US to Pak: Take action against 26/11 perpetrators

Washington: Cranking up pressure on Pakistan, the Obama Administration on Saturday asked it to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.

The US nudge came a day after Home Minister P Chidambaram did some hard talk, telling Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top security officials that Pakistan was dilly-dallying in prosecuting those responsible for the 26/11 carnage, including the mastermind Hafiz Mohd Saeed, the LeT founder who was roaming free in that country.

"We would hope that the Pakistani authorities will continue their investigation and will bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, P J Crowley, told reporters.

Chidambaram, during his maiden trip here as Home Minister, also told the US officials that security threats from Pakistan have not diminished and that there has been an increase in infiltration from across the Indian border in the

last four months.

"Among the topics discussed were ongoing cooperation on terrorism, following up on the Mumbai attacks and deepening our cooperation between the two countries," Crowley said when asked about the meeting between Clinton and Chidambaram.

Chidambaram also gave to US officials three lists of terrorists and gangsters, including 60 Pakistanis killed by Indian security forces in various encounters in different parts of the country and another 10 arrested in the past year, a top Government official said in New Delhi.

Chidambaram had compiled the lists before leaving for the US and shared it with American officials. "Their (the terrorists') names and addresses in Pakistan were given in the list," the official said.

At the end of his US visit, Chidambaram told reporters here that he was going back to India with a "lot of ideas".

One of these was establishing something on the lines of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre of the US which spearheads American efforts to combat terrorism at home and abroad by analysing threat perceptions and sharing information with friendly countries.

During his visit, the Home Minister briefed the US leadership about the ground realities about terrorism in South Asia, had a first-hand experience of the steps being taken by the US with regard to counter-terrorism and discussed various issues of mutual interest.