Indian PM adds 26/11 rider to Pakistan visit

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made it plain that his visit to Pakistan would materialize only if there is substantive action against the 26/11 masterminds who planned and executed the terror strikes on Mumbai. Singh put across his views when responding to Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik's reiteration of a pending invitation, saying that he is answerable to the Indian public on the delay in bringing the 26/11 guilty to justice. Malik called on Singh on Saturday morning and brought up Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's earlier invitation to Singh to visit Pakistan, particularly his native Gah village in Chakwal. Malik quoted the PM as having told him, "My people here ask what you have done for the people who suffered during 26/11 attacks." The Pakistani minister said that he sought to assure Singh that the 26/11 trial would be put on fast track once the second Pakistan judicial commission completes its proposed visit to India to cross-examine 26/11 witnesses here. In fact, he later told news agency ANI in an interview that the 26/11 proceddings could conclude within two to three months of the judicial commission completing its investigation. The Pakistani minister's controversy-hit visit to India saw Singh meeting him for a brief 15 minutes, sufficient to complete courtesies and have tea. The substantial part of Malik's visit was limited to operationalizing the visa agreement with home minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Malik's reputation has preceded him as he is seen to be an inveterate publicity speaker although his outspokenness — like over 26/11, Babri Masjid and Kargil — might unwittingly reveal that the current pro-detente stance of the political and military establishment could in part be driven by Pakistan's unsettled western borders. Pakistan's preoccupations in the West may see it wanting to keep the other "front" with India relativ-ely quiet, although its pr-oxies, like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), have chaffed at having to keep a relativ-ely low profile. Malik said he told the Prime Minister that the "people of Pakistan, especially of Chakwal where he was born, want to see him...They want to see this boy who has grown to become the Prime Minister of India and also a world leader. I said that if you don't visit, the people of Pakistan will be disappointed." The point was also put across quite unequivocally when former external affairs minister S M Krishna went to Pakistan in September and met his counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. Zardari had earlier invited Singh to visit Pakistan, including a visit to Chakwal, on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti on November 28. The Prime Minister, however, declined the invitation, saying that "the time is not yet right". According to sources, Singh decided against the visit due to the slow pace of the 26/11 probe and trial in Pakistan.