will be discussed in these meetings.”
But India wants the talks to focus on an issue it considers central to its relations with Pakistan: an end to cross-border terrorism and justice for the 26/11 carnage that was perpetrated by Pakistan-based militants.
After six dossiers India gave and months of pressure from New Delhi and Washington, the Pakistani police Monday put Saeed under house arrest with a posse of police personnel ringing his residence in Lahore. The police have also barred Saeed from leading Eid prayers on grounds of “security concerns”.
But India is not entirely convinced.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram Monday demanded that Saeed be interrogated as all evidence against him was “on Pakistani soil”.
“Even if it is a face saving technique, I have no objection. My demand is that now that he has been arrested, he should be interrogated for his role in the 26/11 incidents,” Chidambaram told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Chennai.
“Evidence is on Pakistani soil. When Pakistan says ‘give us evidence’, evidence is not on Indian soil. All the evidence against Hafiz Saeed is on Pakistani soil,” the home minister said.
“Therefore, one must investigate in Pakistan and find the evidence in Pakistan,” Chidambaram said while referring to Islamabad’s contention that the evidence provided by New Delhi against the JuD chief was not adequate for arresting or prosecuting him.
In a recent interview, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan also questioned the credibility of the FIRs (first information reports) Pakistan police had filed against Saeed and stressed that these did not add any credibility to Pakistan’s commitment to act.
The meeting between the two foreign ministers, the first high-level contact between the two countries after the meeting between their prime ministers in July, will be keenly watched for any sign that may indicate the resumption of stalled comprehensive dialogue between the two countries.
But the meeting, say reliable sources, is unlikely to produce any breakthrough as there is growing perception in India that Pakistan has done little to bring 26/11 attackers to justice after the Sharm-el-Sheikh meeting.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao Saturday made it clear that the resumption of dialogue, stalled after 26/11 attacks, is contingent on Islamabad tackling cross-border terror “squarely”.
“The dialogue process is contingent on creating an atmosphere free from violence. The first step we need to take is to squarely address the issue of terrorism,” she stressed.
