Krishna says Pakistan cannot dismiss Headley's confessions

New Delhi
20 July 2010

External affairs minister SM Krishna has said that 26/11 co-
conspirator David Coleman Headley’s confessions were in the public
domain and Pakistan could not brush them under the carpet.

Whatever Headley has told the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation of
the US) has to be taken seriously by all those concerned and India’s
concerns have to be addressed, a PTI report said quoting Mr Krishna,
who returned here from Kabul Tuesday evening where he participated in
an international conference on Afghanistan.

The minister’s remarks came on the day when Pakistan dismissed as
“baseless” national security adviser Shivshankar Menon’s remarks, made
earlier in the day, in which he said that the terrorist groups' links
to "the official establishment and with existing intelligence agencies"
was getting stronger.

Asked about the roadmap for the India-Pakistan talks, Mr Krishna
reiterated that New Delhi was keen to continue the dialogue process
with Pakistan.

"I have just concluded one dialogue. As I have said earlier I have
invited foreign minister Qureshi to visit India in the later part
of the year. So, I am looking forward to that so that we can take
it up from where we left in Islamabad," Mr Krishna said.

Mr Krishna said he had shared his assessment of his recent meeting with
his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi, with US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton when he met her on the margins of the conference.
He conveyed to Ms Clinton that the India-Pakistan dialogue could not be
over in one sitting, and that India wanted a graduated approach to deal
with the problems with Pakistan.

Ms Clinton, who was in Islamabad Monday, had said that interrogation of
Headley had thrown up a "revealing set of facts" that have been shared
with Pakistani authorities.

"I don’t know the specifics (of the revelations made by Headley) but I
know that it has been quite a revealing set of facts that we've shared
with the Pakistani authorities," Ms Clinton had said during an
interaction with a group of television anchors.

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