New Delhi: US Ambassador Timothy J Roemer
on Friday assured India that it would get access to Mumbai terror
attack accused David Coleman Headley within the next three
months.
"Sooner than the next three months," was Roemer`s reply
to a question on when Indian investigators would get access to
Headley for questioning in the 26/11 terror attack case.
Headley, currently lodged in a prison in Chicago, has
confessed to plotting the Mumbai attacks.
The US envoy, however, refused to talk about extraditing
Headley to India, saying "it is hypothetical...we have not
talked anything specific."
Roemer told a private TV channel that the US and India were working for
the last few months to have a bilateral intelligence sharing
mechanism and it would be in place "soon".
"I have burnt the midnight oil in Delhi on this
(intelligence mechanism) and have pushed its case," he said.
Describing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as "honest,
sincere and smart," the US Ambassador said he brought all
these qualities together to best use.
He also agreed that personal relationship that leaders
like Singh brought to bilateral talks would go a long way in
cementing lasting ties between the two nations.
Asked about his recent visit to Islamabad and what he
told Pakistan about India`s presence in Afghanistan, Roemer
said he spoke about the "positive" contribution that New Delhi
had made in the infrastructure and development sector.
He said he had given the example of India providing the
infrastructure to take 24-hour electricity connection to
Kabul, which was a "game changer, life changer" for the people
of the embattled country.
Roemer said he had gone to Pakistan "not as an
interlocutor" but to give his views on how he perceived the
region.
He said Pakistan needs to do more in stopping terror
groups like al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba operating from its
soil.
PTI
