Singh to Malik: Bring 26/11 conspirators to book

Mangalore Today/ DHNS

New Delhi, Dec 15, 2102, DHNS: Pak Minister says three ultras were nabbed before India notified them. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday told Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik that he could not visit Islamabad unless action is taken against 26/11 conspirators.

Malik, who met his Indian counterpart Sushil Kumar Shinde and rounded up official meetings late night on Friday, drove down to 7 Race Course to meet the Prime Minister at 11.30 am on Saturday. He was accompanied by High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir.

 

 

“We have already invited him. Today also I told him that the people of Pakistan, especially the people of Chatwal village where he has born, want to see him. They want to see that a boy who has been there has become the PM of a nation and a global leader. We said if you don’t come then we, the people of Pakistan, will be disappointed,” Malik candidly told reporters on the sidelines of a function held at the India International Centre Annex.

But the Prime Minister communicated his reluctance clearly. Malik quoted Manmohan Singh as saying: “people here also ask what you (Pakistan) has done regarding the Mumbai attack.” The Prime Minister’s verbal repartee emphasised that action should be taken against 26/11 conspirators for him to fly to Islamabad.

However, Malik termed the interaction with Manmohan a “very good meeting”. “We have given him a commitment to send a judicial commission here,” he added.

Though he insisted that India has supplied information, not evidence against alleged mastermind of 26/11 Hafiz Sayeed, Malik assured that action will be taken against wanted terrorists. On the progress in India’s demand of voice samples of Pakistan-based Mumbai carnage handlers, Malik said they have filed a petition in the court to get them.

To prove that action was taken, he claimed that even before India supplied first dossier on 26/11, Pakistan had arrested three of the seven accused in the case. “We have substantial evidence against Lakhvi (Lashkar-e-Toiba commander) and others... that is why they are behind the bars,” he added.

Claiming that the trust deficit in information has been removed, Malik said though Pakistan has taken steps on the terrorism front, the North Block believes it is not encouraging enough.