Press Pak to bring Mumbai accused to book: Indian MPs to US | World News - Hindustan Times
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Press Pak to bring Mumbai accused to book: Indian MPs to US

PTI | By, Washington
Jun 18, 2010 03:00 PM IST

A delegation of Indian lawmakers have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press Pakistan to bring Mumbai attack accused like Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to book and ensure that Islamabad does not divert US aid for anti-India activities.

A delegation of Indian lawmakers have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press Pakistan to bring Mumbai attack accused like Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to book and ensure that Islamabad does not divert US aid for anti-India activities.

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The delegation led by Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi met Clinton here and also expressed concern over the proposed China-Pakistan nuclear deal.

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The visiting MPs also raised these issues during a series of meetings with Congressmen, policy makers and officials of the Obama Administration.

"We expressed our very strong concerns about dispensable assets like Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in Pakistan against whom there is a very strong credible enormous dossier of evidence supplied to both Pakistan and the US, about why the US should not use the stronger pressure to ensure that such assets are at least brought to book under the law of the land and not only cosmetically dealt with by local courts in Pakistan, who acquit them," Singhvi said soon after his meeting with Clinton.

The MPs delegation, Singhvi said, also raised a number of concerns about how China's supplying of nuclear plants to Pakistan might be in contravention of guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

They alsourged the US to ensure Pakistan does not allow its soil to be used for anti-India activities.

"We also expressed our serious concerns about misusing US aid by Pakistan and diverting it for anti-India activities, and how much micro-scrutiny can be done by the US to ensure that the legitimate aid does not get diverted for anti-India purposes," said the Congress leader.

Singhvi is leading a group of all-party MPs to attend the fourth India-Yale Parliamentary Leadership Programme organised annually by the Yale University and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

He said the response of American officials to India's concerns has been "understanding, sympathetic, and absorbent".

"They appreciated each of the concerns of India in a detailed manner. All I can say is that they are extremely alive to it and I think, we can expect without any timelines, guarantees and assurances, very very positive action aligned with India's concerns on each of these issues," he told reporters.

When asked about American concerns if any, Singhvi said the US concerns are mainly centered around a larger security architecture for the whole of South Asia.

"I think this is an important achievement that there is no hyphenation of India-Pak relations for the US. The hyphen if at all has shifted further westwards between Pakistan and Afghanistan. That is a positive sign," he said.

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