Pursue matters with Pak beyond just optics: Cong to PM

Latching on to recent revelations made by Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley on the Mumbai terror strike, Congress today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to pursue matters with Pakistan "beyond just optics".
Reminding the BJP that it used to allege that UPA government was "soft on terror", party spokesperson RPN Singh said that any meaningful engagement with Pakistan has to take into account that there should be an immediate embargo on part of the Pakistani Army and the ISI in supporting anti-India groups and activities.
"There should be a total ban on anti-India terror outfits like LeT, HuM, JuD, JeM and United Jehad Council and extradition of known terrorists like Hafiz Sayeed, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Syed Salahuddin, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Maulana Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and others.

"We want to make it absolutely clear that national interest alone must govern Modi government's actions and policies on these issues," he said.
Noting that the ongoing depositions being made by Headley reinforces what UPA government had maintained about the attack, Singh said, "His depositions underline unequivocally Headley is a terrorist working at behest of and in tandem with the Pakistani establishments, specifically the Army and ISI."
"Headley's deposition again punctures all claims made by Pakistan to the contrary apart from exposing the oft-peddled propaganda by the BJP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections that the UPA was not pursuing 26/11 with Pakistan seriously," he said.

He said that while the government of India has already given all the evidences, the "final nail in the coffin has been the deposition of Headley".

"These are the evidences that government of India has to act upon. They called us soft on terror but during our time Jaish-e-Mohammad was banned, Lakhvi was arrested. There was a bounty declared on Hafiz Sayeed. If we were soft on terror, what are they doing," Singh asked.
The Congress spokesperson said it is now clear that Headley was in constant touch with anti-India state as well as non-state actors in Pakistan, including terrorist organisations like LeT, HuM, JuD, JeM and United Jehad Council and Sayeed, Lakhvi, Salahuddin and Zargar.

"In fact, his deposition establishes that there is no line of differentiation between state and non-state actors in Pakistan as far as export of terror to India is concerned. It once again establishes Pakistan's complicity in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
"Apart from all these, a very serious take away from the deposition is the fact that engagement with Pakistan needs to be based on certain principles and the Prime Minister will be well advised to pursue matters with Pakistan beyond just optics and should be aimed at bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 as well as the recent Pathankot terror attacks to the book," he said.