We Are Tightening Screws on Pak: US to India

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Source: India Times

NEW DELHI: US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte has assured India that the US is pushing Pakistan to widen its ongoing crackdown against terror outfits and dismantle terror infrastructure targeted against India.

Mr Negroponte, the third US official to do the New Delhi-Islamabad trip, met external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and national security advisor M K Narayanan to discuss the latest developments on the anti-terror front.

He is also understood to have updated the Indian leadership on the discussions he had in Islamabad where he met Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari and held talks with the Pakistani army chief and senior government ministers.

Mr Negroponte is understood to have put pressure on Pakistan to continue action against the terror network and reportedly handed over a list of terror outfits, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, LeT front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al Rashid Trust, which was proscribed by UNSC. A Pakistani newspaper report said that Mr Negroponte had told Islamabad to increase the scope of operations to include ``groups that may be linked with subversive activities in India.”

Washington, which does not want tensions in the Indian subcontinent to escalate, has told New Delhi that it would continue to pressure Islamabad. But New Delhi wants Islamabad to take ``concrete measures’’ and is not satisfied with the ongoing action against terror elements. New Delhi also wants access to Lashkar-e-Toiba operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who has been detained by the Pakistani authorities. India believes that Lakhvi is the main planner and coordinator of the Mumbai terror attacks.

After the meetings, Mr Negroponte reiterated the US desire to bring perpetrators of the attacks to book. ``We think it is imperative that these attacks be thoroughly investigated and we think it is imperative that those responsible for perpetrating these attacks be brought to account,’’ Mr Negroponte said. ``So the effort at the moment is concentrated on investigating these attacks and bringing those responsible to account.’’

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