Get tough with 26/11 plotters, Chidambaram tells Pak

ON BOARD SPECIAL AIRCRAFT/ISLAMABAD: While trying hard not to strike a shrill note lest it had repercussions for the SAARC home ministers\' conference a day later, India on Friday is understood to have \"politely but firmly\" asked Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice all the 26/11 plotters, including Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.



India is also believed to have asked Pakistan to verify details of Pakistani Army personnel and others identified by India\'s own investigation as among the 26/11 plotters and whose involvement in the carnage has been attested to independently by Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley.



Indian official sources were tightlipped and refused to confirm any details.



India is said to have asked Pakistan to hand it over voice samples of all the seven LeT terrorists who have been in Pakistani jails for their involvement in 26/11 as \"a first step\" towards restoring confidence in the neighbour\'s intention and putting the trust quotient firmly on the ground.



Pakistan, on its part, is understood to have told India that three of the seven arrested ones -- including Zakiur-ur-Rehman Lakvi, Zarar Shah and Abu-al-Qama -- refused to provide voice samples invoking self-incrimination clause (not giving evidence against themselves). Significantly, India had rejected the contention as legally untenable when it was made earlier.



India is said to have put forward its position again when home minister P Chidambaram met his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik. Chidambaram is believed to have argued that providing voice samples should not be difficult if Pakistan willed so. India is asking for the voice samples to match with the ones of those who were giving instructions to the 26/11 attackers.



Chidambaram is learnt to have told Malik that the time has come to address issues concerning the deadly Mumbai terror attacks with the seriousness that they warrant as 18 months have passed without no real progress in the probe on the Pakistani side. He is said to have told the Pakistani minister that it was time Pakistan followed \"certain leads\" to collect `concrete\' evidence against Saeed. Chidambaram is also learnt to have asked Malik to step up efforts to locate and arrest 13 absconders found guilty by Indian courts.



Malik departed from protocol to receive Chidambaram at the Chakala base of the Pakistan Air Force on the outskirts of Islamabad. The two ministers travelled together in the helicopter for security reasons.



Besides Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Abu-al-Qama, the four others who are in Pakistani jails for their role in the Mumbai carnage are Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum. They were all formally charged with planning and helping execute terror attack on Mumbai in November 2008.



Besides these seven, there are 13 absconders -- details of which had already been given by India to Pakistan in its first dossier on the Mumbai terror attack. The absconders are: Shahid Ghafoor, Andul Rehman, Ateeq-ur-Rehman, Shakil Ahmed, Muhammed Sabir Salfi and others who were the crew members of the ships Al Hussaini and Al Fouz used in ferrying the 10 Lashkar terrorists from Karachi.



Referring to Pakistani court\'s recent order that evidence against the mastermind of 26/11 Hafiz Saeed was not adequate, India is said to have asked Pakistan that the evidences against the Lashkar founder were there on Pakistani soil. So, it was their duty to collect it and present it before court.



Talking to Indian media on his special aircraft, Chidambaram had said that he planned to raise India\'s demand for action against Hafiz Saeed and others. \"Hafiz Saeed is one among them. There are controllers, there are handlers, so we need to know what action they (Pakistan government) will take against them. These matters cannot be ignored forever. Somebody has to address these issues sometime or the other.\"



He said he will also take up other issues like infiltration along the border of Jammu and Kashmir and identification of Pakistanis who have infiltrated to indulge in militant activities.



Asked whether India will accept Pakistan giving voice samples to any third country, he said, \"I suggested one time that don\'t give it to us. Give it to a third country so that it is subjected to forensic analysis in a third country.\"



On whether Pakistani army personnel were among the handlers of the 26/11 attackers, he said, \"If you are quoting from the dossier (that India gave to Pakistan), you are quoting correctly. But I do not know whether they are real names or assumed names.\"




News From: http://www.7StarNews.com