By IANS,
New Delhi : India expects the world community to recognise that “territory of the neighbouring country” was used for perpetrating the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Friday without directly naming Pakistan.
“We expect the world community to recognise and other countries have come to the same conclusion that the territory of the neighbouring country has been used for perpetrating this crime,” Manmohan Singh said at a joint press conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
“It’s the obligation of all countries concerned that the perpetrators of this crime are brought to book,” Manmohan Singh replied when asked what India proposed to do about the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks who were said to be in Pakistan.
“We will wait for the outcome,” he said.
“We expect the international community to recognise that terrorism anywhere and everywhere constitutes a threat to world peace,” he added.
In a demarche served Dec 1, India made it clear that the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks came from Pakistan and asked Islamabad to take “strong action” against those elements New Delhi suspects to be behind the blasts.
India also asked Pakistan to hand over most wanted fugitives from Indian law and to proscribe militant outfits. The most wanted list includes Laskhar-e-Taiba leader Mohammad Hafeez Saeed, ex-Mumbai crimeboss Dawood Ibrahim and Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit’s chief Masood Azhar.
In response, Zardari offered a joint investigation team, which has been cold-shouldered by India. Subsequently, Zardari rejected the demand for handing over of fugitives asking India to produce evidence so that they can be prosecuted in Pakistani courts.
India claims it has provided strong evidence in the past – the list of India’s 20 most wanted dates back to 2002 in the aftermath of the Dec 13, 2001 attack on Indian parliament – and will decide on its next step after a formal response from Pakistan on this issue.