Terrorism to be most important issue in Krishna-Qureshi meet

"Terrorism is the single most important issue from our side," Krishna told ahead of his meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the United Nation General Assembly.

India has been demanding action against the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and dismantling of terror infrastructure in Pakistani soil.

Krishna also said New Delhi was assessing Islamabad's recent response to its demands related to the Mumbai attacks. "We are evaluating the various steps that Pakistan seems to have taken with respect to Mumbai attacks," he said.

Pakistan has arrested seven people and sent out an alert for 11 more in connection with the attacks. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will also meet her counterpart Salman Bashir before the foreign ministers' meeting.

The minister said the recent action taken against JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, was not satisfactory. Krishna pointed out that the reason for Saeed's arrest was not the Mumbai attacks but a hate speech he had made at a Ramadan dinner criticising Pakistan, India and the United States.

The External Affairs Minister, however, acknowledged that the Pakistani government was also conducting a probe against Saeed in connection with the Mumbai attacks, and noted, "We hope that they're going to thoroughly investigate the various associates of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa."

Noting that one year was enough time for a decisive action,  Krishna said, "Pakistan has not acted to bring to justice those who are responsible for the attacks on Mumbai inspite of India providing the needed evidence."

"I hope in the next few months all those who were responsible including the one who conspired, all of them will be brought to justice," he added.

Krishna also noted that New Delhi would continue talks with Islamabad. "We will continue with our engagement with Pakistan diplomatically," he said.