India on Saturday said it will take a decision on possible talks between Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif in New York in September after assessing the steps Pakistan takes to address India’s concerns on recent “unacceptable” incidents.
External affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said the government is adopting a wait and watch approach and wants Pakistan’s “civilian government to take responsibility for what has happened and find a methodology to address it to our satisfaction”.
He was asked if after a two-week lull on the Line of Control, the time had come for the government to announce talks between the two Prime Ministers in New York next month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.
“No... We are keeping quite on this and watching. I realise that the time is coming for the New York visit. So, obviously call will be taken by the Prime Minister at an appropriate stage. But we will not hasten it as we do not want to jump the gun.
“I think when some one major significant thing goes wrong, many things still remain right but you cannot neglect the major thing that has gone wrong. Decision has to be in the interest of the nation.”
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Panel to visit Mumbai on Sept. 7
Islamabad/Lahore, Aug. 31: An eight-member Pakistani judicial commission will visit India from September 7 to cross-examine witnesses of the Mumbai terror attacks in order to take forward the prosecution of seven suspects.
Prosecutors on Saturday informed an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad conducting the trial of the seven suspects that an Indian government letter dated August 23 had stated that the Pakistani judicial commission could visit Mumbai during September 5-6.
But Riaz Akram Cheema, part of the team defending the accused, told PTI that the commission cannot travel on the dates given by Indian government as there is no flight to India during this period.
“The commission will leave on September 7 for Delhi and it will need at least four days to cross-examine the four witnesses (in Mumbai),” Mr Cheema said. The letter mentioned that Mumbai’s additional chief metropolitan magistrate P.Y. Ladekar will coordinate with the Pakistani panel. — PTI