By IANS
New Delhi: A day after National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan blamed Pakistan’s ISI for the recent suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, India Sunday underlined its “unwavering determination” to continue its reconstruction work in Afghanistan and said the attack was the “work of common enemies”.
“The attack on July 7 is the work of our common enemies, of the enemies of our common friendship, and of the enemies of peace in Afghanistan and our region,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said at the memorial service in Kabul for the victims of the terrorist attack on the Indian mission.
Menon’s two-day visit to the Afghan capital, beginning Sunday, coincided with the Indian mission resuming issuing of visas that sent a clear message across that India will not be deterred from its reconstruction work in Afghanistan.
The deadly car bomb attack, the first major attack on an Indian mission abroad, killed 54 Afghans and four Indians, including a diplomat and defence attaché of brigadier rank.
“No words of condemnation are too strong for the perpetrators and organisers of this attack. They must and will face a reckoning. Justice must be served,” Menon said.
“I have come from Delhi to be here with you on this significant and poignant occasion. We, Afghans and Indians, have suffered grievous losses in the dastardly terrorist attack on our Kabul embassy on July 7,” he said.
“Our heart goes out to the victims, the injured and their families,” he added.
Saying that sacrifices of those killed in the attack will not be in vain, Menon said India was “determined to continue the work of these martyrs to our friendship.”
He underlined that India’s commitment to the reconstruction of Afghanistan was unwavering. India has pledged $850 million for various reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, ranging from roads and bridges to power stations and parliament complex.
Although Menon did not name “common enemies”, it was anybody’s guess who he was referring to. Narayanan Saturday said India had a “fair amount” of intelligence inputs about the involvement of Pakistan’s ISI in the July 7 suicide attack on its embassy in Kabul.
“We have no doubt that the ISI is behind this. We are in the favour of the peace process, but the ISI is not in any way part of it,” Narayanan had told TV channels.
Pakistan resents India’s growing profile and image in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 as it regarded Afghanistan as its backyard.
This explains why the India-aided Zaranj-Delaram road – which will reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on Pakistan by providing it access to Central Asia – has been targeted by the Taliban and its backers many times in the past three years.
The suicide attack on the Indian mission came nearly a fortnight before the crucial road link is expected to be completed July 17.
Menon also lauded India’s ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad for setting “a magnificent example” by putting the embassy back in shape as it started issuing visas Sunday, barely six days after the car bomb attack. “It makes India very proud,” he said.
Alluding to “strong and spontaneous” support and sympathy India has received from the Afghan government and from the Afghan people, Menon said: “These words and actions are a great comfort to us all. We are most grateful.”
Earlier in the day, Afghan President Karzai expressed his shock and horror and determination to work together against the forces behind the attack.
“Let there be no doubt that India and Afghanistan are and will be, today and in the future, partners,” he underlined.