Krishna slams Pillai over ISI statements

In a significant move, Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna castigated career bureaucrat Home Secretary G K Pillai for a statement that angered Pakistan, on Wednesday.

Krishna disapproved of Pillai's remarks on ISI's role in Mumbai terror attacks on the eve of Indo-Pak talks.

"If I was the Home Secretary in the government, I would not have spoken about Headley report," Krishna said.

India last year linked Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) with the attacks, saying the perpetrators were “clients and creations” of the agency.

“It was not just a peripheral role,” the Indian Express newspaper quoted Pillai as saying. “They (ISI) were literally controlling and coordinating it from the beginning till the end.”

India has blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants for the Mumbai attacks. It broke off a 4-year-old peace process with Pakistan, saying reviving the dialogue would depend on action against LeT and its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.