Take Actions against Terror Groups to Better Relations with India: Blake

The US has urged Pakistan to take action against anti-India terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), saying that Punjab-based militants ‘are targeting Pakistan as well’, reported IANS.

Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said that he had told his interlocutors in Islamabad that it could do more to better relations with New Delhi, said report.

Blake visited India and Pakistan last month.

Hailing foreign secretary level talks between the two countries, he said that India sought two things: the continued prosecution of Mumbai terror attacks suspect and ‘progress to curtail cross-border infiltration that is taking place from Pakistan into India’, report said.

Blake said that he had ‘reminded them that from 2004 to 2007 both of those countries made quite important progress in their bilateral relations, and that that progress was made possible in part by the significant efforts that the government of Pakistan made at that time to stop cross-border infiltration’, said report.

He lauded Islamabad for the ‘very important progress’ that Pakistan made in Swat and South Waziristan launching army offensive against Taliban and arresting them, said report,

“I urged them to also take action against the Punjab-based groups, such as LeT, not only because that’s important to India, but it’s important to the United Statesl,” he was quoted as saying.

“LeT has growing ambition and scope in its activities, as shown by the David Headley case. And so we think it’s very much in the interests of Pakistan, as well, to take action against the LeT,” Blake was quoted as saying.

“I think one can argue there is a lot of important progress that has been made but we think there also needs to be progress against these Punjab-based groups,” he was quoted as saying in reference to LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed involved in a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

Mentioning attacks in Lahore, he pointed out that Punjab-based terrorists ‘are targeting Pakistan as well’, report said.