NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday ruled out a joint investigation into the firebombing of the Samjhauta Express near Panipat on Sunday.

Addressing a joint press conference with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "as per the law of the land, the probe will be conducted by India and the results shared with Pakistan."

Mr. Mukherjee's comments come a day after Pakistan's National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution seeking a joint investigation into the attack.

Commitment

"The holding of the joint commission meeting as scheduled is a reaffirmation of the commitment of both India and Pakistan to the dialogue process," Mr. Mukherjee said after a meeting of the commission.

He, however, emphasised that the results of the investigation would be shared with Pakistan at the anti-terror mechanism meeting in Islamabad on March 6.

Charge against Lashkar

Asked by a Pakistani reporter about a top Haryana police officer's comment that the Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the attack, Mr. Mukherjee said: "It would not be possible to conjecture anything unless the [investigative] process is complete. At the Islamabad meeting, the information will be shared with the authorities there."

Reiterating India's promise that the Sunday carnage perpetrators would be brought to book, he said the "basic objective" of the anti-terror mechanism was to both share and act on the information passed on between the two nations. He hoped that the March 6 meeting would be "meaningful."

Describing Sunday's blasts as a "horrendous tragedy," Mr. Kasuri said the incident underlined the need for cooperation between Islamabad and New Delhi. He confirmed that the results of the Indian probe into the Samjhauta Express attack would be shared with Pakistan on March 6.

Mr. Kasuri was clear that if the two countries intended to promote tourism by creating a new visa category, then new and current travellers using cross-border means of transport would have to be protected to the maximum extent possible.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail