Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed on Friday said that India’s position on Pakistan will not change with the Abbottabad incident and asked Islamabad to take note of international outcry and bring to book the perpetrators of heinous crimes, including the Mumbai attacks.
The criminals and handlers are still wallowing in Pakistan and they are being harboured despite India’s plea to hand over them, he said.
“India is the worst victim of global terrorism,” Mr. Ahamed told PTI last night on the sidelines of his address to the community members at the Indian consulate here.
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His remarks came days after U.S. special forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad near Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.
The Minister came here at the end of his three-day tour of the Caribbean — Guatemala, Ecuador and Panama.
In Guatemala, Mr. Ahamed inaugurated a new building for the Indian embassy in the presence of the President of Guatemala Alvaro Colom Caballeros.
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Mr. Ahamed also met his counterpart in Guatemala, Haroldo Rodas, and the two discussed improving bilateral relations.
India would give more technical assistance to the country in the field of Information Technology and offer hi-tech scholarships to students, the minister said.
Guatemala’s government had appealed to India to modernise the IT centre for excellence set up earlier by New Delhi to help the people of the Latin American country.
A similar request was put forth by Ecuador and India has accepted it, Mr. Ahamed said.
Panama sought India’s help in the expansion of Panama Canal, which the minister visited and inspected the operations there.
In New York, he addressed the Indian community at a reception hosted by Consul General Prabhu Dayal.