Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made it plain that his visit to Pakistan would materialise only if there is substantive action against the Mumbai attack masterminds, Indian media on Sunday reported the inside news of Singh’s meeting with Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Reports said Singh put across his views when responding to Malik’s reiteration of a pending invitation, saying he was answerable to the Indian public on the delay in bringing the 26/11 guilty to justice. However, Malik told reporters upon his arrival in Pakistan that Singh had accepted the invitation.
He told reporters that during his visit, he raised the issue of Indian interference in Balochistan.
The interior minister had called on Singh on Saturday morning and brought up President Asif Ali Zardari’s earlier invitation to Singh to visit Pakistan, particularly to Singh’s native Gah village in Chakwal.
Malik quoted Singh as having told him, “My people here ask what you have done for the people who suffered during 26/11 attacks.”
The interior minister said he sought to assure Singh that the 26/11 trial would be put on the fast track once the second Pakistan judicial commission completed 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 proceedings could conclude within two to three months of the judicial commission completing its investigation.
The interior minister’s controversy-hit visit to India saw Singh meeting him for a brief 15 minutes, sufficient to complete courtesies and have tea.
