NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister yesterday said that militant groups based in Pakistan endanger the whole world. India blames a Pakistan-based militant group for the attacks and three-day siege last month that killed 164 people in India’s financial capital.
India accused Pakistan of trying to shift blame for the Mumbai attacks and demanded it do more to dismantle militant networks, while a top US commander landed in Islamabad for more talks. More than 120 Indian ambassadors are meeting in New Delhi for three days of talks, a gathering scheduled before the Mumbai attacks but now expected to shift focus on efforts to ratchet up pressure on Islamabad. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the diplomats yesterday that what he termed a terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan “is the greatest terrorist danger to peace and security of the entire civilized world.”
He said India had so far acted with “utmost restraint” and hoped the international community will use its influence to urge Pakistan to take effective action. “This terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan is the greatest terrorist danger to peace and security of the entire civilized world,” Mukherjee said.
“We have so far acted with utmost restraint and are hopeful that (the) international community will use its influence to urge (the) Pakistani government to take effective action,” he said.
However, India also is prepared to act alone, he said. “While we continue to persuade the international community and Pakistan, we are also clear that ultimately, it is we who have to deal with this problem,” Mukherjee said. “We will take all measures necessary as we deem fit to deal with the situation.”
Pakistan for its part, says India has not provided any evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks. The foreign minister said Islamabad is prepared to cooperate but must heed its own laws. “As far as handing over of people (to India), we have our own laws and we have to operate within the ambit of our own laws,” he said Sunday in Multan, Pakistan. He urged restraint, saying: “We should act sensibly, not emotionally. We do not want war. We want peace.”
On Sunday, Mukherjee said India had given Pakistan specific evidence about who was behind the Mumbai attacks, including intercepted satellite telephone conversations and an account given by the lone surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Qasab.
“We have highlighted that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan has to be dismantled permanently,” Mukherjee said.
