Washington: India`s request for access to David Coleman Headley, a Pakistani American key plotter of the Mumbai attacks, is expected to gain traction after Sunday`s meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"Obviously, we have kept India apprised of our ongoing investigation with respect to Headley," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters Monday when asked if India had made an official request for the extradition of Headley, detained in a Chicago prison after pleading guilty.
Crowley said he did not have a readout of the Sunday meeting between Obama and Manmohan Singh. "But I think this will be part of an ongoing conversation between India and the United States, given the shared importance of combating terrorism here and there."
Briefing reporters on the meeting Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had said that Obama "was fully supportive of our request for provision" of access to Headley and said " that they were working through their legal system on the issue."
The White House readout, however, made no reference to Headley and did not go beyond stating "they also discussed a number of regional and global issues, including counter-terrorism and nonproliferation."
Crowley also said that while the US considered it vitally important to improve their dialogue and continued to encourage them to do so, he was not aware of any plans to bring Pakistani and Indian officials together in Washington.
"I`m not aware that we`re going to try to bring together Pakistani and Indian officials here in Washington, but we continue to encourage both sides to find ways to improve their bilateral dialogue and we will continue to encourage them," he said.
Asked if the US would like Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to meet in Washington, Crowley repeated: "Well, I think we certainly have encouraged previous meetings that have taken place between Indian officials and Pakistani officials."
"We think that`s vitally important. But I`m not aware that any of that`s going to happen here."
IANS
