The government on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over Pakistan’s attitude in bringing to book the culprits of the Mumbai attack, especially 26/11 “mastermind’’ Jamat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed. External affairs minister S.M. Krishna said Pakistan should take action against terrorist outfits and Saeed in order to carry forward the
peace dialogue with India. Terror is our core concern when we have talks with our counterparts in Pakistan, he said. “Whenever we mention Jamat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, whom we consider the mastermind of the Mumbai attack, Pakistan becomes subjective. We certainly would like Pakistan to be helpful so that we can live in peace,” he said while replying to supplementaries during question hour in Rajya Sabha.
Mr Krishna said in the meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries during the Saarc summit in Bhutan, a decision was taken to rebuild trust. “They identified that there was a trust deficit. It was decided that it will be done (bridged) by meeting at the secretary and minister level. We are trying to fulfil that mandate,” he said.
Mr Krishna also stressed the fact that PM Manmohan Singh has pointed that talking to Pakistan is the only way forward. “The biggest confidence building measure will be that Pakistan stops any further terror attacks from its soil and stops the speeches made against India by jehadists,” Mr Krishna said.
Reacting to BJP member Prakash Javdekar’s remark that the dialogues with Pakistan were meaningless, the minister asked him to suggest an alternative, “There were uninterrupted dialogues between India and Pakistan from 2004 till the (2008) Mumbai terror attack. Mumbai attack was a point where we had to discontinue the dialogue with Pakistan,” he said adding that India wants a peaceful Pakistan as this will bring peace to the entire region.