India lacks courage to unearth role of Hindu extremists: Pak

Rezaul H Laskar Islamabad, Feb 5 (PTI) On the eve of Foreign
Secretary-level talks in Thimphu, Pakistan 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 that may not go down well with New Delhi.
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".
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will meet her Pakistani
counterpart Salman Bashir in the Bhutanese capital on Sunday
to make a fresh attempt to restart the bilateral dialogue
process stalled since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
The Indian side is expected to seek an update from
Pakistan on the Mumbai attacks investigations and trial.
This will be the first meeting between the Foreign
Secretaries after the failed talks between the Foreign
Ministers in July last year in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been calling for action against those
responsible for bombing the cross-border train ever since the
leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh outfit Swami
Aseemanand recently confessed to a special court in India
about the involvement of Sangh activists in several terror
attacks, including the assault on the Samjhauta train
that runs between the two countries.
Basit said it was "unfortunate that India, which uses
terrorism as propaganda against Pakistan, has still not been
able to complete its investigations into the Samjhauta Express
blasts".
He added: "Even after the lapse of four years, India
somewhat conveniently asserts that its investigations are
incomplete. We do not know how many more years India would
need to bring the perpetrators of the Samjhauta terrorist act
to justice, and provide relief to the families of the 68
victims, including 42 Pakistan nationals."
On the other hand, India has criticized Pakistan's
handling of the prosecution of seven suspects, including
Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who have been
charged with planning, financing and executing the 2008 Mumbai
attacks.
The trial has been affected by several procedural delays
and the judge has been changed thrice.