New Delhi: Three days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Washington, the US envoy to India on Wednesday said expanding counter-terror cooperation would be a cornerstone of the discussions. He also asked Pakistan to show "action" by bringing Hafiz Saeed, the alleged 26/11 mastermind, to justice.
"We have experienced 9/11. India has experienced 26/11. We will continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder, hand in hand and hour by hour in fighting terrorism," US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
"We need to see actions and results from Pakistan. Those seven Mumbai suspects should be brought to justice through the criminal justice system in Pakistan," Roemer said.
The envoy said the US had been pressing Pakistan to bring Hafiz Saeed to justice and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.
Manmohan Singh will be leaving Washington for Port of Spain to attend the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) on November 26 -- the first anniversary of the horrific Mumbai terror attacks that killed over 166 people including six Americans.
Expanding counter-terror cooperation and giving it an institutional framework will figure prominently in the discussions between Manmohan Singh and Obama in the White House on Tuesday.
A wide-ranging counter-terror deal is expected to be the showpiece of the visit that is expected to take bilateral ties transformed by the nuclear deal to another level by expanding cooperation in areas ranging from climate change and green technologies to food security and poverty-alleviation.
Counter-terror cooperation will be a key cornerstone of the twenty-first century partnership between India and the US, the envoy stressed.
This will involve working with India to come up with best information-sharing, technologies and cooperation against groups like the Lashker-e-Toiba and its international associates like Al Qaeda, the envoy said.
With Obama likely to announce a troops surge and firm up his Afghanistan-Pakistan policy soon, the two leaders will also hold wide-ranging discussions on AfPak issues.
"I am certain President Obama and the prime minister are going to have very healthy and robust discussions on AfPak policy," Roemer said. There will be discussions on Pakistan, he said.
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