Wednesday December 31, 09:16 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

India asks US, China and Saudi Arabia to press Pakistan to act against Mumbai attackers

By Political Bureau
Mounting a fresh diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, New Delhi has asked the United States, China and Saudi Arabia to pressurise Islamabad to take concrete action against those behind the Mumbai terror attacks last month. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as well as Chinese foreign minister Yang Jeichi over the phone on Thursday night in which he conveyed India s disappointment over Islamabad s token actions in halting the terror paraphernelia in Pakistan. Mukherjee also furnished evidence of involvement of elements in Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks to visiting foreign minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud Al-Faisal. In the interactions with these countries, which are percieved as having an influence over Pakistan, Mukherjee apprised them about the latest situation and told them that Islamabad was not doing enough against terrorism. India reportedly asked both the US and China to put pressure on Pakistan to ensure that those responsible for the carnage are brought to justice. Talking to mediapersons after his talks with his Saudi counterpart, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee while urging Pakistan not to whip up war hysteria, said that Pakistan needed to focus its energies to bring to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack . We have indicated to them that there are ample evidences from the log book of the captured ship (that terrorists used to sail to Mumbai), from the statellite phone (they used) ... that elements from Pakistan were responsible (for the Mumbai savagery), he said. Instead of ... war hysteria, they should address this menace. Terrorism is a cancer, we need to cut it out, said Prince Al-Faisal at a joint press interaction, while calling for the UN to set up an international body to deal with Mumbai-like terror attacks. It was agreed that global terrorism has to be dealt with by joint action among all countries. We further agreed that whatever action has to be taken to control terrorism, should be taken without delay and in a transparent manner, Mukherjee said. Saudi Arabia has been a key ally of Pakistan and has enormous clout over the powers-that-be in that country. Al-Faisal, was sent here by King Abdullah in the wake of Mumbai attacks and consequent chill in Indo-Pak ties. US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice is understood to have conveyed to Mukherjee that the US is keen to see that the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks are punished and is persuading Pakistan to act in concrete terms in this regard. Yang, while condemning the attacks, agreed that the perpetrators should be punished. While countries including US, and the UK are convinced that Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible for the attacks, Pakistan has been in a denial mode. However, New Delhi believes that both US and China have influence on Pakistan and that they can use to make that country act against those involved in the terror strikes.