Even as a State Department spokesman applauded Pakistan's determination to eliminate militants, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said India "cannot be lulled into some kind of satisfaction" that Pakistan is proceeding against them.
Krishna's comments came in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York this week. He said Pakistan must take decisive action against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba, who India says is behind the Mumbai attacks.
"We want Saeed to be tried for his Mumbai attack," Krishna said. He accused Pakistan of "trying to camouflage the whole idea to suit themselves. India cannot be lulled into some kind of satisfaction that they are proceeding against them (militants). We can see through the game." Krishna's strong remarks were made ahead of a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on Saturday in New York. Terrorism, on both sides of the India-Pakistan border, will be a "focal point" of the Krishna-Qureshi meeting.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly heaped cautious praise on the Pakistani government's efforts to tackle terrorism. Noting that government's expressed determination to "eliminate dangerous elements and extremist groups within its borders," he added: "And we applaud this determination that they’ve expressed to deal with these militants who threaten not only our security, as we’ve seen in terrorist incidents and plots in the past, but also threaten the Pakistani democracy."
Krishna said New Delhi would "appeal to our friends across the board to prevail on Pakistan to see the part of reason and bring to justice all those behind the attack on Mumbai." He hinted that if India was attacked again it would not show the same restraint it did after the Mumbai attacks last year. "I hope there won't be any attacks, but if there is an attack on India, India is fully prepared to meet [it]," he said. Krishna accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan. "They are a tandem," Krishna said. "They are still together." The minister's claims are backed up by American analysts who see these continuing links as problematic especially when lawmakers in Congress are weighing tripling the size of US aid to Pakistan. Some analysts see these continuing links as a double-edged sword citing them for improved intelligence sharing as US drone attacks on suspected terrorists strike with increased accuracy.
In his comments at a daily news briefing, Kelly said the US had offered Pakistan some "very concrete assistance, and we look forward to continuing that assistance." India has expressed concern about such assistance fearing its misuse by Pakistan. Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in an interview earlier this month, declared that some of this aid had been diverted to bolster Pakistan's military capabilities to counter a threat from India. Musharraf later backtracked on his claim.
