New Delhi
6 May 2010
The US concurred with India that Pakistan needs to do more to ensure that the
26/11 plotters are brought to a speedy trial, but it urged New Delhi to refrain from finger
pointing at Islamabad.
In remarks that would not cheer South Block, US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer
told reporters here on Thursday that terrorists such as 26/11 convict Ajmal Amir Kasab or
Faisal Shahzad, who was recently arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
for the failed bombing in New York's Times Square, should not make India or the
international community focus exclusively on Pakistan.
"Let us not focus on one particular country," Mr Roemer noted, recalling that there is an
extremist outfit called the "Indian Mujahideen" operating in India just as the Al-Qaeda
was in Afghanistan or the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) in Pakistan.
Mr Roemer, a former member of the 9/11 commission in the US, said that the arrest of
Faisal Shahzad should not come as a surprise because the commission had identified
Pakistan as a training ground for terrorists, but he cautioned that the international
community should not discount the possibility of a "lone wolf" or a terrorist cell acting
independently.
He advocated that "all [countries] need to work together" to combat terrorism, without
getting into the specifics of how India, Pakistan and the US could together pursue
counter-terrorism cooperation.
Mr Roemer said he has impressed upon Pakistan's leaders to speed up the trial of the
26/11 plotters. He called on President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah
Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad on Monday on his way back here from Kabul. The
progress of the 26/11 trial in Pakistan came up during his discussion with Mr Zardari. Mr
Roemer said the US government has clearly told Pakistan that it wants to "see Pakistan
doing more" in ensuring that justice is delivered for the victims of the Mumbai attacks,
which included six American nationals.
For its part, India again reminded Pakistan to bring all the 26/11 conspirators to justice.
Speaking to journalists here soon after the sentencing of Kasab, external affairs minister
SM Krishna said India will keep engaging Pakistan for the extradition of other terrorists
wanted in connection with the Mumbai blasts. India also expected Pakistan to rein in
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and others. "... a number of others who acted as
co-conspirators will also have to be extradited and they should be brought to justice," Mr
Krishna said. India has indicated that the proposed foreign minister and foreign
secretary-level talks with Pakistan would be a success only if Islamabad ensured a
speedy trial of the 26/11 accused and adhered to its commitment of not allowing
Pakistani territory to be used for mounting terrorist attacks on India.
// BOX //
"In the light of the findings of the trial judge and in the light of the offences that Kasab
had committed, I think the judge has come to the most appropriate conclusion which
could send a positive message that anyone who wants to wage a war against India is
caught and after going through a fair trial, he will find that justice will be meted out"
-- SM Krishna on the sentencing of Kasab
"The US is very interested in swift, resolute justice .... The US respects the Indian
judicial process. Terrorism impacts not only countries, but families, too."
-- Timothy Roemer, US ambassador to India, on the sentencing of Kasab
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