Rejecting Pakistan’s demand for going beyond the issue of terror, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna today said the least India expected from that country was “tangible results” in the Mumbai attacks probe which would help build an atmopshere for purposeful talks.
The minister said India has not set a “benchmark” for Pakistan but expected it to deliver tangible results in the investigations and prosecutions. “We have suggested to the government of Pakistan that the perpetrators of that attack on Mumbai must be brought to justice within the framework of the Pakistan law,” said Krishna.
“That is the least that we expect from them,” said the minister who had a two-hour long meeting here on Sunday with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, during which he focussed on the terror issue.
Krishna said that further talks between the two countries would depend on concrete action taken by Islamabad on the Mumbai attacks, particularly in the upcoming trial of the accused.
Qureshi had said yesterday the two countries could not confine discussions to only terror or Mumbai without touching on other outstanding issues that form the Composite Dialogue.
“You need an atmosphere for talks to to be purposeful,” Krishna said on being asked whether the dialogue process would restart only when India saw credible action being taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators.
