India terms Pakistan’s response to 26/11 ‘wishlist’ unsatisfactory
India needs to get Pakistan back on track, says External Affairs minister.
External Affairs minister says India will do anything to persuade Pakistan into granting the MFN status. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
NEW DELHI:
India termed Pakistan’s response to its “wishlist” with regard to the 2008 Mumbai attacks as unsatisfactory, calling the list ‘critical’ to ‘substantive movement’ in bilateral relations.
According to a report by Press Trust of India (PTI), External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that what Islamabad has done so far in the case was “not to our satisfaction”.
The minister said that he did not see Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statements made during his India tour as a “setback” to the dialogue process.
Malik, during his visit to India, had said that the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Pakistan was similar to the Mumbai attacks – a statement which had irked many Indian government officials. Malik had later retracted his statement saying that he was only talking about inter-faith harmony.
He had also claimed that Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Abu Jundal had worked for Indian intelligence.
“I don't see it as a setback at all. But I do believe and (what) we all believe in this country is that dialogue will move smoothly, faster and in a right direction provided the wishlist lying with Pakistan given by India as far as the Mumbai tragedy is concerned is responded to. That is a critical thing, not what is said, not what gesture is made,” Khurshid was quoted as saying.
On November 26, 2008, ten heavily-armed gunmen laid siege to the city including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, a hospital and a bustling train station, killing 166 people. The lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab was hanged in India on November 21 last year.
MFN status
Khurshid said that India will do whatever needs to be done to persuade Pakistan into granting it the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.
“We believe that it should have been done. We will do whatever needs to be done to persuade them that we should now be able to do it. It is not something which should be delayed indefinitely,” he said.
He added that India needs to get Pakistan back on track.
“If they have problems, they will certainly express them to us and obviously when it was being negotiated, they must have factored in all the different pulls and pushes, but we would like it to be moved forward and we will certainly persuade them to do so,” he said.
India termed Pakistan’s response to its “wishlist” with regard to the 2008 Mumbai attacks as unsatisfactory, calling the list ‘critical’ to ‘substantive movement’ in bilateral relations.
According to a report by Press Trust of India (PTI), External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that what Islamabad has done so far in the case was “not to our satisfaction”.
The minister said that he did not see Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statements made during his India tour as a “setback” to the dialogue process.
Malik, during his visit to India, had said that the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Pakistan was similar to the Mumbai attacks – a statement which had irked many Indian government officials. Malik had later retracted his statement saying that he was only talking about inter-faith harmony.
He had also claimed that Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Abu Jundal had worked for Indian intelligence.
“I don't see it as a setback at all. But I do believe and (what) we all believe in this country is that dialogue will move smoothly, faster and in a right direction provided the wishlist lying with Pakistan given by India as far as the Mumbai tragedy is concerned is responded to. That is a critical thing, not what is said, not what gesture is made,” Khurshid was quoted as saying.
On November 26, 2008, ten heavily-armed gunmen laid siege to the city including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, a hospital and a bustling train station, killing 166 people. The lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab was hanged in India on November 21 last year.
MFN status
Khurshid said that India will do whatever needs to be done to persuade Pakistan into granting it the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.
“We believe that it should have been done. We will do whatever needs to be done to persuade them that we should now be able to do it. It is not something which should be delayed indefinitely,” he said.
He added that India needs to get Pakistan back on track.
“If they have problems, they will certainly express them to us and obviously when it was being negotiated, they must have factored in all the different pulls and pushes, but we would like it to be moved forward and we will certainly persuade them to do so,” he said.