Chidambaram to Convey ‘Gravity of Issues’ and ‘Need for Response’ to Pak
Ahead of meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that he intends to convey to Islamabad the ‘gravity of issues’, the ‘need for a response’ and that ‘the time had come for Pakistan to address issues with the seriousness they warrant’, said media reports.
Talking to media persons on board a special flight to Islamabad, the minister said referring to Mumbai attacks: “I intend to take the opportunity to discuss the matters that have concerned us for 18 months or more.”
However, he said that India was not going to say anything in its bilateral interaction with Pakistan that could cast a shadow on the SAARC Interior Ministers’ Conference, reports said.
In response to a question if he wants to deliver a message to Pakistan during this visit, Chidambaram said that he only wanted to broach upon some matters ‘politely and firmly’, reports said.
When asked if the issue of Hafiz Saeed could come up in his talks with Rehman, the minister said, “Hafiz Saeed is one among them. There were controllers, there were handlers (during the 26/11 attacks). We need to know what action they (Pakistan) intend to take against them. These matters cannot be ignored forever. Somebody has to address these issues sometime or the other.”
He confirmed that India hoped to receive voice samples of LeT leaders like Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi so that they could be matched with handlers who were in touch with the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai, said reports.
“Surely they can give us the voice samples of the handlers. It is universally acknowledged that the handlers were in Pakistan. We think we know who the handlers were. Surely, they can give us voice samples. We have recordings on our side,” Chidambaram was quoted as saying.
On the matter of voice samples, he also said that the Pakistan government had, in the past, conveyed that some of the people ‘had declined to give their voice samples’.
Stating that the matter was likely to be discussed during the talks, he recalled that at one point of time he suggested that Pakistan give the voice samples to a third country for forensic analysis.
Asked whether he would raise Pakistani-American terror suspect David Coleman Headley’s role in the 26/11 strikes, Chidambaram said, “Not directly. We have got information on Headley. I will use that information subject to the limits under which we have gathered it.
Chidambaram, who flew into the Chaklala air base on VT-BSF (the special plane of the BSF), was received by Rehman Malik who then escorted him out in a chopper.
(Based on internet reports)
