India rejects Pak attempt to link Mumbai attack to Samjhauta

Ajay Kaul Thimphu, Feb 5 (PTI) India on Saturday rejected
Pakistan's attempt to link Mumbai attacks to the Samjhauta
Express blast, saying there was "no comparison" between the
two incidents and rubbished the contention that the pace of
probe into the cross-border train attack had been slow.
As Pakistan questioned why probe into the Samjhauta
Express blast was incomplete even after four years of the
incident, India saw it as an attempt to put it on the backfoot
at Sunday's meeting of Foreign Secretaries here which it is
approaching with "cautious optimism" and "forward-looking"
attitude.
On the eve of the talks between Nirupama Rao and her
Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, Islamabad on Saturday
came out with a provocative statement saying that India's
handling of the Samjhauta Express train bombing case showed
that it lacked "courage to unearth culpability of Hindu
extremists".
"India seems to be lacking courage to unearth
culpability of Hindu extremists and their links with some
Indian Army personnel," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit
said in a statement in Islamabad.
India's handling of the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing
case "doesn't inspire much hope", he said.
The spokesman emphasised that India "needs to bridge
the gap between what it says and what it does".
However, sources said that in the case of the Mumbai
attacks the leads were "so direct" and "involvement so clear"
that probe could move faster but the same was not true for the
Samjhauta Express blast incident.
"Each investigation is separate and different. It
depends on the leads the investigators get. It is not correct
or fair to compare the two incidents," the sources said, while
reacting to questions raised by Pakistan over the pace of
probe into February 2007 blast in which 68 people were killed.
While pointing to the clear leads in the Mumbai attack
case, the sources asked why the trial was so slow and why
several of those accused were still roaming free despite
evidence against them provided by India.
They also referred to the imposition of sanctions by
the US on Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Arif Qasmani for
involvement in the Samjhauta blast under UN Security Council
Resolution 1267 and questioned why Pakistan had not conducted
any investigation against him.
On the other hand, the sources noted that the trial in
the Mumbai case in India had been completed in the trial court
as there were clear leads. (MORE) PTI AKK
SPDLD SAMJHAUTA
India rejects Pak attempt to link Mumbai attack to Samjhauta
Ajay Kaul
Thimphu, Feb 5 (PTI) India on Saturday rejected
Pakistan's attempt to link Mumbai attacks to the Samjhauta
Express blast, saying there was "no comparison" between the
two incidents and rubbished the contention that the pace of
probe into the cross-border train attack had been slow.
As Pakistan questioned why probe into the Samjhauta
Express blast was incomplete even after four years of the
incident, India saw it as an attempt to put it on the backfoot
at Sunday's meeting of Foreign Secretaries here which it is
approaching with "cautious optimism" and "forward-looking"
attitude.
On the eve of the talks between Nirupama Rao and her
Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, Islamabad on Saturday
came out with a provocative statement saying that India's
handling of the Samjhauta Express train bombing case showed
that it lacked "courage to unearth culpability of Hindu
extremists".
"India seems to be lacking courage to unearth
culpability of Hindu extremists and their links with some
Indian Army personnel," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit
said in a statement in Islamabad.
India's handling of the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing
case "doesn't inspire much hope", he said.
The spokesman emphasised that India "needs to bridge
the gap between what it says and what it does".
However, sources said that in the case of the Mumbai
attacks the leads were "so direct" and "involvement so clear"
that probe could move faster but the same was not true for the
Samjhauta Express blast incident.
"Each investigation is separate and different. It
depends on the leads the investigators get. It is not correct
or fair to compare the two incidents," the sources said, while
reacting to questions raised by Pakistan over the pace of
probe into February 2007 blast in which 68 people were killed.
While pointing to the clear leads in the Mumbai attack
case, the sources asked why the trial was so slow and why
several of those accused were still roaming free despite
evidence against them provided by India.
They also referred to the imposition of sanctions by
the US on Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Arif Qasmani for
involvement in the Samjhauta blast under UN Security Council
Resolution 1267 and questioned why Pakistan had not conducted
any investigation against him.
On the other hand, the sources noted that the trial in
the Mumbai case in India had been completed in the trial court
as there were clear leads.
Investigation into the Mumbai attacks is also not
complete, particularly on the Pakistani side, as several
accused continue to roam freely, the sources said.
Pakistan is expected to raise the issue of Samjhauta
probe at tomorrow's meeting and the Indian side is ready for
it but it does not want to pre-judge whether it would upset
the talks.
India is also expecting Pakistan to raise the Kashmir
issue. On its part, India would take up the issue of
cross-border terrorism and seek an update on the Mumbai
attacks case and efforts, if any, made by Pakistan to
dismantle the terror infrastructure.
"During a dialogue, both sides raise the issues of
concern to them. Surely, Pakistan will raise issues that
concern it, we will raise issues that concern us," a source
said.
The sources made it clear that India, as declared by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is willing to discuss all
outstanding issues with Pakistan in a step-by-step manner if
its concerns on terrorism are addressed.
"We are clear that dialogue is the best way forward.
So we need to engage Pakistan and we are doing so," a source
said.
The sources noted that there are a number of "doables"
and these were proposed at the Foreign Ministerial meeting in
Pakistan in July. Islamabad, however, had adopted the "all or
nothing approach," they said.
Seeking to play down expectations from tomorrow's
meeting, the sources said "one meeting of the Foreign
Secretaries is not going to lead to solutions". It, however,
could pave the way for solutions.
India is approaching the talks, which are basically
"exploratory" in nature, with "cautious optimism," the sources
said, hoping Pakistan would also move in with the same spirit.