Washington, October 01: The Obama administration wants Pakistan to investigate last year’s 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and bring to book the perpetrators.
”Well, we certainly have encouraged and continue to encourage Pakistan to fully investigate the Mumbai attacks, and even more importantly, bring those responsible before their judicial system,” State Department Spokesman Philip J Crowley said yesterday.
He was commenting on a New York Time report suggesting that Pakistan is doing its own investigation into the 26/11 terrorist attacks in which Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was allegedly involved. When asked to comment on the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan in New York held recently on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Mr Crowley said, ”I think we certainly encourage a dialogue between India and Pakistan, two very important countries to the United States.
” A correspondent drew the spokesman’s attention to another part of the report which said the US policy is focused too much on the wrong border of Pakistan. It is focused too much on Afghanistan and not on the Indian side and Kashmir, because, as the article implies, the Lashkar can blow up the whole region.
Mr Crowley, in reply said, ”The United States, in this region of the world, understood clearly the importance of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and the interaction among them.” He said, ”We have a strategic relationship that is emerging with India. We have a vitally important relationship with Pakistan, are working hard to help Pakistan address the issue of extremism within its borders, and we are likewise very concerned about the cross-border activity between Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
”I think that this is kind of an inseparable, you can’t look at peace and stability in South Asia without understanding the vitally important role played by all of these three countries and, obviously, the surrounding republics in Central Asia as well,” the spokesman said.
He said, ”It’s one of the reasons why we changed our strategic focus that you could not look at these countries in isolation. And clearly, we have had discussions with both Pakistan and India on their relationship and how that affects the ability of any of these countries to address the challenges that exist within their respective borders.”
”So we recognise the importance of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. We recognise the vital importance of a stable relationship between Pakistan and India, and we continue to encourage all of these countries to work constructively together,” the spokesman added.
—Agencies