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New Delhi
13 February 2009
India has asked Pakistan to ensure that perpetrators of the terror
strikes in Mumbai are brought to justice, and to eliminate terror
groups operating from the country. The demands were made in response
to Islamabad's acknowledgement that the Mumbai raid, which killed more
than 170 people, was partly planned in Pakistan.
In a
statement to parliament Friday, India's foreign minister, Pranab
Mukherjee, said Islamabad's admission that last November's terror
attacks in Mumbai were launched and partly plotted in Pakistan came
after months of "denial and diversionary tactics."
Islamabad
announced Thursday that it is holding in custody six suspects in the
Mumbai attacks, and has filed a case against them. It was the first
admission by Islamabad that some Pakistani citizens were involved in
the attacks.
India's foreign minister called this a "positive
step," but wants Islamabad to do more. Mukherjee says Pakistan must
ensure that those guilty of mounting the Mumbai attacks are brought to
justice, and dismantle all infrastructure of terror groups operating
from Pakistani territory.
"The threat of terrorism from
Pakistan has emerged as a global menace," he said. "The major onus of
responsibility to eliminate this threat rests on the Government of
Pakistan. It is imperative that it act with sincerity and act
effectively against the license that terrorist groups enjoy in its
territory."
India's foreign minister also said that Mumbai was
not the first or only terror attack in India linked to "the
infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan," and warned that relations
between the two South Asian neighbors can only be normalized if
Islamabad works to prevent further terror strikes.
India had put a peace process between the two countries on hold in the wake of the attacks in Mumbai.
"We
are at a point in our relationship where the authorities in Pakistan
itself have to choose the relationship that they want in India in
future. Much depends on actions in the Mumbai case reaching their
logical conclusion," he said.
Islamabad said on Thursday that it
wants to assure the international community and all those who have been
victims of terrorism that "we mean business," and called on India to
provide more evidence to secure a conviction for the accused in the
Mumbai attacks. India says it will provide whatever it can.
The
acknowledgement by Pakistan that some of its citizens had plotted the
attacks is expected to ease growing tensions between the neighbors. But
analysts say India does not want the international community to let up
on pressure which was brought on Islamabad in the wake of the attacks
to crack down on terrorism.
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