India and the US today asked Pakistan to work towards bringing the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice even as they vowed to eliminate terrorist safe havens and disrupt terror networks including that of al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
In a joint statement after marathon talks between visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the leaders reiterated their condemnation of terrorism in all its forms.
They reaffirmed their commitment to eliminating terrorist safe havens and infrastructure and disrupting terrorist networks including al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the statement said.
“The leaders called on Pakistan to work toward bringing the perpetrators of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks to justice,” it added.
The statement came just days after India summoned Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner and lodged a strong protest against the adjournment of the ongoing Mumbai terror attack case trial in Pakistan.
For the seventh time in a row, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court, trying the seven accused in the Mumbai attacks case, adjourned the hearing last Wednesday.
The trial has been going on at a snail’s speed and key planner of the attacks – LeT founder Hafiz Saeed – continues to roam freely in Pakistan spewing venom against India as well as the US.