Washington: Ahead of a crucial meeting
between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, the Obama Administration came out in
support of India`s stand on pre-conditions for talks with
Pakistan.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central
Asia Robert Blake said the progress made by Pakistan in
bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice and stopping
cross border infiltration would lay the basis of resumption of
talks between the two south Asian neighbours.
"The progress is needed first to bring the Mumbai
suspects, who are already in custody to trial, to prosecute
them and also to stop cross border infiltration so that there
is not another attack such as what happened in Mumbai," he
said.
"And I think that kind of progress would lay the basis
of resumption of these confidence building measures that you
talked about," Blake said in response to a question at the
prestigious Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies of Johns Hopkins University after a speech on Obama
Administration`s South Asia policy.
Hoping that the two countries would be able to make
progress in their bilateral peace talks, signals of which have
come from the recent meetings between India and Pakistan
beginning with that of the Prime Ministers of the two
countries, Blake said it is for India and Pakistan to
resolve the issues between them.
Bureau Report
