JOIN USUS shares India's concern over terror syndicate
She also hoped that the masterminds and perpetrators of the November 26, 2008, terrorist attacks in Mumbai would meet their day of reckoning. But Clinton said the US expected and believed that the entire government in Pakistan was committed to fighting terrorism.
After spending a day in Mumbai, where the carnage took place, Clinton flew here on Sunday, aware that pressure from the US was perceived by many as the primary reason for, what had been termed as, the dilution of India’s post 26/11 stand by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on talks with Pakistan.
Clear stance
She had already made it clear that the recent joint statement by Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, de-linking Islamabad’s actions against terrorist outfits and resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue, was not a result of the pressure from Washington.
Clinton, however, continued to sound focused on the issue of terrorism and sought to send out the message that the Obama administration had strong views on the deadly attacks that had left 164 dead in India’s financial capital.
“We are certainly watching and expecting that there will be justice and those who launched the horrific attacks in Mumbai will meet their day of reckoning,” she told media-persons in the ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon. She said Washington had sent messages “very directly” to Islamabad that the fight against terrorism was in the interests of Pakistan’s future stability and security.
Clinton said Washington had realised that India, like the US, too, was troubled by the “syndicate of terrorism”in Pakistan, involving the al-Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist outfits. The terror syndicate was now troubling Pakistan also.
“It is an expectation that we have from every nation because we think networking of terrorists across the globe, as we saw in Jakarta, is a threat to all people, particularly in democracies such as the US, India and Indonesia,”she said in reference to the recent explosions in the Indonesian capital.
Prime targets
She said people in democratic countries were being targeted as they were living freely and independently in sovereign and stable nations.
“We expect every nation to take action against terrorism. We are watching and expecting that this will occur,” she said, adding that the US had made it clear that the fight against terrorism was not only the responsibility of India, the US or Europe, but also that of everyone. “Are we satisfied with the response we get? Of course not. But that does not mean that we are going to stop trying,”she said.
Clinton said no country was more committed than the US. “We have sent our young men and women to the military to die in our struggle against ultras who attacked us,”she added.