Pak cooperation in Mumbai attack case lacking: Tharoor

On eve of the first anniversary of the horrific terror attack in Mumbai, the government today said cooperation from Pakistan was lacking in bringing the perpetrators of the strikes to justice.

Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, said, "Terrorism is a principal preoccupation in most of our international contacts. We seek to ensure that all countries show us support in the actions we need to undertake and they cooperate with us.

"Obviously, we have had some difficulties in finding our neighbour, Pakistan, providing the necessary cooperation in bringing the perpetrators, of what happened last year, to justice in arresting, prosecuting and punishing those trained, financed and equipped to launch terrorist attacks in our country," he said.

The minister said India has been raising this issue with the "government of Pakistan and other friendly governments including governments friendly to Pakistan." Tharoor was replying to supplementaries relating to recent attacks on Indian embassy in Kabul.

He said the government has taken steps to provide the best possible security to the Indian Mission and its four consulates in Afghanistan. "Wherever necessary, we shall provide our own security to our civilians working in various development projects and to officials in the embassy," he said.

The government has also taken up the issue with Afghanistan, Tharoor said and added that the authorities there have put in place appropriate safety and security measures for protection of the Indian embassy and its personnel.

On the question of India's stand on military support by the US to Afghanistan, the Minister said India had no military role in Afghanistan other than to protect its personnel of the Border Road Organisation and small projects. "Nevertheless, our interest is certainly in ensuring that pressure on Afghanistan's Taliban and Al Qaeda elements should not be eased.... India is supportive of the efforts that are being made by the US and NATO but I do want to make it clear that we ourselves do not participate in the military discussions," he added.

He also informed the House that India's role in the economic development of Afghanistan has been highly appreciated by the public there with 56 per cent of the Afghans praising their neighbour's role in the reconstruction.

"Indeed, right now if Kabul has electricity 24 hours a day, it is because of the Indian engineers," he said. He said investigations are going on into the attack on the embassy of India in Kabul on October 8, 2009.