The Hindu : Front Page : U.S. to insist on ‘direct, tough action’ by Pakistan

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Thursday, Dec 04, 2008
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U.S. to insist on ‘direct, tough action’ by Pakistan

Sandeep Dikshit

Rice asks India to avoid “unintended consequences”

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

TOUGH STANCE: United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Wednesday. Ms. Rice called for “direct and tough action” by Islamabad against terrorists and assured India that the U.S. will work closely to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to justice.

NEW DELHI: United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has promised to persuade Pakistan to take “very direct and tough action” when she visits Islamabad on Thursday, even as India warned that it would react in “whatever way necessary” after receiving the response to its demarche to Pakistan served on Tuesday.

Asked whether the series of terror attacks in Indian cities justified Indian military strikes, Dr. Rice wanted New Delhi’s response to be judged by its effectiveness which avoids “unintended consequences.” She assured India that the U.S. would work “very closely” to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice and prevent further strikes of this kind. Even if non-state actors were involved, it was Pakistan’s responsibility to take action if the terrorists were based on its territory, she observed at a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the end of a 45-minute interaction on Wednesday.

Dr. Rice admitted that the Mumbai terror strike were considerably more sophisticated than the previous serial bomb blasts in several major Indian studies, but wanted the response to be limited to arresting the culprits and ensuring no further attacks took place. Pakistan had a central role to play in ensuring both these things, she added.

“Someone’s backside is going to be kicked very hard tomorrow in Pakistan,” said sources, adding that the U.S. had been able to obtain all intercepts of the conversations between the terrorists and their handlers.

Mr. Mukherjee pointed out that the series of terror strikes in major cities were aimed at striking at the developmental, scientific and economic abilities of the country. The terrorists had hit an important tourist center (Jaipur), the national capital (Delhi), the financial capital (Mumbai) and a major center of science and technology (Bangalore). “There was a design … they were not sporadic or accidental,” he asserted.

Dr. Rice said the U.S. expected the Pakistani government to be cooperative and active. During meetings with Mr. Mukherjee and Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the the U.S. Secretary of State was informed that there was no doubt in New Delhi that the attackers and their controllers were based in Pakistan.

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