London : India could cut off business, transport and tourist
links with Pakistan and isolate it from the rest of the world if it fails to
help probe the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Home Minister P. Chidambaram has
warned.
“There are many, many links between India and Pakistan, and if Pakistan does
not cooperate and does not help to bring the perpetrators to heel, those
ties will become weaker and weaker and one day snap,” Chidambaram told The
Times newspaper in an interview.
Asked what Pakistan was doing to help with the investigation, Chidambaram
said: “Zero. What have they provided? Nothing.”
Ten gunmen struck key places in Mumbai Nov 26 and killed more than 170
people, including 26 foreigners. India has maintained the terrorists were
from Pakistan, but Islamabad has sought more evidence.
India last week handed over a dossier of evidence to Pakistan, but is yet to
receive any response.
“Why would we entertain Pakistani business people? Why would we entertain
tourists in India? Why would we send tourists there?” the home minister
asked.
He refused to discuss when such measures might be introduced, but said: “We
need cooperation soon.”
Chidambaram briefed Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who arrived
in New Delhi Tuesday on a four-day official visit, on the progress in the
26/11 investigations.