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India tells Pakistan: LeT or peace
India tells Pak to control LeT ? which ?is a creature of the ISI?, writes Nilova Roy Chaudhury. The G8 Summit
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not spoken to the Pakistani president over telephone since the Mumbai blasts but "contacts have been established with the government of Pakistan at all levels".
Official sources said India had told Pakistan to control the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) — which “is a creature of the ISI” and has been responsible for over 80 per cent of the violent attacks in India — or it would be difficult to move ahead with the peace process.
Responding to questions about Pervez Musharraf on board the special aircraft carrying him to St. Petersburg on Sunday, Singh said: “In all these matters, there’s a learning process. President Musharraf is the president of Pakistan and we’ve to deal with people who’re in government.” The PM refused to say “any harsh words” about the man with whom he had earlier claimed he could do business.
The sources said India would “name” Pakistan not only at the outreach summit (of the G-8 and other five countries, including India) but also in every bilateral interaction Singh would hold over two days with leaders like US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao. India will not be “blaming” Pakistan but “informing our interlocutors” of Pakistan’s role in fostering terrorist incidents in India and elsewhere.
Though India will not disengage from a dialogue with Pakistan, the countries “must find new pathways for establishing friendly relations”. Singh said: “But all this cannot move forward if terrorism, aided and abetted from outside, continues to take a heavy toll of lives of innocent citizens of India...”
The Mumbai blasts were clearly “an attempt to destabilise our economy, since Mumbai plays such an important role in our nation’s economic life”. “Any attempt to disturb the normal functioning of life in a city as important as Mumbai has an adverse effect on the climate for investment, the climate for enterprise,” the PM said. “That’s an attempt to derail our economy.”
