New Delhi, November 18
Impressing upon Pakistan the need to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, the United States today said expanding cooperation in counter-terrorism would be the cornerstone of the discussions between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the latter’s upcoming visit to Washington.
The two leaders would also try to resolve the remaining issues like civil liability legislation, licensing of US nuclear companies and an agreement to enable New Delhi to reprocess spent fuel, for successfully concluding the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, US Ambassador to India Tomothy Roemer said at a press conference here.
“We are optimistic that all these issues will be resolved soon. We are pushing hard to see a successful conclusion to these issues and complete the historic deal,” he said.
The Prime Minister leaves here on Saturday on a four-day state visit to Washington that is expected to bring the two countries in a broader strategic partnership. The US envoy identified counter-terrorism, climate change, education, green technology and poverty alleviation as five key areas in which the two countries proposed to move further.
Dwelling at length on counter-terrorism cooperation, Roemer said Washington had been constantly telling Islamabad that the perpetrators of the crime must be punished through the criminal system in Pakistan. “Those seven Mumbai suspects should be brought to justice.” Islamabad was also being told emphatically that Jamat-ud-Dawa (JUD) chief Haifiz Saeed must be brought to justice and the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan dismantled.
“We had experienced 9/11. India has experienced 26/11. We will continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand and hour by hour with India in fighting terrorism.’’
As part of counter-terrorism cooperation, the two sides would consider best information sharing, technologies and cooperation against groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its associates like the Al Qaeda.
Roemer described as ‘hypothetical’ a question whether the US would be ready to extradite American national David Headley, who is the custody of the FBI for plotting terror attacks in India.
There would also be robust discussions between President Obama and Prime Minister Singh on the AfPak strategy in the context of Washington considering increasing its troop strength in the area.
