By Rina Chandran
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
said on Wednesday "the infrastructure of terrorism" must be dismantled,
remarks clearly directed at rival Pakistan.
Singh is to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on
Thursday on the sidelines of a summit in Egypt of the Non-Aligned
Movement, the latest high-level bilateral talks between the two nations
that are aimed at defusing tension.
New Delhi has long called on Pakistan to disarm Pakistan-based
militant groups, including one it blames for last year's attack on
Mumbai, although Singh did not mention Islamabad in his address.
"The infrastructure of terrorism must be dismantled and there
should be no safe haven for terrorists because they do not represent
any cause, group or religion," Singh said in his speech in the Egyptian
Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
"Terrorists and those who aid and abet them must be brought to
justice," he told presidents and others top officials from the
118-member Non-Aligned Movement.
The two states' foreign secretaries, India's Shivshankar Menon and Pakistan's Salman Bashir, met late on Tuesday.
"They had good, detailed discussions," said one source with knowledge of the talks.
Thursday's meeting will be the third high-level meeting between the
two countries since last year's Mumbai attacks derailed any
rapprochement, which could improve stability across the region as far
as Afghanistan.
But hopes for a thaw have been overshadowed by a row over what
India sees as Pakistan's failure to take action against the founder of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group blamed for last year's attacks on
Mumbai.
DIALOGUE
India said the Mumbai assault was carried out by Pakistani
militants who must have had help from Pakistani security agents.
Pakistan has denied any involvement by state agencies and says it will
prosecute militants suspected of involvement.
Pakistan is keen to revive the five-year-old "composite dialogue" covering all disputes between the two countries.
But Singh has insisted it must first show it is serious about
taking action against Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as against other
militant groups that launch attacks in the Indian part of the disputed
Kashmir region and elsewhere in the country.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said at the weekend
Pakistan had completed its investigation into five suspects accused of
links to the Mumbai attack, and they were expected to be put on trial
this week.
Pakistan handed a fresh dossier on its probe into the attack to
India on Saturday. The suspects include Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a
commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Singh, who has said he was willing to meet Pakistan "more than half
way" if it cracked down on militants, may be prompted to make a
conciliatory gesture ahead of a visit to India by U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.
The United States is keenly interested in resumption of talks
between the two countries to ease tensions on Pakistan's eastern border
with India, so it can focus on fighting Taliban militants on its
western border with Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston and Alastair Sharp)