India says peace process with Pakistan in jeopardy, demands strong G8 response
Nirmala George, Canadian Press Published: Saturday, July 15, 2006
MUMBAI, India (AP) - India said Saturday that its peace process with Pakistan was in jeopardy after the deadly train bombings in Mumbai, and demanded a strong response to the attacks from world leaders at the Group of Eight summit.
Foreign Secretary Shaym Saran said that as a result of the attacks "it is becoming very difficult to take forward the peace process."
His comments came a day after strikingly blunt remarks by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that linked the culprits to Pakistan and appeared to signal a sudden shift in relations between the nuclear rivals, whose ties had been warming.
"Our expectation would be that G8 countries come out with a strong statement on terrorism," Saran told reporters.
Meanwhile, police began randomly frisking commuters on Mumbai's rail network and closed-circuit television cameras were installed at six busy train stations.
A railway spokesman said all stations would be monitored by closed-circuit television.
Officers rounded up more than 300 people for questioning but freed most of them. The eight bomb explosions during evening rush hour Tuesday on the commuter train network in India's financial capital killed at least 200 people, provoking a groundswell of public anger.
Singh said Friday the bombers had support from inside Pakistan, and told Islamabad to rein in terrorists. Pakistan dismissed Singh's allegations as "unsubstantiated."
Gains in building trust between the two countries also appear to have been chipped away by the deadly ambush of Indian tourists Monday by Islamic militants in the contested Himalayan state of Kashmir, which is at the heart of Indian and Pakistani enmity.
Saran said that India is committed to the peace process but indicated that talks with his Pakistani counterpart to review progress would not take place any time soon.
Local media had widely reported that the talks were scheduled for July 20. Saran acknowledged that both sides had previously agreed to meet, but he claimed no date had ever been set.
"What has not been determined are the dates for these meetings. We will decide about the dates at an appropriate time," he said.
Saran said Singh, who will fly to St. Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday to attend the G8 summit as an observer, will make "a very strong pitch for a united response."
"It is not a matter that affects only India. The message that must come out of the G8 meeting is that there cannot be a segmented approach to terrorism," he said.
He said the Mumbai blasts were clearly part of global terrorism, adding that there must be "an unambiguous response."
Police conducted house-to-house searches, mainly in the slums of the city's Mahim neighbourhood, an area popular with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Mumbai, a city of 16 million formerly known as Bombay, attracts job-seekers from across India and South Asia.
"This was a routine combing exercise. We have questioned and released all but 11 of the 307 who were brought in from Mahim," senior police inspector Joseph Gaikwad said.
Police believe the 11 are not involved but may have information about the bombers.
Investigators have said they are looking for three suspects with Muslim-sounding names: Rahil, Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz.
On Saturday, sections of the Mumbai commuter rail network were briefly shut down after an anonymous caller phoned in a bomb threat, officials said.