Yekaterinburg, June 17: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday bluntly told President Asif Ali Zardari to dismantle the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and stop terror attacks emanating from there against India.
Dr Singh made the remarks at a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit here.
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Pakistan is the new epicentre of terror: US expert The 40-minute meeting began with Manmohan Singh telling Zardari that he was pleased to meet him but stressing in his opening remark that Pakistani territory “should not be used for acts of terrorism against India”.
“Excellency, I am pleased to meet you. But I have a limited mandate to tell you that the Pakistani territory can’t be used for acts of terror against India,” Manmohan Singh told Zardari.
The message, conveyed in front of television cameras when the two leaders shook hands before their closed-door meeting on the sidelines of a multilateral-forum deliberations, was so sharp that the President was apparently embarrassed.
“Please let them go,” Zardari remarked to Singh, wanting the journalists to leave before they could carry on with their conversation.
Dr Singh asked Zardari to take “strong and credible action” against terrorist outfits and create the “right atmosphere” for the resumption of the stalled bilateral dialogue.
He also conveyed India’s growing disappointment with Pakistan’s inaction against the architects and executors of the Mumbai mayhem, informed sources said.
The PM singled out the release of Hafiz Saeed, the suspected mastermind of the 26/11 attacks, to underscore Islamabad’s lack of seriousness in acting against anti-India terror outfits.
The two leaders met at the Silver Room of the Hotel Hyatt Regency in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, the industrial town located nearly 1,400 km from Moscow, minutes after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit they attended as observers.
They met for over half an hour and held wide-ranging discussions that focused on terrorism. The Prime Minister indicated his willingness to engage with Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues, but made it clear that unless Islamabad takes credible action, it would be difficult to resume the peace process, an official disclosed.
Pakistan, in turn, made a strong pitch for the resumption of the composite dialogue.
The Pakistani president explained the steps taken to deal with the terror problem that his country itself was facing internally. He said Pakistani soil was not being used for terrorism against any other country and emphasised that “we are fighting a war against terrorism and the world must wake up and take notice of the enormous sacrifices we have made”.
The two leaders agreed to have their foreign secretaries hold talks centred on cross-border terrorism and report to them about their progress before they meet again on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit July 15-16 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh.
This was the first high-level contact between India and Pakistan since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The meeting was sought by Pakistan when its High Commissioner in New Delhi Shahid Malik met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon last week.
Zeenews Bureau
Yekaterinburg, June 16: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday bluntly told President Asif Ali Zardari to dismantle the terror infrastructure in Pakistan and stop terror attacks emanating from there against India.
Dr Singh made the remarks at a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit here.
Related Stories
‘Pak might soon move troops from border with India’
Pak media sees impetus to peace process as PM, Zardari meet
Pakistan is the new epicentre of terror: US expert The 40-minute meeting began with Manmohan Singh telling Zardari that he was pleased to meet him but stressing in his opening remark that Pakistani territory “should not be used for acts of terrorism against India”.
“Excellency, I am pleased to meet you. But I have a limited mandate to tell you that the Pakistani territory can’t be used for acts of terror against India,” Manmohan Singh told Zardari.
The message, conveyed in front of television cameras when the two leaders shook hands before their closed-door meeting on the sidelines of a multilateral-forum deliberations, was so sharp that the President was apparently embarrassed.
“Please let them go,” Zardari remarked to Singh, wanting the journalists to leave before they could carry on with their conversation.
Dr Singh asked Zardari to take “strong and credible action” against terrorist outfits and create the “right atmosphere” for the resumption of the stalled bilateral dialogue.
He also conveyed India’s growing disappointment with Pakistan’s inaction against the architects and executors of the Mumbai mayhem, informed sources said.
The PM singled out the release of Hafiz Saeed, the suspected mastermind of the 26/11 attacks, to underscore Islamabad’s lack of seriousness in acting against anti-India terror outfits.
The two leaders met at the Silver Room of the Hotel Hyatt Regency in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, the industrial town located nearly 1,400 km from Moscow, minutes after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit they attended as observers.
They met for over half an hour and held wide-ranging discussions that focused on terrorism. The Prime Minister indicated his willingness to engage with Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues, but made it clear that unless Islamabad takes credible action, it would be difficult to resume the peace process, an official disclosed.
Pakistan, in turn, made a strong pitch for the resumption of the composite dialogue.
The Pakistani president explained the steps taken to deal with the terror problem that his country itself was facing internally. He said Pakistani soil was not being used for terrorism against any other country and emphasised that “we are fighting a war against terrorism and the world must wake up and take notice of the enormous sacrifices we have made”.
The two leaders agreed to have their foreign secretaries hold talks centred on cross-border terrorism and report to them about their progress before they meet again on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit July 15-16 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh.
This was the first high-level contact between India and Pakistan since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The meeting was sought by Pakistan when its High Commissioner in New Delhi Shahid Malik met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon last week.
–Agencies