Terrorism tops agenda in Islamabad, Delhi talks

Islamabad: Pakistani and Indian authorities began a two-day meeting here yesterday to discuss cooperation between the two neighbours on security and drug trafficking issues, officials said.

The host country's delegation was led by Interior Secretary Seddiqi Akbar Khwaja whereas his counterpart R.K. Singh headed the Indian team.

Speaking to the media before going into the session, Singh said India was not satisfied with Pakistan's investigations into the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, which New Delhi alleged was plotted and executed by militants based in Pakistan.

Singh said the judicial proceedings going on in Pakistan pertaining to the Mumbai attack were very slow and that a number of suspects were never arrested.

His remarks were in apparent reference to Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed Ahmad, whom India blames for masterminding the Mumbai attack. The US has set a cash reward for information that may lead to Ahmad's conviction.

The government here has said it could initiate legal proceedings against the JuD head only if concrete evidence against him was provided.

Additional proof

At the conclusion of the first day's talks, Singh said Indian authorities had provided their Pakistani counterparts additional proof against Saeed while the Pakistani judicial commission that visited Mumbai in March had gathered evidence against the perpetrators of the terrorist assault on India's financial hub in 2008.

The additional evidence should be presented in the Pakistani court and used to prosecute the terror suspects, he said. At the same time, Singh said the 2008 Mumbai attacks should not be equated with the 2007 bombing of the Samjhuata Express train.

The assault on Mumbai was an incident of cross-border terrorism while the train bombing had occurred within India, he pointed out.

Singh said he was confident the discussions would be successful "as terrorism affects us all and we are committed to fighting the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestation so that the cost it imposes on our primary objective of rapid economic and social development in the subcontinent is negated".

During the talks, the two sides discussed a wide range of issues, including drug trafficking, a relaxed visa regime, networks involved in circulating fake currency and humanitarian matter.