Pakistan still aiding militants, says India
Reuters, New Delhi
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government had "reasonable" evidence of Pakistani state backing for Islamist militants who organise attacks in India, two days after the nations finalised a joint anti-terrorism panel. Mukherjee told NDTV in an interview aired on Friday that New Delhi had information pointing to the involvement of Pakistan's government in recent violence in India. "So, therefore, we do feel that we have reasonable evidence, good evidence that there has been some involvement of some of the (Pakistani state) organisations," Mukherjee said. Mukherjee's comments came after the top foreign ministry officials from the two countries met in New Delhi this week for their first formal talks in nearly a year. India pressed Pakistan on what it says is the involvement of Pakistani militant groups in recent attacks in Indian cities, which have left more than 200 people dead. But in a move seen as a step forward in their cautious peace process, the two nuclear rivals put the final touches to a panel to tackle terrorism through the sharing of information. Peace moves, which began in January 2004, were stalled by deadly train bombings in Mumbai in July which some Indian officials have said were executed by Pakistani militant groups with the help of disaffected Indian Muslims, and plotted by Islamabad's military spy agency, the ISI. In October, India's National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said Delhi had good but not clinching evidence against the ISI. Mukherjee said India continues to harbour suspicions about the role of Pakistani government agencies. "I do not know whether any country of the world will say that I have sanctioned a terrorist activity ... no state can declare that terrorism is the accepted policy of the state," he told NDTV. New Delhi has long accused Pakistani of supporting Muslim rebels fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir, while Islamabad says it is doing all it can to curb cross-border infiltration by Pakistan-based militants. Pakistani officials say New Delhi is too quick to blame Pakistan without evidence when an attack takes place in India, hurting the delicate peace process. Both countries came to the brink of war in the summer of 2002 after New Delhi blamed Pakistani militants for an attack on its parliament in December, 2001.
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