Pak looking forward to Chidambaram’s visit: Qureshi

ISTANBUL - Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that Islamabad is looking forward to the visit of Union Home MInister P. Chidambaram at the end of the month.

Chidamabaram will be attending the SAARC Home Ministers conference in the Pakistan capital.

Qureshi told ANI:”Yes we are expecting him on 26th we will welcome him and Iam looking forward for my meeting with him as well.”

Chidambaram’s trip is being seen by the Pakistan establishment as helping to set in motion the dialogue process suspended since the 26/11 attacks.

“The two foreign secretaries (Salman Bashir and Nirupama Rao) will meet and finalise the agenda of talks between their foreign ministers when they meet in Islamabad on the sidelines of the Saarc conference of interior (home) ministers. We hope that the two sides will be able to bridge the trust deficit during their upcoming interactions,” a Pakistani official said last month.

Pakistan’s parliamentary committee on national security has finalised a set of recommendations for the proposed talks.

Chidambaram, on the other hand, is likely to press Islamabad for action on the list of 40-odd terrorists and criminals wanted by India since 2000, but who, as per intelligence reports, continue to enjoy a safe sanctuary in Pakistan.

Sources have said that pressure will particularly be brought on Pakistan to act against the leadership of Jaish-e-Mohammad, an outfit closely associated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

With the 26/11 dossiers drawing a blank from the Pakistani authorities, Chidambaram, is not expected to take any fresh dossiers with him.

One daiy said that he may use his trip to the Pakistan capital to confront Interior Minister Rehman Malik on why no action has been taken on the 1993 blasts accused, including Dawood Ibrahim or Tiger Memon; Parliament attack mastermind and JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar; IC-814 hijack accused Athar Ibrahim and others; or Sikh militants like Babbar Khalsa leader Wadhawa Singh and Khalistan Zindabad Force commander Ranjeet Singh.

Chidambaram will also draw the Pakistani leadership’s attention to the up-and-running terror infrastructure on its soil, particularly the training camps operating out of PoK, and demand that it be dismantled. by Naveen Kapoor (ANI)