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India’s stand vindicated: Krishna

Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s acknowledgement that his country nurtured militant groups for tactical objectives has vindicated New Delhi’s stand that the neighbouring soil was being used for launching terror attacks on India.

External Affairs S. M. Krishna said this in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. He hoped that hereafter Islamabad would make a determined bid to curb terrorism and dismantle all terror infrastructure.

“With the confession from the highest authority in Pakistan, India stands vindicated. All through, India had been saying that the Pakistani soil was being used for attacks on India repeatedly. We tried to reason it out with them. I hope hereafter Pakistan will make a determined bid to curb terrorism. It can’t be fought selectively but has to be combated across the board, because those encouraging it can become victims. This is my subtle caution to them,” Mr. Krishna said.

Replying to clarifications by MPs following his suo motu statement on “significant developments in our neighbourhood,” the Minister said: “If peace in the region is to be established … and we have to lead a path of growth and prosperity, terror infrastructure has to be dismantled and perpetrators of terrorism have to be brought to justice. I hope Pakistan will dismantle terror infrastructure created on its soil.”

Earlier Mr. Krishna said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Mr. Zardari on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Russia . “The President of Pakistan told us about his country’s efforts to deal with the menace of terrorism and the difficulties they face. It was agreed that the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan would discuss what Pakistan was doing and could do to prevent terrorism from Pakistan against India and to bring to justice those responsible for these attacks, including the horrendous crime of the attacks in Mumbai.”

“After the Foreign Secretaries’ report, we will be able to take stock of the situation at Sharm-el-Sheikh [Egypt] where, on the margins of the Non-Aligned Summit, the Prime Minister will meet his Pakistani counterpart.”“We recognise the importance and salience of a continued dialogue with Pakistan. However, dialogue addressing mutual concerns is premised on an atmosphere free of the threat of violence. It was with the explicit premise that the Composite Dialogue Process was restarted in 2004. Despite achievements, the dialogue and our very relationship with Pakistan have come under stress recurrently because of the licence which terrorist groups have had in Pakistan to carry out attacks on India,” he said.

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