By IANS,
New Delhi : India and Pakistan will hold a special meeting of the joint anti-terror mechanism here Friday that will focus on the alleged complicity of the spy agency ISI in the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul over three months ago.
Vivek Katju, special secretary in charge of political and international organizations in the external affairs ministry, will hold talks with the Pakistani delegation led by Aizaz Ahmad Choudhry, additional secretary in charge of South Asia, the foreign office announced here Wednesday.
India is likely to present “some evidence” of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) complicity in the July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed an Indian diplomat and a military attaché in the first attack on an Indian mission overseas, official sources said.
Intelligence intercepts by the US agencies, too, had pointed to the involvement of the ISI in the Kabul attack. Pakistan has, however, vehemently denied the charge of any connection with the Kabul bombing.
India is also likely to remind Pakistan about its January 2004 pledge not to allow its territory to be used for terror activities against it.
“The attack on our embassy is viewed with grave concern by the government as a dastardly terrorist attack perpetuated by the enemies of peace in Afghanistan and our region,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement in parliament Wednesday.
“The investigation into the attack and to identify all its perpetrators is continuing,” he said.
The two countries had agreed to hold the special session of the anti-terror mechanism during the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York Sep 24.
India and Pakistan have held three meetings of the joint anti-terror mechanism, set up in 2006, to enhance cooperation in the crucial area of counter-terrorism and to assist each other with specific information for preventing terrorist attacks.