NEW DELHI: A day after India and Pakistan issued a joint statement after meeting of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Singh reassured Indian Parliament on Friday that there would be no resumption of formal peace talks with Pakistan until Islamabad brings those behind last year’s Mumbai’s attacks to justice.
“Sustained effective and credible action needs to be taken not only to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, but also to shut down the operation of terrorist groups so as to prevent any future attacks,” he said.
Despite his assurances that the pre-conditions set by New Delhi for a formal resumption of talks remained in force, the immediate response of opposition MPs was a mass walkout.
The opposition had demanded that Singh clarify a joint statement he had issued the day before with his Pakistani counterpart Gilani which stated that action on terrorism “should not be linked” to peace talks.
Sections of the Indian media had labeled the statement a major climb-down, with The Mail Today running the front-page headline “PM Sells Out to Pak.” The main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said it remained “surprised” and “disappointed” by the apparent policy shift contained in the joint statement.
“We have conceded,” said opposition leader L.K. Advani, before leading the BJP walkout from the chamber.
The peace process between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors was put on hold following the November 2008 attacks on India’s financial and entertainment capital, in which 166 people died.
New Delhi has blamed the Pakistan-based militant group and said it has “overwhelming evidence” that “official agencies” in Pakistan were involved in plotting and carrying out the 60-hour siege.
Singh told members of Parliament that Gilani had assured him that Pakistan would “do everything in its power” to prosecute those responsible.
— With input from agencies
