WASHINGTON, Dec 11: The US State Department said on Thursday that Pakistan had acted on ‘good instincts’ in going after the individuals designated as terrorists by the UN Security Council.

At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino said the vote at the UN Security Council was important not just for India but for the rest of the world as well.

“The Pakistani government … has acted on what we think are good instincts in terms of going after some of these individuals and extremist groups,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a briefing. “And we’ll see what the next steps are.”

“The vote in the UN Security Council yesterday was an important one, and it shows that the international community recognises the threat of terrorism against all civilisations — civilised people,” said the White House press secretary.

“And I don’t know what the next step is in terms of what they would do, in terms of follow-up action, but I think that was a symbolic vote, and one of importance for India and for the rest of the world,” she added.

State Department’s Sean McCormack said it was up to Pakistan to decide how it wanted to deal with these individuals, “but we can certainly make clear our views as well as others who can make clear their views”.Mr McCormack said that Islamabad’s decision to ban Jamaatud Dawah was “certainly … a positive step”.

The United States, he said, wanted to ensure “everything is done to prevent any future terrorist attacks. And ultimately the people responsible (for the Mumbai attacks) have to be brought to justice.”

The State Department official said the United States had not made any specific prescriptions to Pakistan on how to deal with those now under arrest but had urged the Pakistanis to ensure that those involved in the Mumbai attacks were “being held to account and facing justice”.