NEW DELHI, Dec 15:
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today raised the issue of pending trial against perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks based in Pakistan with the visiting Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Malik, who had a 15-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, said a Pakistani judicial commission will be sent here to take forward the 26/11 case and efforts would be made to conclude the trial in Pakistan as soon as possible.
India has conveyed its serious concerns over the slow pace of trial of the 26/11 accused in Pakistan.
Malik also said he has renewed Pakistan’s invitation to the Prime Minister to visit that country.
“We have already invited him. Today also I told him that the people of Pakistan want to see him, especially the people of village Chatwal where he has born. The people there want to see that a boy who has been there has become the PM of a nation and a global leader. We said if you don’t come then we, the people of Pakistan, will be disappointed,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Malik, who is on a three-day visit to India, met Singh at his 7 Race Course Road residence and was accompanied by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir.
“But his (Singh’s) point of view was that my people here ask what you have done for the people who suffered during 26/11. We have given him a commitment to send a judicial commission here…It was a very good meeting,” he said.
Malik today also called on Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and the two leaders discussed the problems faced by Hindus living in Pakistan, the progress made in the 26/11 case and the controversy over the Babri mosque demolition.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Swaraj said she raised two main issues with Malik.
“I asked him about the slow pace of the investigation into the 26/11 case and the persecution of Hindus in Pakistan who are coming to India as refugees. On 26/11 Malik informed me that there is a difference between perception and reality. The challans have been presented and the delay is by the courts,” Swaraj said.
The BJP leader said Malik has asked the Pakistan ambassador to cooperate in handling cases of Hindus who are fleeing Pakistan.
She said Malik has invited her to Pakistan.
Swaraj maintained that during her conversation with Malik the latter told her he had not compared 26/11 with the Babri mosque demolition and that he has been misquoted.
The issue of Captain Saurabh Kalia, whose mutilated body was handed over by the Pakistani forces during the Kargil War, also came up for discussion between the two leaders.
Swaraj is understood to have asked Malik to ensure that those guilty of breaking the Vienna convention be brought to book.
Meanwhile, Malik today tried to assuage outrage over his remarks on torture meted out to Kargil hero Saurabh Kalia, saying he will look into the case.
At the same time, the minister, who had yesterday stated that he did not know whether Kalia, whose mutilated body was returned to India by Pakistan Army, had died of bullet or weather, today gave another spin.
If the Pakistani Army tortured him, would they have given his body back, he said while responding to a volley of questions from reporters.
Malik, who is on a three-day visit here, claimed that India has never raised the Kalia issue with Pakistan in the last 15 years.
“If the Pakistani Army has tortured him, why would have they given his dead body. There have been many things to it. His father wants to take the matter to International Court of Justice. Yesterday, during the meeting from the first time I was asked to look into the matter.
“I promised them that please give me the detail. I will return and I will look into the matter and revert with detailed information. I sympathise with his father,” he said.
The minister reiterated that he was not sure whether Kalia died of a bullet or bad weather in Kargil.
“I said that Kargil is full of snow. I said I don’t know whether he died of a bullet or because of any other reason or weather. So no negativity of any kind should be brought into it,” he said.
When asked if he would apologise for the incident, Malik said, When I came there, I was fired upon a question about Mr Kalia. India has never taken up the issue with me or with any of the component of my Governments bilaterally.
“And I was not expecting it. So if a 15-year-old incident is put before me and I am asked to apologise on behalf of Pakistan Army, had your Home Minister come there (and asked the question) what would have he said?”
Facing criticism over his remarks on Babri mosque issue, Malik today said he never tried to equate the demolition of the shrine with 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
“There is no comparison, whatsoever, between Babri mosque demolition and 26/11 attacks. Babri mosque was actually ethnic. It was a sectarian strife,” Rehman said, adding that his remark should not be taken “in a negative way”.
The Pakistani leader, who is on a three-day visit, said he had no intention to interfere in the inter-faith matter as he was fully aware of such issues.
“Pakistan itself is a victim of inter-faith clashes, sectarian strife. There have been Shia-Sunni clashes in Pakistan. My intention was not to create confusion but sound caution to the both countries,” he said.
Malik said he was not a person who would interfere in somebody’s religion or inter-faith matters but a person who goes out and leads on issues of communal harmony.
“So I said like the incidents of 9/11, people dying in Quetta, our Shia and Sunni people are being killed in Karachi. I (had) also said incidents like Mumbai blasts, Babri Masjid case, I am repeating it here and please do not take it in a negative way, we do not want that these things should happen in any region of India and Pakistan,” he said on the sidelines of a function here.
The Pakistani Minister had yesterday stoked a controversy by equating the Babri Masjid demolition incident with the Mumbai terror attack.
Malik said religious violence often leads to extremism and every efforts should be made to check it.
“We should take every step which can bring harmony. We could take all (pro-national) measures forward. So that the extremists, terrorists, our enemy, our hostile elements, they do not get any chance (to act against us). So both the nations should work together for it.
“I do not want to hurt any one. So I would like to tell that whatever our issues are, PM has also raised them, we will resolve them jointly. We should work in all spheres to root out terrorism from this region (India and Pakistan),” he said.
The 16th century Babri mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992, which triggered communal frenzy in the country, mainly in Mumbai, leaving many people dead.
“We do not want any 9/11. We do not want any Bombay blasts, we do not want any Samjhauta Express, we do not want any Babri mosque issue and we can work together not only for peace in Pakistan and India but also for the region,” Malik had yesterday said here.
He said extremism is on rise in both the regions and steps should be taken to check it. (PTI)
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