Chidambaram reaches Islamabad, 26/11 tops agenda

A day after talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, Home Minister P Chidambaram reached Islamabad this evening to attend a meeting of the home ministers of SAARC nations. He was received by Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

A day after talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, Home Minister P Chidambaram reached Islamabad this evening. He was received by Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik. Chidambaram is expected to press for a speedy trial of the Pakistanis accused of planning 26/11 attacks.

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Chidambaram will represent India at a meeting of the home ministers of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Islamabad on Saturday.

Chidambaram will also hold a bilateral meeting with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

Although terrorism figured prominently in the discussions between India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir Thursday, Chidambaram will take up the issue in greater detail with Malik.

Chidambaram is expected to press for concrete action against Hafiz Saeed, the founder of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba-turned-Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity suspected by India to be the mastermind of the Mumbai carnage.

Last week, India gave a dossier containing specific sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) under which Saeed is wanted in India. In the past, Pakistan had cited legal difficulties in prosecuting Saeed.

Chidambaram will also seek to know from his counterpart the status of the trial of seven Pakistanis involved in the Mumbai carnage and voice samples of handlers of the 26/11 attacks, official sources said.

After his talks with Rao in Islamabad, Bashir said Thursday that both countries with discuss greater cooperation in counter-terrorism at the forthcoming meeting of home ministers between the two countries.