Mumbai attack anniversary: India tells Pakistan to put off Malik's visit

Sources say Malik's visit to attend operationalisation of new visa regime was too close to Mumbai attacks...


Web Desk November 19, 2012

NEW DELHI: India has asked Pakistan to cancel plans for interior minister Rehman Malik to visit New Delhi later this week to attend the operationalisation ceremony for the new Indo-Pak visa agreement, The Indian Express reported.

Though New Delhi has cited the coming winter session of Parliament this week since home minister Sushilkumar Shinde would be busy being the leader of Lok Sabha, as the reason for its inability to host Malik. Though some experts suggest Islamabad's failure to punish those involved in Mumbai 2008 appears to be the key reason.

Sources said since the fourth anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack falls three days after the proposed visit of the Pakistani leader, and Home Ministry officials seem to have advised against hosting Malik.

Malik has been accused of failing to keep his promises on acting against perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack which claimed 166 lives.

Trial against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other accused of Mumbai attacks case at a Rawalpindi court has been very ‘slow’ and New Delhi's request for voice samples of handlers of the terrorists was yet to be acceded by Islamabad and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed continues to roam freely in Pakistan, they said.

"Under such a situation, it is not prudent to host the Pakistani Interior Minister on the eve of the fourth anniversary of 26/11 attack," sources said.

The message was conveyed to Pakistan through diplomatic channels. India has not yet suggested new dates for Rehman's visit.

COMMENTS (59)

Crystal | 11 years ago | Reply

What has the Indian government done to prevent, discourage, or detect terroristic acts since the Mumbai attacks? My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families, even the ones who carried this out. Just because there are a few bad apples in the tree does not make the whole tree bad. I hope they are able to come to an understanding...didn't Pakistan split off because they wanted a country just for Muslim Indians?

Deb;India | 11 years ago | Reply

@Sexton Blake

I agree that we should have done better in tackling the issue of TB. Especially when it has been proved to be a lesser menace due to availabilty of cheaper drugs. Like you I am also not from medical proffession, but what I am told is that we all (even the healthy ones) carry the germ but get effected only when our level of resistance goes under a certain level. And that happens mostly due to malnutrition. I am no appologist of the government, but I can appreciate the problem of managing 1.2 billion people who widely differ among themselves in terms of every possible denominations; from level of awareness, education, income, lifestyle, food habit etc. etc. But lets hope we will overcome this menace also, like we did in case of Polio and to a large extent, of Malaria.

Thanks for your concern and regards.

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