As a US lawmaker suggested that the Pakistan-based Haqqani terror network may have had some ‘logistical role’ behind bombings in India, the US reassured New Delhi it was committed to bringing Mumbai attackers to justice.
"We sympathise with India, which has also been the victims of terrorism, and we are committed to bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice, and we call on other countries to do the same," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Wednesday.
The comments came as Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, voiced his concern about the Haqqani network at Washington-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). "We believe that they may have some logistical role in helping in the bombings in India," he said in response to a question.
Rogers, who is being briefed regularly by the American intelligence agencies including the CIA, however did not specify any particular terrorist attacks inside India, but apparently was referring to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
This is possibly for the first time that the name of the Haqqani network has figured in any terror related activity in India.
However, Toner said the US currently has no plans to designate Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO), even as it on Wednesday slapped sanctions against Badruddin Haqqani, a "dangerous" commander of the Haqqani group and a son of the group's founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
"At this point there are no plans to designate the Haqqani Network as a foreign terrorist organisation. As you know, we don't generally talk about that process."
"Our actions are focused on targeting the key individuals within the Haqqani Network and, again, isolating them, limiting their access to financing and et cetera," he said.