India will take up 26/11 issues with Pak: Chidambaram

Realising that the opposition will try make capital out of the government’s offer of Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan, New Delhi is adopting a tough line of action.

Making it clear that India’s focus would be on terror, Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said issues relating to the probe into 26/11 attacks will be taken up during the parleys on February 25.

Noting that the “specific issues” to be taken up during the discussions were being finalised by the Indian side, he said the Home ministry would like “pending issues” concerning the 26/11 case and investigation also to be part of it. The statement that comes just a week ahead of the meeting between Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan, means that New Delhi does not want any impression in Islamabad that India was going soft and was ready to delink terror from mutual talks.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao meets her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, when terror is expected to top India’s agenda.

In an interaction with women journalists, the Home Minister also said his ministry would go through the legal process to seek access to Pakistani-American LeT operative David Headley, now lodged in a Chicago jail.

Chidambaram also indicated that he would be attending the SAARC home ministers' meeting in Islamabad. “If and when it is held, the present position of the government is that we are attending,” he said. The meeting scheduled this month was postponed at Nepal's request.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony, has in the meanwhile, said that terror outfits in Pakistan will be the main concern of the country in the upcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks, adding that terrorist camps along the borders in that country were “still active“. “All the 32 (terrorist camps in Pakistan) near their border are active even now. This year, the number of infiltration attempts has also gone up. All the terror outfits are still active and that is our main concern,” Antony said in Dabolim (Goa), on Friday.

Obama calls PMon Pune blast

U.S. President Barack Obama called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday morning to condemn the blast that took place in Pune on Feb 6 and to condole the loss of lives. In a brief conversation, the two leaders took the opportunity to review developments in Indo-U.S. relations, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Obama administration has offered FBI help in the investigation into the blast at the German Bakery, in Pune. The U.S. State Department has said it is working with India and Pakistan to combat the threats the three countries face from terrorist and extremist groups.

"The information we have shared so far has been quite unprecedented, and we intend to continue to working with the Government of India to try and protect our two societies from these types of attacks," Acting US State Department Spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

- Asian Tribune -