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| India-Pakistan |
| PakistanÂ’s queries an endless exercise: Chidambaram |
| 2009-07-18 |
| Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday described as an “endless exercise” Pakistan seeking fresh clarifications on the Mumbai terror attack and said this would perhaps be the last time he would be answering them. “It can’t be an endless exercise. It has to come to an end. It is an endless exercise, very tiresome. I think perhaps this is the last time I will answer Pakistan’s questions on this issue,” he told Times Now. He was answering questions on Islamabad giving a fresh dossier in which it had sought replies on some new questions relating to the Mumbai attack. Mr. Chidambaram said these are four minor questions which can be easily answered and he has asked officials to prepare the reply. “We will send the replies,” he said. He said the material the Indian government had given was enough to secure the conviction of the accused in Pakistan’s courts. “I am sorry for the prosecutors of Pakistan who think this is not enough to conclude investigations and start prosecution. The material given to Pakistan is enough for any court of law to convict the accused,” he said. The Home Minister said there had to be some supplementary investigations on Pakistani soil and the accused brought to justice. Mr. Chidambaram said Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was an accused who could be convicted easily. “Of course a judge has to be appointed. There has to be a trial and a judgment of conviction. If they do the investigation along with the evidence we have given, the accused can be nailed very easily. But they are nowhere near starting the trial whereas in India we are halfway into Kasab’s trial,” he said. “It is a very sad commentary on the legal skills of the prosecutors in Pakistan,” he said. Mr. Chidambaram said it remained India’s position that no non-state actor could launch a terror attack of this scale and magnitude on India without State support. |
| Posted by:john frum |