Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington, the US on Wednesday pressed Pakistan to act against perpetrators of Mumbai attacks, including Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, saying it wants to see results.
Describing Lashkar-e-Taiba as a global threat, US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer said Pakistan should recognise the dangers and dismantle the terror infrastructure existing on its soil.
Situation in Pakistan, the Mumbai attacks and cooperation in counter-terrorism will be high on the agenda of Singh's meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on November 24, amid the US' keenness to work "hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder" with India in preventing terror strikes.
The two leaders will also discuss implementation of the historic civil nuclear agreement, regarding which a few issues like liabilities, licensing and reprocessing, remain to be sorted out.
Climate change, education and poverty-alleviation would also be among the issues of discussion of the Singh-Obama meeting during which the two sides are expected to unveil a "new relationship based on strategic global partnership" and chalk out path of cooperation for meeting global challenges.
"The seven Mumbai suspects should be brought to justice in Pakistan... We need to see action and results from our partners in Pakistan," Roemer told a press conference here, adding even Saeed should be brought to justice.
The US Ambassador said this message has been resolutely communicated to Pakistan by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser James Jones during their visits to Pakistan recently.
Roemer was replying when pointed out that the trial in the 26/11 case continues to be delayed in Pakistan even as the first anniversary of the attacks is approaching.
He said Pakistan needs to see the danger posed to itself from groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has "evolved from regional threat to global terror group," and "concentrate" on dismantling terror infrastructure.
Crackdown by Pakistan on terror groups on its soil will have an effect on action in Afghanistan, he said, while pointing out that situation in these countries would figure in the talks between Singh and Obama.
He evaded a direct reply to a question on India's concerns with regard to diversion by Pakistan of American funds meant for fighting terrorism but said the US would soon announce a new policy on Afghanistan that will be a combination of defence, diplomacy and developmental issues.
Roemer said the US and India would work together to protect their citizens from terrorism. This will entail exchange in information and technologies.
Equating 26/11 with 9/11, the US Ambassador said the Mumbai attack was "tragic and heart-rending" incident, which will be discussed by Singh and Obama.
Talking about the already-existing unprecedented cooperation in counter terrorism between India and the US, Roemer said collaboration like information sharing is taking place even on hourly basis.
He also highlighted the fact that FBI had testified against "blood-thirsty" attackers of Mumbai.
Referring to the visit of Home Minister P Chidambaram to the US recently, he said it was successful and he had "captured the best" the coordination between the two countries.
Asked whether the US would extradite to India David Coleman Headley, an LeT operative held by FBI, he said it was a hypothetical question.
On the delay in implementation of Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Roemer said four-five issues had remained to be resolved when he arrived in India as Ambassador earlier this year.
"Tremendous progress" has been made on this issue but three issues were yet to addressed, he said. These issues are -- enactment of a Liability legislation by India, negotiations on setting up of a Dedicated Reprocessing Facility in India and licensing aspects.
"We are optimistic that all the three issues will be resolved soon... We are pushing hard to implement the agreement," he said. PTI
