The premier agencies of Pakistan and India — the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — will interact with each other on terrorism and the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik told journalists in the presence of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram here on Saturday.
The announcement came hours after both ministers addressed separate press conferences, where they offered hope of some forward movement in India-Pakistan ties, without getting into specifics.
Asked if India was satisfied with the outcome of the two rounds of bilateral talks over the past couple of days — particularly in the light of this announcement — Mr. Chidambaram said: “Nobody is questioning intentions; we are looking for outcomes. Outcomes alone will decide if we are on the right track.”
On what he meant by outcomes, he said: “Vigorous investigation and follow-up of leads available in the Mumbai terror attacks. All masterminds and handlers must be brought to book. We must ensure that terrorists don't have a free run of both countries to make South Asia safe.”
Mr. Chidambaram said he was leaving Pakistan with the conviction that “we both have exchanged views, understood the situation, and agreed that we should address the situation with the seriousness that it deserves.”
Earlier in the day, the Minister expressed the hope that “something good” would emerge from the bilateral talks, which were followed by a meeting of the SAARC Home Ministers.
Pakistan also indicated its willingness to further cooperate with India in closing in on the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks, saying it realised the “gravity of the situation.” The acknowledgement came after India stressed that the Mumbai attacks were much more meticulously planned and devastating than a bomb blast.
Handlers' voice samples
Mr. Malik said Pakistan was working on providing voice samples of the handlers who had directed and motivated the Mumbai attackers.
“Of course,” he said when asked whether Pakistan would accede to India's request in this regard. “We will help them bring these terrorists to justice...we will provide all assistance in addition to what has been asked from us.”
Mr. Malik added: “We have already understood the gravity of the Mumbai attacks, which is why we have arrested seven people. We will take action on whatever credible information we are given. If there is any information coming from India, of course we will take firm action.”
Unwilling to “do a replay” of his meeting with Mr. Malik, Mr. Chidambaram said: “More people were behind the Mumbai attacks and more people should be prosecuted.”
His replies to questions were milder than those a day earlier on whether New Delhi was satisfied with the progress made by Pakistan in prosecuting the seven arrested for the attacks.
“We know that people are being prosecuted. How far the prosecution has proceeded is for Pakistan to say,” he said. On Friday, Mr. Chidambaram expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of the trial, claiming that only two of the seven arrested were “frontline” people.
On the perception that India was focussing only on the Mumbai attacks, the Home Minister said recognising that the process of repairing ties was interrupted by the attacks “isn't myopic, and we are trying to pick up the threads again.”
At a meeting of Home Ministers, he added, the focus would obviously be on terrorism and internal security. “We try to pick up the threads on security and that is normal when Interior Ministers meet.”
