Menon meets Bashir in Colombo, tells him to take credible measures

NEW DELHI: In the first high-level engagement between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai terror attacks, foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon met his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Colombo and asked for credible action against the terror network.

With the composite dialogue process on pause after the terror attacks, there has been no official engagement between the two countries for the last three months. But the foreign secretaries are in Colombo for multilateral Saarc talks and the meeting took place on the sidelines of the 36th session of the Saarc Standing Committee in Colombo.

The Indian side has been keen to get its message across. Taking the opportunity, foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon told his counterpart that India wanted to see more action from Pakistan against terror groups and sought further action to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to book.

Mr Menon is also understood to have said that India would soon respond to the queries raised by Pakistan
���We have recognised what Pakistan has done, but there is a lot more to be done. We need to see them moving forward,��� Mr Menon was quoted as saying in Colombo. ���They should bring the Mumbai attack perpetrators and take credible actions to dismantle the resources of the terrorist in their own county,��� he said.

India has ruled out the continuation of confidence-building measures till Islamabad takes ���credible��� action against terror groups targeting India. This message has been reiterated on a number of occasions.

In the latest external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who said that Pakistan���s failure to honour its commitment to stop cross-border terrorism had put ���at risk the substantial gains��� made in the composite dialogue process in the last four to five years.

���Our composite dialogue process, started in 2004, was premised on this commitment. Clearly, Pakistan has not kept its word. The composite dialogue process with Pakistan has been paused. No meeting has taken place and neither are any scheduled,��� he was quoted as saying in an interview..

He was further said that the future of Indo-Pak ties also depended on the kind of action Pakistan took. ���Future progress in our bilateral relations depend on Pakistan���s response, not only in words, but also through substantive actions,��� he told the paper.