Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday spoke to US President Barack Obama over phone and discussed the situation in the region, exactly a week after the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

A PMO spokesman said Singh and Obama discussed further growth and development of Indo-US relations and the situation in the region.

He said the conversation was warm and covered wide-ranging subjects.

Sources, however, did not say whether issues related to Osama’s killing figured in the talks.

The conversation between the two leaders comes as the US president in a TV interview expressed apprehension that some people in the Pakistan government may have been involved in providing support structure for Osama, who was killed in the garrison town Abbottabad.

This is the first conversation between the Indian prime minister and the US president since Osama was killed May 2 in a raid by US commandos in Abbottabad.

Earlier, in Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said that Pakistan had not created Al Qaeda or invited Osama. He accepted “intelligence failure” over the presence of the Al Qaeda chief in Pakistani territory for the past few years.

In his comments after Osama’s killing, the prime minister had termed it as a significant step forward and called upon the international community and Pakistan in particular to work comprehensively to end the activities of all terror groups.

The prime minister had hoped that Osama’s elimination would deal a decisive blow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

The Indian government had also taken note of the fact that the killing of Osama had taken place in Abbottabad “deep inside Pakistan” and had underlined its concerns that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in the neighbouring country.

It said that perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack, including the controllers and handlers of the terrorists who actually carried out the attack, continue to be sheltered in Pakistan and had called upon the neighbouring country to arrest the people whose names have been handed over.

In another development related to 2008 Mumbai terror attack, the second chargesheet filed in a US court against Tahawwur Rana, one of the plotters of the attack names Major Iqbal, a suspected officer of Pakistan’s ISI spy agency, as one of the five accused.

According to officials, the April 26 chargesheet has also named Sajid Mir, Abu Qahfa, Mazhar Iqbal and Lashkar Member D. Among the Pakistani men, four are wanted by India in the Mumbai terror strike that left 166 people dead over three days of mayhem Nov 26-29, 2008.