Pakistan under tremendous pressure to address India's concerns

As Indo-Pak foreign ministers are set to meet here, Pakistan appears to be under tremendous pressure from US and its allies to ensure that it convincingly addresses India's concerns on terrorism, including Mumbai attacks, and does nothing that derails all efforts to revive the bilateral peace process.

President Asif Ali Zardari and his foreign minister shah Mahmood Qureshi have been meeting a number of world leaders, including US president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, on the margins of the UN general assembly session here.

They have been told in no uncertain terms that Pakistan can no longer afford to have two different standards for terrorists, one for the terrorists targeting the west and other for the terrorists who use Pakistani soil against India, sources said.

This was also the message clearly delivered to Pakistan by the world leaders at the 'Friends of Democratic Pakistan' meeting held early this week on the sidelines of the UN general assembly session, which was co-chaired by Obama, Zardari and British prime minister Gordon Brown.

Signals coming from the western capitals and their recent statements indicate that these leaders are supportive of India's stand that there can be no progress on the peace talks front unless Pakistan shows its commitment and real progress in taking action against those who planned and executed the 26/11 attacks.