NEW DELHI – India on Monday sought voice samples of suspected Mumbai terrorist attack plotters believed to be in Pakistan as home secretaries of the two countries met in New Delhi for two days of broad-ranging talks on issues including counter-terrorism and relaxation of visa rules. The talks are due to end on Tuesday, but the focus has already turned to Wednesday’s World Cup cricket semi-final between the two old rivals after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to the game. IANS quoting sources said the Pakistani officials “assured” the Indian delegation that they would look into the possibility of challenging a court ruling that prevented Islamabad from sharing the voice samples with New Delhi.
India since long has been demanding voice samples of the seven Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LT) terrorists – including top leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abu al-Qama and Zarar Shah – suspected to have masterminded the Mumbai carnage that killed over 170 people, including foreigners, Online reported. Indian investigators want to match the voice samples with taped telephone calls between the 10 terrorists who unleashed the Mumbai mayhem and their Pakistani handlers. “Talks are extremely positive and in the right direction,” Indian Home Secretary Gopal Pillai told reporters at the end of the first day of talks. The two sides would issue a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon, he added.
Progress in Monday’s talks was anyway expected to be small. They are about preparing the groundwork for a ministerial meeting in July that would put issues like Kashmir, terrorism and trade on the negotiating table in what is known as the “composite dialogue”. In a goodwill gesture ahead of the cricket match, President Asif Ali Zardari will also free an Indian national, Gopal Das, who has been languishing in a Pakistani prison for 27 years as an alleged spy. Wednesday’s match has been heralded as “cricket diplomacy”. “Going by past experience, however, cricket diplomacy has sadly been about short-lived atmospherics,” The Times of India said in an editorial.
