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Friday, Aug 04, 2006

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Fighting terror is in common interest: Menon

Nirupama Subramanian

For working towards shrinking space for terror groups

ISLAMABAD: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon on Thursday said that while New Delhi wanted Pakistan to take act against "elements" here that Indian investigators had linked to several terrorist attacks prior to the Mumbai blasts, it did not mean the two countries must "stop doing business" with each other.

"Frankly, they are as much a threat to you as they are to us. We have common interest in dealing with this. We are not saying because of this we must stop doing business. No, not at all. What we should do is to make [it] harder and harder for these groups to work and to shrink the space within which they can operate and this primarily [is] the responsibility of the Government of Pakistan. Between the two Governments, we hope we work our way through this," he said. He was responding to questions from Pakistani businessmen after his talk on "Indian Economy and Pakistan" at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Furnished evidence

Whenever India found evidence linking terrorist attacks on its soil to "elements in Pakistan" it had passed on such evidence to Islamabad for further action, he said.

"There are elements in Pakistan which are linked to series of bombings in the past. We have given the Government of Pakistan evidence, most recently when our Home Secretary was here in May. It is our expectation that in its own interest and the interest of (peace) process and common interest fighting terrorism, action will be taken," he said.

"Those elements are no friends of the peace process, they are no friends of India and they are no friends of Pakistan itself. But we will deal with this issue together. It is not a ball going back and forth. It is a serious issue. This is a real and serious issue, which we need to address. The issue is terrorism and how do we deal with it," he said.

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