Though it has re-engaged with Pakistan on a wide range of issues that need to be addressed, India has said the wounds of Mumbai terror attack have not healed as yet and stressed on Islamabad taking with “utmost seriousness” its request for voice samples of the 26/11 accused.
“Yes and no. I think my answer would bridge both these concepts. The wounds of 26/11 have not healed as yet. I think we would do wrong to the people who lost their lives and the families that continue to grieve as a result of what happened so tragically in Mumbai, if we were to say that 26/11 is behind us,” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.
She was asked if the deep wounds of 26/11 had healed or India felt the time had come to move on.
“There is an ongoing trial in Pakistan; there are questions still to be answered; there is evidence to be scrutinised; there is need for agencies in both countries to cooperate better in this regard. The Home Secretary of India and the Interior Secretary of Pakistan have just had a good meeting, a positive meeting. So, we are trying to build on that.
“Obviously, the wounds of 26/11 will not heal easily. I think there is sentiment in this country in India and there is grief still which has not died. Let me put it this way. Our grief cannot die when it comes to 26/11,” she told Karan Thapar in an interview for CNBC. “The yes side is that.... we have to engage with each other across a wide range of issues that need to be addressed,” Ms. Rao said.
On India's request for voice samples of the accused, the Foreign Secretary said: “We do not want them to fob us off obviously on this.”
