Four days ahead of the meeting expected on the sidelines of the SAARC Ministerial Conference, New Delhi made it clear that forward movement on the peace process will depend on practical action taken by Islamabad. "There has to be credible demonstration by Pakistan as to what it is doing to end cross-border terrorism," a senior official said in New Delhi.
The official pointed out that New Delhi has already provided to Islamabad evidence about past links between Pakistan and terror activities in this country and has been seeking its stoppage. "We recently asked Pakistan to take some practical steps to show that they are against terrorism as they claim. Let them act on these," he said, referring to New Delhi's demand that Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim be handed over and Lashker-e-Tayiba chief Hafiz Mohd Sayeed be arrested.
This will be the first high-level contact between the two countries after the Mumbai blasts, which angered India as security agencies suspected Pakistan's involvement in it. In the wake of the blasts, the Foreign Secretary-level talks expected on July 20 were indefinitely postponed by India.
