Relations with Pak Not Favourable for Talks: PM
Prime Minster Manmohan Singh has said that currently relations with Pakistan are not favourable enough for the two countries to hold talks at any level.
His remarks, delivered on the sidelines of a function in Barmer, came after the trial of five accused of last year’s Mumbai terror attacks started in a Pakistani anti-terror court.
Singh’s statement is significant in the context of socking remarks of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik that India could have eschewed the terror strike had it shared prior intelligence information with the country.
“If only New Delhi would have given us all the prior information it had about the imminent attack, India could have avoided it altogether,” Malik said at a press conference in London earlier this week.
In response to a query about why Pakistan didn’t act against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Malik said: “To act against Saeed, India needs to give us tangible evidence that can stand the test of Pakistan courts. We need to examine the evidence provided by India on the basis of which Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice against Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.”
In connection with the 26/11 attacks, the court is trying the case against five operatives of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), its chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi included.
However, it’s hard to get hang of the details of hearing being conducted in-camera at the anti-terror court no 2 in high security Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, for the court has slapped gag orders on lawyers.
In the last hearing, too, which was held on July 25, journalists were not allowed to cover the proceedings for security reasons.
Counsel for the Federal Investigation Agency, which investigated the 26/11 attacks and detained the five Lashkar operatives, had contended that the hearing should be held in-camera because of the sensitivity of the matter. The judge admitted his request.
In the case, chief Lakhvi is charged with masterminding the attack, while four others, including LeT’s communications expert Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq and Shahid Jamil Riaz are charged as facilitators, manager of funds and for locating hideouts for the attackers in Rawalpindi city.
