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| Pak not acting against 26/11 attackers: Chidambaram |
| Lalit K Jha/ PTI / Washington Sep 11, 2009, 11:46 IST |
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Voicing India's disappointment over Pakistan not prosecuting perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, Home Minister P Chidambaram today made it known to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it expects tangible action on the terror issue.
Wrapping up his four-day visit, Chidambaram who met Clinton and other top officials, said he had told them about Hafeez Sayeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and mastermind of the 26/11 attacks, roaming free despite evidence provided by India which has handed over six dossiers.
"I think, the US understands the difference between the way India's approach to post 26-11 situation and the way Pakistan approached post-26/11 situation. It is enough to draw attention to the difference and leave it there," he said when asked if the US is exerting enough pressure on Pakistan to take action against terrorists targeting India from its soil.
The Home Minister said he had not asked specifically to "push for this and to push for that" during his interaction with the Indian media here to a question if he had sought US assistance to ensure that Pakistan takes action against perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.
"I did brief them on the State of the trial of Ajmal Kasab (the lone surviving Mumbai attack terrorist) in India and I also did mention about no progress in Pakistan in respect of the five or six people they have arrested. And Hafeez Sayeed (LeT founder) remains a free man. I think that is enough. They know to draw the lessons from that statement," he said.
Responding to a question, Chidambaram said the next level of Indo-US relationship does not mean "leaning on" Pakistan. "Next level means many things. The next level means working together on security related matters."
During his parleys, the minister also stated that the security threats emanating from Pakistan soil have not diminished. He also stated that there has been an increase in infiltrationb from the Pakistan side.
"We make estimates based upon human intelligence and technical intelligence. The numbers are now ruiing at about 50 to 60 a month. And the number of people we apprehend is also very high. So, our assessment is that the level of infiltration has increased since the month of May, 2009", he said.
The Obama Administration has come out in support of India's stand on pre-conditions for talks with Pakistan.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said the progress made by Pakistan in bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice and stopping cross border infiltration would lay the basis of resumption of talks between the two south Asian neighbours.
"The progress is needed first to bring the Mumbai suspects, who are already in custody to trial, to prosecute them and also to stop cross border infiltration so that there is not another attack such as what happened in Mumbai," he said.
Chidambaram said that he has not submitted any dossier on Mumbai terrorist attacks to the US authorities during his trip to Washington this time.
"Even when we planned this trip in January, there was no plan to handover the dossier. The dossier has already been shared with many countries including the US," he said.
Countries whose citizens or nationals have been killed in the Mumbai terrorist attack have been shared with the dossier.
"I think there was a bit of a misrepresentation by a section of the media that I was handing over a dossier. Dossier has already been shared. Even now there was no dossier to hand over. Even the sixth dossier has been shared with 16 countries including the US," he said.
The said described as "very fruitful" his intensive interaction with the top US officials.
"We had very fruitful discussions. I am very pleased with the level of interest shown by the officials and leaders of the US Administration as well as the very positive attitude they take to the security issues that confront India," he said.
"The response has been quite positive and I hope we can take this forward in the days and months ahead," he said.
Besides Clinton, Chidambaram met National Security Advisor James Jones, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and US Attorney General Eric H Holder Jr Early.
He also met several key US lawmakers in charge of security and intelligence matters in the Congress.
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