By IANS,
New Delhi : Rejecting war as a response to the Mumbai mayhem, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday asked Pakistan to take “objective” steps to “dismantle the terror machine” and exhorted the international community to persuade Islamabad to comply with the UN resolutions against terrorism.
“The issue is not war. The issue is that the Pakistani territory is used to aid and abet terror,” Manmohan Singh told reporters outside parliament.
“We want Pakistan to make an objective effort to dismantle the terror machine. The government of Pakistan knows what it implies,” the prime minister stressed when asked about India’s options in the face of repeated denials by Pakistan of any complicity in the Mumbai attacks.
“We expect them as a member of the UN to comply with several UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions passed over the years,” Manmohan Singh said.
The prime minister was alluding to a recent resolution by the UN Security Council declaring the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a Pakistan-based militant outfit, a terrorist organisation and imposing travel and assets freeze on four Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.
“We would like the international community to use its power of persuasion to persuade Pakistan to comply with the UNSC resolutions,” the prime minister stressed.
India has accused “elements in Pakistan” of plotting and executing the Nov 26-29 Mumbai savagery that killed around 170 people, including 26 foreigners. JuD is a public front for the LeT, a banned terrorist organisation suspected of masterminding the Mumbai terror strike.
Manmohan Singh’s tough message to Islamabad comes a day after India handed over to Pakistan a letter written by Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai attacker in Indian custody, saying he and nine others who perpetrated the Mumbai attacks were Pakistanis.
Denying the existence of any record that establishes Kasab’s national identity, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik Tuesday said Islamabad will give “a detailed response” in a day or two.