Pak’s response since the Mumbai attacks has been inappropriate, Pranab tells Parliament.
A day after Pakistan replied to India’s dossier on last year’s terror attacks in Mumbai, India said its neighbour had to choose the kind of relationship it wanted with India and this would depend on “actions in the Mumbai case reaching their logical conclusion”.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Parliament that the gains of the composite dialogue would be squandered if Pakistan did not make good its commitment that “territory under its control would not be used for terrorism in any manner.” Mukherjee said Pakistan had admitted that “elements in Pakistan were involved in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai.” India would examine and suitably reply to the 30 questions posed by Pakistan, he added.
While this was a “positive development,” Pakistan’s actions during the two-and-a-half months since the attacks had been inappropriate due to its “prevarication, denial, diversionary tactics” along with a “misplaced sense of victimhood,” he said.
“We will continue to review the situation, including Pakistan’s response, and take steps that we deem necessary to protect our people,” he said.
India’s approach had been that the perpetrators of the attacks be brought to book and this included the operationalisation of “bilateral, multilateral and international obligations to prevent terrorism in any manner from territory under her (Pakistan's) control,” he said.
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This statement is a subtle reply to Pakistan's demand that Ajmal Amir Kasab — the lone surviving Laskar-e-Taiba operative captured during the attacks — must make a statement in a court in Pakistan.
Acknowledging the international community’s role in mounting pressure on Pakistan to act, Mukherjee said it must be kept in mind that “terrorism emanating out of Pakistan is a threat not only to us but also to the world”. Therefore, the onus was now on Pakistan to “fully unveil the conspiracy, identify the guilty and act in a transparent and verifiable manner,” he said.
Finally, Mukherjee said India did not want people-to-people contacts and related measures such as trains and road links to suffer due to the current diplomatic stand-off. This decision had been taken “after due deliberation,” he said. However, since the Mumbai attacks signified a threshold, India would continue to keep the spotlight on Pakistan so that it acted credibly “against that infrastructure to prevent further attacks.”
Meanwhile, US Ambassador David C Mulford said Pakistan’s response was an “important first step in the right direction” and the US would “watch and help” ensure that Pakistan completed the investigation and prosecution in the case. In response, Pakistan said New Delhi should “come clean on the multiple facets of the Mumbai tragedy” even as it believed that the issue of attacks was getting mired in India’s domestic politics.