By IANS,
Bangalore : External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Saturday said it was high time Pakistan acted against the perpetrators of Mumbai attack to prove that it was serious about fighting terrorism.
“I think it is for Pakistan to act now against the perpetrators of 26/11 to show the world and India that they are serious about fighting terrorism. We have given enough evidence through six dossiers against conspirators, abettors and perpetrators of 26/11,” Krishna told reporters at his residence here.
Though Pakistan continued to be the epicentre of terrorism in the region, Krishna said India would keep engaging its government on the logical follow up on the basis of evidence produced so far.
“We expect Pakistan to prosecute Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders for masterminding the Mumbai terror attacks in a court of law. It has to be Pakistan’s initiative to satisfy India’s requirements to resume the composite dialogue,” Krishna said at his maiden press conference in his home town after becoming India’s foreign minister four months ago.
Reiterating that Pakistan was at fault for the suspension of the composite dialogue, Krishna said India was in engagement with its government on all bilateral issues till the Mumbai attacks on Nov 26, 2008 disrupted it.
“Though Pakistan is yet to take firm action on our dossiers, we are working with its government and other countries to prevent any type of terror attacks on India in future,” Krishna pointed out.
On his unscheduled stopover in Karachi late Thursday while returning to New Delhi from Dubai by an Emirates flight, Krishna said it was unpleasant and stressful to have been in the aircraft for more than six hours for reasons beyond anyone’s control.
“They (airport officials) did not allow anyone to step out of the aircraft. I have no information whether they were aware that I was in the aircraft. As the Karachi airport was a re-fuelling hub for Emirates, I was assured by the airline that the aircraft would return to Dubai after re-fuelling,” Krishna recalled.
Inclement weather prevented the Emirates flight from landing in New Delhi and it was diverted to Karachi.
Krishna was returning to India after cutting short his four-day visit to Brazil where he participated in the ministerial meeting of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) countries to finalise the agenda of the IBSA summit of heads of state in November.