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Saturday, Jan 17, 2009
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Pakistan briefs Indian envoy

Nirupama Subramanian

“Both should go back to peace process”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday officially conveyed to India the steps taken by it against those linked to the Mumbai attacks, urging that the two countries should go back to the peace process that New Delhi says it has put on “pause” mode.

Pakistan said it had conveyed to Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal the “sequence and series of actions initiated by the government in pursuance of its international obligations as well as relating to the Mumbai attacks.”

Mr. Pal met Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir at the Foreign Ministry where he was given the information.

The Indian envoy was also given a letter from Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani — described by the Pakistani media as a “message of goodwill” — responding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s New Year greetings to him.

According to an official present at the meeting, the information handed over by Pakistan was a “recapitulation” of what Rehman Malik, who heads the Interior Ministry, told journalists on Thursday.

Responding to Mr. Malik’s announcement, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Pakistan should have conveyed this information “direct” to India through “existing diplomatic channels.”

It would appear that it was in response to this that Pakistan handed over the same information to Mr. Pal.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry said Mr. Bashir referred to Mr. Gilani’s statement in the National Assembly earlier this week that the government had launched an official inquiry.

“The Foreign Secretary mentioned that it was important for Pakistan and India to chart the way forward on anti-terrorism cooperation as well as the imperative need for an across-the-board constructive bilateral engagement,” the Foreign Ministry said without specifically referring to currently “paused” composite dialogue process.

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