India on Wednesday asked Pakistan to shed its “selective” approach to terror and join hands in eliminating the scourge from the region.
The statement comes ahead of foreign secretary-level talks and days after the arrest of an Indian 26/11 suspect’s disclosures about Pakistani terrorists’ role in the Mumbai carnage.
“Whenever there is a bilateral meeting, we have always focused on terrorism and terror-related issues. We have been impressing upon Pakistan to come out openly to declare war on terrorism which should be across the board and not selective,” external affairs minister S.M. Krishna told reporters here. “While Pakistan claims it is a victim of terror, they should join hands with India so that terror and terror-related issues can be eliminated,” he added.
“It is India’s hope as always that Pakistan will fully cooperate with India in normalising relations.” Krishna was responding to a question on whether the revelations made by Abu Jindal Hamza, arrested here June 21 after his deportation from Saudi Arabia, about the role of Pakistani terrorists in 26/11 mayhem will figure in talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries here July 4-5.
Hamza, according to intelligence sources, was one of six people holed up in a “control room” in Karachi and directing the audacious Mumbai attack by 10 Pakistani terrorists in November 2008. The carnage left 166 people dead. Hamza’s arrest and his dramatic disclosures have renewed focus on expediting justice for 26/11 victims, a key issue that will figure prominently in discussions between foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai and his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani in New Delhi next week.
It has also revived India’s suspicions about the role of Pakistani state actors in the Mumbai mayhem. “We were tracking Jindal for over a year. His confession proves that there was support of state actors for 26/11 massacre,” home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.
Krishna said that India had the “anxiety” of improving relations with Pakistan and stressed that there should be sincere reciprocation from the other side which continues to have a “selective” approach towards terrorism. There were many elements in Pakistan who use terrorism as an “instrument to achieve short-term and long-term objectives” and it was too early to judge whether the “trust deficit” had been reduced, he said.
“While dealing with Pakistan, we need to be cautious. We need to have abundance of patience and perseverance,” Krishna said. When asked whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be visiting Pakistan, Krishna said invitations have been extended. Whenever the Prime Minister met the Pakistan President or Prime Minister and as part of India’s “anxiety to normalise relations”, these factors were taken on board, he added. The “availability of time” and “constraint of time” have to be factored in whenever a decision is taken on the Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan, he said. “In principle, the invitation has been accepted... When the visit will take place, it will depend on various factors.”
During his daylong visit to India April 8, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari invited Dr Singh to visit Islamabad and the invitation was accepted, fuelling speculation about a trip later this year. Underlining India’s desire for better ties with Pakistan, Krishna said that in view of the Indian presidential election scheduled for July 19, he had postponed his visit to Islamabad, which was planned mid-July, but stressed that there was no link with the arrest of Jindal.
The visit is now expected to take place towards August-end. He also said that the text of a revised liberal visa agreement had been finalised and hoped that it would be signed at the earliest depending on mutual convenience of the two countries. “We need peace and stability in the region. It is in India’s interests to have a stable Pakistan,” he said.