Stage is set for “result-oriented” talks between foreign ministers of Pakistan and India — in a couple of weeks from now — as the interior ministers and their secretaries have laid the foundation, decision makers suggest.
“We think, we are on the right track as far as dialogue and problem solution is concerned. The solutions will take time but we are on the right path at least,” a highly placed Pakistani official told this newspaper.
He referred to the Pakistani and Indian interior/home ministers’ meeting and a subsequent meeting of the civil intelligence chiefs from the neighbouring countries in Islamabad to jointly work against terrorism.
In the latest meetings and media interactions, the Indian home minister pressed Pakistan to put more suspects on trial for alleged links to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a sign of persistent tension between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Mr Chidambaram said he had raised the issue with Pakistan’s interior minister amid meetings on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).
“I am confident that something good will emerge out of that meeting”, he said. Mr Chidambaram did not say whom New Delhi wants to be prosecuted in Pakistan but he was apparently referring to LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and his men. Saeed is founder of LeT, a banned Pakistani militant group blamed in the attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai. He now heads a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, also banned by the Pakistani government. Pakistani courts have ruled there is not enough evidence to detain Saeed, and Islamabad has pushed New Delhi to provide more information that could help the case against the cleric.
Pakistan has arrested at least seven other people in connection with the attacks and they are facing trial. In May, an Indian court sentenced the only surviving gunman from the attacks to death. Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani, was one of 10 men who attacked two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a busy train station in Mumbai. Millions around the world watched the violence unfold live on television.
In recent months, the two neighbouring nations have taken steps towards resuming peace talks aimed at resolving issues dating back six decades, including the dispute over territory of Kashmir. The chiefs of intelligence agencies of Pakistan and India held a meeting here as a part of cooperation to fight terrorism and deal with security issues.