Terrorist havens in Pak unacceptable: Obama

Ahead of his New Delhi visit, US President Barack Obama sought to put pressure on Islamabad to expeditiously bring to justice perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and said that terrorist “safe havens” in Pakistan were not acceptable.

“I have made it clear that even as the United States works with Pakistan to meet the threat of terrorism, safe havens within Pakistan are not acceptable and that those behind the Mumbai terrorist attack must face justice,” Obama told “India Today”.  
The US president recalled his first visit to India in November 2010, when he landed in Mumbai, paid homage to the victims of 26/11 attacks at Taj Hotel and met some survivors.

The statement assumes significance as it comes at a time when New Delhi has been stepping up pressure on Islamabad to dismantle terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and to speed up the trial of the seven Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives in a court there for plotting the attack.  
Pressure from New Delhi and Washington of late forced Islamabad to keep LeT operative and 26/11 plotter Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi under detention even after he was granted bail by a Pakistan court.

Pakistan has claimed to have frozen the assets of Jamat-ud-Dawa and imposed foreign travel restrictions  Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

“Like people around the world, Indians and Americans were horrified at the senseless slaughter of so many students and teachers at the school in Peshawar, which was a painful reminder that terrorists threaten us all,” Obama said.Nearly 148 people were killed in the terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan. 

New Delhi joined the world in condemning the incident and Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up his Pakistani counterpart M Nawaz Sharif to convey India’s solidarity.