By IANS,
New Delhi : Days after India presented a fresh dossier on the alleged involvement of Hafiz Saeed in the Mumbai attacks, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday asked Islamabad to honour its anti-terror pledge and take “effective steps” to dismantle the “infrastructure of terrorism” on its soil.
Stressing that India wished to address differences with Pakistan through dialogue, Krishna said Islamabad was yet to take effective steps to stop infiltration and terror directed against India despite evidence about the alleged complicity of Pakistani militants in the Mumbai attacks.
“With Pakistan we have maintained that a stable Pakistan at peace with itself and the region is a desirable goal. We wish to address our differences with Pakistan through dialogue,” Krishna told 112 Indian ambassadors who have gathered here for a three-day conference to debate key foreign policy and strategic challenges facing the country.
Krishna said that India has conveyed many a time to the Pakistani leadership its desire to engage in “meaningful discussions and to develop our bilateral relations in a positive manner”.
“At the same time, we made it clear that a meaningful dialogue will only be possible following the fulfilment by Pakistan of its commitment not to allow its territory to be used for terrorist activities against India,” he said while addressing the envoys at Vigyan Bhavan.
“Pakistan must honour the pledges made in this regard.”
Underlining India’s increasing exasperation with Pakistan’s failure to take effective action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage, Krishna said: “We are still to see Pakistan take effective steps to end infiltration and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.”
Krishna, however, acknowledged that Pakistan has taken “some steps under the pressure of evidence” presented to them in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had Friday handed over to Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik the latest dossier on the November 2008 terror attacks. The dossier specifically included “additional information” on Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai carnage.
The new dossier was given in the face of Pakistan’s claims that India had not provided enough evidence to prosecute Saeed. He was placed under house arrest in December last year after the UN proscribed the JuD in the wake of the Mumbai attacks but was released by the Lahore High Court in June citing “lack of evidence”.
The conference of the Indian heads of missions abroad is the first such exercise after the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition returned to power in May.
Krishna also outlined India’s position on relations with immediate neighbourhood, New Delhi’s commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan, ties with China, the US and Russia.
Making a pitch for a more vigorous economic diplomacy, Krishna called for “timely and successful” conclusion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations and stressed that the economic work of Indian missions abroad was increasing in importance with the quantum jump in India’s global trade.