By IRNA,
Islamabad : British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Friday that he is convinced that the Pakistani government is committed finding and prosecuting the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.
“I want Pakistan to take action because British citizens were killed in the (Mumbai) attacks,” he said. Three Britons were killed and seven others injured in the terrorist strike and this “directly speaks to British national interest”, Miliband told a news conference after meeting Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
He asked Pakistan to go “farther and faster” in taking action to prosecute and punish persons found guilty of involvement in the Mumbai attacks and in uprooting terrorist infrastructure within the country.
Miliband acknowledging the steps taken so far by Pakistan to detain a “significant number” of persons after the Mumbai incident, and said such “action needs to go farther and faster”.
He said it is clear that Pakistan’s current policy to tackle groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba “does not work” and needs to be reviewed. He said that he is not conveying a message on behalf of India.
He advocated a two-pronged approach comprising the prosecution of the persons detained and “putting out of business” the terrorist infrastructure within Pakistan that can be used to launch further attacks.
“It is vital that the detentions are turned into prosecution with charges, and if found guilty, for the persons to be punished,” he said, adding Pakistan must “rebuff” attempts for its soil to be used as a launching pad for attacks like those in Mumbai.
Miliband said it is very clear that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by the banned Lashker-e-Taiba and had originated in Pakistan. “The terrorism which struck in Mumbai is the greatest threat faces Pakistan,” he observed.
Replying to a question about Pakistan’s offer of conducting a joint probe into the Mumbai attacks, he said: “India wants action from the government of Pakistan. That is also what we want. There has been some action, we want more.”