New Delhi, December 15
Another important US leader today came calling on the Indian leadership in the wake of the terror attack on Mumbai and asked Pakistan in the strongest terms to deal sternly with militant groups operating on its soil and ensure that its notorious spy agency ISI was brought under the civilian control.

Influential Senator John Kerry, a close confidant of US President-elect Barack Obama, said Islamabad must take visible and effective steps to take on groups, like the LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammed. “We know it (Mumbai attack) was planned in Pakistan and we are very confident that evidence will be presented at the right time,’’ he said.

During the course of the day, he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and Leader of the Opposition L.K Advani and is understood to have conveyed Obama’s message about Washington’s intention to maintain pressure on Pakistan and impress upon it the urgent need to fight the ‘jehadi’ elements.

Kerry, who will be the chairman of the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations in the incoming administration, is the third high-level visitor from Washington following the November 26 Mumbai attacks.

At his meetings in New Delhi, Kerry was firmly told that India had solid evidence suggesting the involvement of the LeT in the Mumbai attack.

Later talking to mediapersons, he described the Mumbai attack as a ‘”turning point”, which warranted a new era of cooperation against terrorism.

The lesson of the Mumbai incidents was that the behaviour (against terrorism) had now to be different and all needed to cooperate.

The Senator said such incidents made it absolutely impossible to conduct business as usual. “Mumbai is a turning point...It calls for a new era of cooperation. It is imperative that Pakistan takes steps to deal with terrorists that are at war with civilians,” Senator Kerry said.

Kerry said it was imperative that ISI was not be allowed to “make its own choices”, in an obvious indication that the spy agency should be brought under the civilian control.

Asked about Pakistan’s response to India’s demand for the return of fugitives, Kerry said New Delhi had the right to expect that Pakistan would act in the matter.