New Delhi: Stoking a potential controversy, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday night alluded to Babri Masjid demolition, equating the incident with the Mumbai terror attack. Malik said nobody wants to see the recurrence of incidents like Bombay blasts, Samjhauta blasts or Babri Masjid issue.
"We do not want any 9/11. We do not want any Bombay blasts, we do not want any Samjhauta Express, we do not want any Babri mosque issue and we can work together not only for peace in Pakistan and India but also for the region," Malik said in New Delhi. He was speaking to reporters after the new visa agreement between India and Pakistan was operationalised.
He said Pakistan will leave no stone unturned to punish those involved in Mumbai terror attack in November 2008 in which 166 people were killed. "When Ajmal Kasab was hanged. I was the first one to come on the television and gave the statement that we respect the judgments coming from your courts.
"Similarly when the trial is going on (in Pakistan) I have already told you that it is on fast track and of course we have gone to every level to make it on the fast track," the Interior Minister said. He also hoped for a speedy
trial in that country involving LeT founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed after the visit of a Judicial Commission to India.
"Now the judicial commission is required to come. And I am very grateful for all the help and cooperation given by India. I assure the moment judicial commission comes to India and cross examines.
"I assure my brother, people of India and that we are on it. We assure Indian authorities especially my brother, the Home Minister of India, that we will not leave any stone unturned and the day is not far when you will see the conviction. You will see the justice seems to be done," Malik said.
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan is conducting trial of seven Pakistanis charged with involvement in the Mumbai attack. "I know there has been questions on Hafeez Saeed and obviously this is the demand from the people of India. Exactly in the same way when the Samjhauta blast happened people of Pakistan were actually asking what has happened?," the Interior Minister said.
Stating that terrorism brings grief, Malik assured that Pakistan will bring the culprits, terrorist, perpetrators to justice and "you will see it". "Have you seen any propaganda. No? We want to come out of that domain of propaganda. We want to see love and peace," he said.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, however, countered Malik's words saying that Pakistan has not kept its promises made earlier. "You have been outspoken on all the fronts. But we in India keep on talking that earlier on 2, 3, 4 occasions the promises were made and that (they) were not fulfilled and today you have assured. I am quiet confident that both the countries will go forward in bilateral cooperation," he added.
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