Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) With Pakistan dilly-dallying over punishing the terrorists behind the Mumbai carnage, India Tuesday singled out Hafiz Saeed as the “brain behind” the 26/11 attacks and told Pakistan that it has given enough evidence to convict the man known for his anti-Indian terror activities.
India, however, stressed that it was keen to resolve its differences with its neighbours through “peaceful means and negotiations.”

Putting Pakistan to the Hafiz Saeed test, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna stressed that action against such persons will only convince New Delhi of Islamabad’s seriousness in tackling cross-border terror.

“We want that such elements should be tackled by Pakistan so that India can be convinced of the seriousness of the government of Pakistan in going after these terrorists,” Krishna told CNN-IBN in an interview.

He stressed that Pakistan has been told of Saeed’s “track record for directing terrorist activities against India” and the need for action against the man who “heads a terror organisation that is basically inimical to India’s interest.” He was referring to the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a successor to anti-India militant outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Critical of Pakistan’s tokenism, Krishna said that although Pakistan has chargesheeted “5-6″ of those suspected of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, “the more important ones are left out”, like Hafiz Saeed, who is the brain behind the attack on Mumbai.

“…well there is no word from Pakistan about him,” he said.

Krishna’s remarks came on a day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told 112 Indian ambassadors who have gathered here for a five-day conclave that India has been a victim of terrorism but will strive to engage neighbours constructively to resolve differences through dialogue.

Conveying mounting exasperation in India over Pakistan’s inaction despite receiving a fresh dossier against Saeed last week, Krishna said that the evidence given by New Delhi was enough to convict the man.

“Whatever evidence that we have gathered - in our opinion - is enough to get a conviction to a person, if it is presented through proper advocacy before a court of law,” said Krishna.

“I would not go into the details as to what exactly the dossier contains, but once Pakistan mentions the names in the dossier - it will come out,” he said.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao Friday handed over to Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik the latest dossier on the November 2008 terror attacks that specifically included “additional information” on Saeed.

Krishna, who is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next month, reiterated India’s position that no “meaningful dialogue” was possible with Pakistan unless it acted on the terror leadership, including Hafiz Saeed.

But Krishna clarified that there would be no backtracking from the Sharm el-Sheikh joint statement that delinked Pakistan’s actions on terror from the composite dialogue process, calling it an “expression of faith” for India.