By IANS,
New Delhi : India Saturday said it has not received any response from Pakistan on the Mumbai terrorist attack dossier it handed over six days ago and underlined that Islamabad is obliged under international conventions to hand over the suspects to New Delhi.
“I will only comment after receiving the reply,” Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told reporters when asked whether New Delhi has received any response to the dossier linking Pakistan-based elements to the Nov 26 Mumbai carnage.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Friday said New Delhi had sent a 52-page dossier “through the CIA”, and the ISI had already given its feedback on this to the US intelligence agency, and “this has been passed on to India”.
Indian officials, who did not wish to be named, said they were not aware of any dossier handed to Pakistan through the CIA.
Pakistan has yet to respond formally to the dossier Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon gave to Pakistan’s High Commissioner Shahid Malik Monday.
Three days after Pakistan admitted the Pakistani nationality of Muhammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, the lone Mumbai attacker in Indian custody, Sharma said it would have been in the interest of India and the region if Pakistan had accepted this earlier.
“From day one it was clear who they were and where they came from,” Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of a function organised by the external affairs ministry to commemorate World Hindi Day.
He was referring to the 10 gunmen who, India has maintained, came from Pakistan. Nine of them were killed by Indian commandos.
“It would have been in the interest of India and the region and would have created a conducive environment if Pakistan had not gone into denial mode and accepted (the nationality) and cooperated,” he said.
Sharma reiterated that India has not received any request for Pakistan to get consular access to Kasab but if the request is made, New Delhi “will be happy to do so”.
“Those who have been involved have been identified. Action should be taken against them so that they can face Indian justice,” he said.
“As a nation state, Pakistan is obliged that the perpetrators are brought to justice and the infrastructure of terrorism is effectively dismantled and neutralised,” he said, while stressing that Pakistan must honour its anti-terror pledge.