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| India to test Pak’s will to fight terror | | |
NEW DELHI, NOV 10
India will use next week’s Foreign Secretary-level talks to put Pakistan to “test” by giving it “certain” part of the “clinching” evidence it has with regard to involvement of “elements” based there in July 11 Mumbai blasts and other terror acts in the country.
Terrorism will be the main theme at the talks here between Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan on November 14-15 as New Delhi wants Islamabad to fulfill its commitment on ending anti-India terrorism originating from Pakistan, official sources said here today.
At the meeting, the Indian side will share “certain” part of the evidence it has with regard to involvement of “elements in Pakistan” in Mumbai blasts, last year’s Delhi blasts and other terrorist attacks in this country over a period of time.
With regard to the Mumbai blasts, particularly, the sources said all evidence cannot be shared with Pakistan as a chargesheet was yet to be filed in the court.
Sharing of entire evidence can jeopardise legal process with regard to the case, they said.
After giving the evidence, India will see what Pakistan does to act on it, the sources said.
Islamabad has been saying that it wants to cooperate in investigation. “We will see how willing they are. We will put Pakistan to test,” they said.
India is adopting a “three-legged” approach with Pakistan in which terrorism is a “central issue” as it wants its concerns to be addressed.
New Delhi wants to see Pakistan make progress in implementing its commitment to end terrorism directed against India, the sources said, adding without it New Delhi will find it difficult to carry on with the dialogue process because public opinion will not be supportive of it.
In a democracy like India, public opinion is very important but apparently Pakistan does not realise it although it itself is a victim of terrorism, they said.
On the debate whether India has “clinching” evidence or not on Pakistani links to Mumbai blasts, the sources maintained that for the government the evidence was “clinching”.
The evidence is “enough” to convince the government and “more than enough” to tell Pakistan to act, the sources said.
During the two-day talks, the two countries are also expected to give shape to the joint anti-terror mechanism which they have decided to set up.
The Foreign Secretaries will review the third round of composite dialogue and progress made on the issues, like Jammu and Kashmir and Siachen, being discussed under it.
Resolution of all these outstanding issues is the second part of the three-legged approach and the third is effort to build relations through confidence-building measures (CBMs).
“But all depends on what happens on terrorism front,” the sources said.
India wants that the CBMs like people-to-people contacts and trade should continue irrespective of cross-border terrorism but public opinion has to be kept in mind, they said.
India has found “links” leading to Pakistan to a whole range of terror acts in this country, including Mumbai blasts and last October’s Delhi explosions, and this has been made known to Pakistan.
”For India, it is important that Pakistan is seen to be implementing its commitment on ending terrorism,” the sources said.
New Delhi also does not buy Musharraf’s argument that some “freelance” terrorists may be operating in India. It notes that since Musharraf rules Pakistan, he should be knowing who is operating out of his country and who their sponsors are.
India does not want to get into this argument but simply wants terrorism to end, the sources said, adding “after evidence is given to Pakistan, it is for them to identify sponsors of terrorism”.
“The main issue is that Pakistan should change its behaviour,” they said.
Issues related to evidence given earlier, like on underworld don and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, will also be discussed.
On Siachen, the Indian side says a n agreement can be reached immediately if Pakistan accepts its terms like proper authentication of present troop positions.
But so far there is no indication from Pakistan about agreeing to the Indian condition, the sources said.
The two countries had decided to demilitarise the world’s highest battlefield but have so far failed to arrive at an agreement on how to do it.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri had last month said that the two countries were close to an agreement on Siachen.
On Sir Creek, a joint horizontal survey has been completed and another is to be conducted on rest of the disputed border.
A decision in this regard can be taken in the upcoming talks
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