New Delhi:
Foreign Minister S M Krishna has said that Islamabad must take serious note of what David Coleman Headley has told the FBI. "Headley's revelations are in the public domain whether we like it or not. What Headley said cannot be brushed under the carpet." David Coleman Headley is one of the main accused in the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai.
Krishna was speaking to journalists while returning from Kabul where he had gone to attend an international donors' conference. "India wants the dialogue with Pakistan to continue," but the Foreign Minister said,"Our problems can't end in one sitting."
Earlier in the day, India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, said that ISI's nexus with terror outfits is growing stronger. Menon also said clear links between Pakistan's establishment and Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley have been established during Headley's recent interrogation by Indian investigators.
"For us, it's been brought home most recently by what we learnt from Headley which confirms many of the things which we knew before. And it's really the links between the official establishment and with existing intelligence agencies, its that nexus, which makes it a much harder phenomenon for us to deal with. Unfortunately what we know and what we see suggests that these links or this nexus, in fact, will not be broken soon. If anything, it is getting stronger," said Menon.
(Watch |
Read: Full text of speech)
Pakistan has issued an angry rebuttal to India's National Security Advisor, Shivshankar Menon's comments. A Pakistan government spokesperson, in Islamabad, said Mr. Menon's baseless accusations were yet another manifestation of the Indian establishment's propagandistic stance toward Pakistan.
Menon's remarks are more pointed than what the Indian Home Secretary, GK Pillai, said earlier this month, causing a storm at the India-Pakistan talks in Islamabad.
Just as India's Foreign Minister SM Krishna was heading to Pakistan, Pillai had said that Headley, who is in prison in America after being arrested by the FBI last year, had told Indian interrogators that Pakistan's ISI was involved with planning and executing 26/11 "from beginning to end." Pakistani Foreign Minister SM Qureshi attacked Pillai at a press conference attended by Krishna, arguing his were comments "uncalled for." Qureshi also said Pillai's comments had been discussed during his talks with Krishna and claimed both agreed they were "uncalled for". Krishna said nothing to that. (
Indo-Pak talks: After 6-hour-long meeting, differences in public)
The offense taken by Pakistan hasn't led India to soften its stand - Krishna after returning to India backed Pillai, stating that the Home Secretary had only repeated what has been India's official stand all along. (
Krishna on Pillai: Pak wrong to make Hafiz Saeed comparison)
In Pakistan on Monday, US secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said that Headley's interrogation has "revealed a startling set of facts" which have been shared with the Pakistani government.(
Read: Revelations by Headley shared with Pak, says Hillary Clinton)
Sources tell NDTV that Headley told Indian interrogators that the ISI had paid Rs 25 lakhs to LeT to purchase the boat used by the ten Pakistani terrorists who headed to Mumbai in November, 2008 to execute the worst-ever terror attack in India. Headley also said that he visited five terror camps in Pakistan, and that some of these were run by the ISI. (
Read: ISI men gave 25 lakhs to buy boat for Kasab, others: Headley) |
(Watch: What David Headley said on the ISI)