No Talks with Pak Until Islamabad Takes ‘Credible Steps’ on Terror
Premier Manmohan Singh has ruled out talks with Pakistan as long as Islamabad does not take ‘credible steps’ to punish perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks, reported BBC.
Singh said that he briefly met his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani twice in Washington and that the meetings were confined only to exchanging pleasantries and that ‘there was no serious discussion’, report said.
“We would like Pakistan to at least bring all of these perpetrators of these horrible crimes to book and do so effectively,” Reuters quoted Singh as telling reporters.
“That’s the minimum that we expect from Pakistan. If Pakistan does that, we will be very happy to begin talking once again about all of these issues,” he was quoted as saying.
On Monday, Gilani had said that Pakistan had taken action against Lashkar-e-Taiba, but India needed to provide more evidence.
However, Singh said that he did not see ‘any need to provide any additional evidence to Prime Minister Gilani on this’.
Both Singh and Gilani met on Monday at a nuclear security summit in the US and then Gilani spoke to Singh at a reception hosted by US President Barack Obama.
A Pakistani embassy spokesman said that it was ‘not a formal meeting’.
