The Hindu : Front Page : India conveys displeasure to Pakistan on Saeed release

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Thursday, Jun 04, 2009
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India conveys displeasure to Pakistan on Saeed release

Sandeep Dikshit

Feels Islamabad is taking action only against terrorists on its western borders

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday officially conveyed its disappointment to Pakistan over the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.

New Delhi’s dissatisfaction is accentuated by the fact that Islamabad did not commit itself on whether it would appeal against the release order of the Lahore High Court.

India believes that while Pakistan is taking action against terrorists operating on its western borders, it is yet to act against terror groups that target India.

List submitted

To buttress this point, India has submitted a list of more individuals and organisations that it feels are involved in anti-India violence or have changed their names to avoid identification by the international community.

The issue is likely to be raised during talks with senior United States State Department official William Burns when he arrives here next week.

“We conveyed our disappointment at the release of Hafiz Saeed. We made clear what we thought about it,” Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told newspersons. The government had no objection to India-Pakistan matches like the T-20 played in London on Wednesday.

“After the Mumbai attacks, we did not hold the people of Pakistan responsible. Travel, trade and other interactions are continuing. Action against the terrorists has to be taken by the Pakistani authorities,” he said.

At a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik, Ministry of External Affairs officials pointed out that there were no visible signs of Pakistan dismantling the terrorist training infrastructure directed against India.

Mr. Malik did hold out the possibility of Islamabad appealing against the order, but there was no confirmation of its opting for that course. Pakistan was studying the legal options before it, the officials were told.

The diplomats told Mr. Malik that India had no intention of standing in judgment of the Pakistani legal process but made it clear that they wanted the conspirators of crimes against India prosecuted.

The officials believe that it would be better for Pakistan to begin acting decisively because its credibility depended on visible action against the masterminds of international terror acts operating from its territory.

Mr. Malik was neither “summoned” to the Ministry nor did India “protest” against Saeed’s release.

India also had no intention of negotiating, discussing or arguing with Pakistan through the media. The envoy had a pre-arranged appointment to seek translation into Urdu of several documents that were in Marathi on the Mumbai terror attacks.

India has agreed to provide Pakistan with court-certified documents in a language of Pakistan’s choice.

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