By IANS,
New Delhi : France wants punishment for Mumbai terrorists and is monitoring foreign aid given to Pakistan to ensure it is not misused against India, a group of visiting French parliamentarians said Thursday.
They also rooted for a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council.
“Two Frenchmen were among those killed in the Mumbai attacks. We want these terrorists to be punished,” Josselin de Rohan, president of the French parliament’s committee on external affairs, defence and armed forces, told reporters here.
He is heading a three-member delegation that also comprises Jean-Pierre Chevenement and Didier Boulaud who are on a five-day visit to India beginning Wednesday.
“We will see to it that the aid (given to Pakistan) is not diverted from its stated objectives,” de Rohan replied when asked whether France shared India’s concerns about Pakistan misusing aid for bolstering anti-India defences.
The French MP, however, said that France did not have evidence yet of Pakistan misusing foreign aid.
He added that he will discuss issues relating to terrorism with Pakistani leaders when French parliamentarians visit Pakistan next week.
In a surprise admission, former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf said in an interview recently that Islamabad had used the aid provided by the US for the war against terror during his regime to strengthen defences against India.
Underlining enhanced counter-terror cooperation between India and France, de Rohan said France is involved in Afghanistan to prevent that country from becoming “a sanctuary of Al Qaeda and militants allied with it”.
Calling for quickening the pace of reform of the UN, de Rohan said: “The reform of the security council should be achieved as quickly as possible.”
A majority of countries think that the presence of India in the Security Council is necessary, he said. He cited the approval of the India-US nuclear deal by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that showed overwhelming support for New Delhi’s bigger role on the global stage.
He, however, observed that there is hesitation among some nations about supporting India’s bid for the council, but clarified that this hesitation did not come from either Europe or China.
“The Chinese do not have any problem with it. There is good understanding between India and China,” he said.
Giving an update on civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries which signed a nuclear pact nearly a year ago, French ambassador to India Jerome Bonnfont said India and France are close to finalising an agreement on sale of two advanced French atomic reactors of 1,650 MW each.