France backs India, asks Pak to act against terror

New Delhi: France has backed India's stand on Mumbai terror attacks and demanded that Pakistan take tough action against terrorists based in the country.

Condemning the Mumbai terror attacks, French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont on Sunday said that terrorists knew no frontiers and it is the responsibility of the global community to ensure that terrorists are "checkmated''.

Bonnafont assured India that both the United Nations and the European Union supported its demand that Pakistan immediately stop the use of its territory by terrorists.

He stressed that its now for Islamabad to ensure that Pakistani soil is never used by terror outfits again. He also repeatedly called for a joint effort of the global community in checking terrorism.

India has already provided clear evidence of the involvement of Pakistan-trained Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists in the November 26 terror attack on Mumbai.

The lone captured terrorist Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab has revealed "chilling" accounts of Pakistani involvement in the attacks.

"One of the terrorist who has been captured alive has given us a chilling account of his handlers. A few months earlier the Indian Embassy in Kabul was the target of a terrorist attack. The impunity with which these attacks are carried out is possible only because of the safety the handlers have been assured," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said on Saturday (December 20).

Mukherjee had also slammed the Pakistani government's lackasidal attitude on cracking down on terror organisations following the Mumbai terror attacks.

He also doubted if indeed it is the civilian government that is in charge in Pakistan.

"The pretence of democracy is not equivalent to democratisation. We do not believe that it is for us to advocate how other countries should be governed but we most certainly like to know whom we should deal with viz-a-viz another government. In other words who runs the show?" asked an angry Mukherjee.

India has also shared with Interpol details of the nine terrorists who were killed in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Interpol will seek more information about them from Pakistan.