India to raise fresh concerns on terror attacks with Pak

NEW DELHI: Recent attacks, including last month's blasts in Hyderabad, are expected to top the agenda of anti-terror talks between India and Pakistan here next month, when New Delhi is likely to raise its concern over continuing terrorist activities.

Since New Delhi's queries to Islamabad on the last few terrorist strikes have remained unanswered, the forthcoming talks will provide another opportunity for India to raise incidents like the Mecca Masjid blasts in Hyderabad, Samjhauta Express explosion and attacks in Varanasi and Mumbai for discussions, sources said.

Sources in the security establishment said India might furnish details of these incidents to Pakistan on October 22 when the second meeting of the Indo-Pak Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism starts. The first round of talks was held in March and New Delhi felt it was pointless to continue with the mechanism if its concerns were not addressed, they said.

The Union home ministry said terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-o Kashmir continued to be used by Pakistan-based and ISI-sponsored outfits like JeM, LeT and Al-Badr.

The current strategy of these groups is to maintain continuous flow of finances to sustain their network, target vital installations and economic infrastructure, recruit and train local modules and attack soft targets like markets, mass transit systems, places of worship and congregations.

The strategy of the outfits also include creating communal tensions to drive a wedge between communities and supply hardware through land and sea routes, said the sources.

The first meeting of the Anti-Terror Mechanism was a follow-up to the decision taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana last year to hold such meetings every three months.

After the first round of talks in March, India and Pakistan decided that both sides would have the freedom to call for more information, if required.

The second meeting, which should have been held in June, was delayed as Pakistan's pointsman for the discussions -- Tariq Osman Haider, Additional Secretary in the Foreign Ministry -- had retired.

The developments in Pakistan, including the Lal Masjid incident, and the sacking of the Chief Justice also led to a delay in finalising dates for the next round of talks.

New Delhi had pressed Islamabad for dates in September, but Pakistan argued that there was no official to head its delegation.

Pakistan also refused to include Jammu and Kashmir in the discussions and maintained that old cases would remain out of the purview of the mechanism.

Since the last meeting in March, there have been three major terrorist attacks in India, including the August 25 twin explosions in Hyderabad in which 42 people were killed.

Shahid Bilal, a key suspect in the Hyderabad blasts, was reportedly killed in Karachi on August 30, and Indian officials are expected to raise this issue forcefully.

India is also expected to seek from Pakistan a response to its demand for tracking down and handing over those responsible for terror acts here.

New Delhi had hinted at the involvement of elements based across the border in the Samjhauta Express blasts as it handed over to Islamabad a photo of a suspected Pakistani national believed to be involved in the terror attack.

India also gave evidence of the involvement of Pakistan-based terror groups in blasts in Delhi, Hyderabad and Varanasi and the attack on a makeshift temple in Ayodhya.

The names of six persons, including that of a suspected killer of BJP leader Haren Pandya, were also given to Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan was given a list of 35 most wanted terrorists, including Dawood Ibrahim.

The two countries had agreed to make the anti-terror mechanism "more meaningful, substantive and significant, involving the framework for durable cooperation on terrorism".

Favouring a joint system to tackle terrorism, they had discussed ways to share intelligence to prevent terror attacks and steps to deal with a situation that may arise due to such incidents.