NEW DELHI, Sept 19: A proposed India-Pakistan pact to jointly fight terrorism deserved a fair trial, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, but would be threatened if Islamabad did not do more to curb militant groups.
Under the plan agreed last week at a meeting between Mr Singh and President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of a summit of Non-Aligned Movement nations in Cuba, the two countries will set up a joint agency to tackle terrorism.
“I do think it is a new beginning. I hope it works, but if it does not work, then also we have to deal with the consequences,” Mr Singh told media people on board his aircraft before he returned to New Delhi on Monday night.
“It is quite obvious to Pakistan that things cannot be business as usual if terrorism is not under control — or if the government of Pakistan is seen not to be willing to work with us to control terrorism,” Mr Singh said in comments posted on his official Web site.
Mr Singh and Mr Musharraf also agreed that top diplomats would return to the negotiating table after India put off peace talks as investigators suspected a Pakistani hand in the July 11 bombings in Mumbai, which killed 186 people.
“There is an explicit commitment on the part of Pakistan to say they will work with us to do all that is in their control to control this scourge,” Mr Singh said.
Islamabad rejects Indian allegations that it allows its territory to be used for organising militant attacks in India.
But, underlining the risks to the fragile peace process, police in the western Indian state of Gujarat said on Tuesday they had arrested four suspected members of a Pakistan-based guerrilla group blamed for bombings in New Delhi in last October and in Varanasi this year. Police said the four men, believed to be from the Lashkar-i-Taiba, were being questioned for involvement in the Mumbai rail bombings.—Reuters
