Home secy invites Pak for March Delhi talks
Union home secretary G.K. Pillai said on Sunday he will invite his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Qamar Zaman for talks here next month. These will be focused on cross-border terrorism and Pakistan’s progress in its 26/11 investigations.
“I will invite my Pakistani counterpart to New Delhi. I will propose two sets of dates for a meeting in the second half of next month,” a news agency quoted Mr Pillai as saying. Sources said this will be the first bilateral secretary-level meeting on counter-terrorism.
When asked what issues he would discuss with Mr Qamar Zaman, Pakistan’s interior secretary, Mr Pillai said: “From our side it will be, of course, progress on the 26/11 investigations.” He noted that the people caught in Pakistan so far did not include any of the “real handlers” behind the attacks.
The home secretary said a commission might even be sent to the United States to obtain evidence, may be from David Coleman Headley, his wife and others, for which it would talk to the US authorities.
The National Investigation Agency plans to file a chargesheet against Headley soon.
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US postpones trilateral after spat with Pak
Washington, Feb. 13: Amid a deepening diplomatic standoff, the United States postponed a high-level meeting with Pakistan and Afghanistan after Islamabad refused its request to provide immunity to an American “diplomat” accused of murder.
“In light of political changes in Pakistan and after discussions with Afghan and Pakistani officials in Washington, it was agreed to postpone the trilateral meeting scheduled for February 23-24,” state department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
The postponement also casts doubt on Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s March visit here. —PTI
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