United States Department of State Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal on Wednesday said that Washington DC shares New Delhi's concern over the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi, adding that there is a need to bring those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to justice.
"Lakhvi's release is something that we were hoping to avoid and we have consistently impressed upon our counterparts in Islamabad the need for those responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks to be brought to justice. That is a goal that we share with India and when this release occurred, the Secretary of State personally made a phone call to urge that efforts be made to re-arrest and ensure that he does not roam free," Biswal said, while addressing an event in the national capital.
"We continue to support India's efforts to bring the Mumbai attackers to justice, to seek justice to all those who died in the terror attacks, which included American citizens as well," she added.
Biswal further pointed out that there was no 'good terrorist' or 'bad terrorist', adding that the US wants more progress from Pakistan in tackling terrorism.
"We also continue to impress upon all our friends in the region that there is no such thing as good terrorist and bad terrorist. There are only terrorists and support to terrorists of any kind is not acceptable. I think that the Peshawar attacks were also a seminal moment that brought home the devastation and we have seen redoubled efforts in Pakistan as well to deal with this issue of terrorism. We are not satisfied with the progress: we want to see more across the board. Terrorism wherever it takes place is not acceptable," she said.
"We will continue to find ways to work together to address these concerns, wherever we can and I think that is a shared endeavour not only between the US and India but also between US and Pakistan. More Pakistani civilians have lost their lives to Pakistan than anywhere else. We also need to address the fact that this is an issue for security across the region, and we will continue to prioritise this," she added.
Earlier this month, the Lahore High Court struck down the detention order of Lakhvi and ordered his release.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Lakhvi challenging his fourth one-month detention ordered by the Okara DCO on March 14
The court ordered his release based on the lack of reliability of the sensitive information provided and also directed the accused to pay 20 lakh rupees in surety bonds to Adiala jail.
Lakhvi is among seven people charged with planning and carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks.
