Militancy grabs centre stage at SAARC Home secretaries meet

ISLAMABAD - Home Secretaries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries discussed the issue of militancy on Friday in Islamabad.

India’s Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai met his Pakistan counterpart Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

Interacting with media after the meeting, Pillai said he was looking forward for the meeting of Home Ministers of India and Pakistan.

“Very good I think we hit it off very well and we had a very frank exchange of views. We are quite looking forward to the meeting of two ministers,” Pillai said.

Commenting on any action planed to end militancy in the SAARC nation, Pillai said: “The SAARC countries have a ministerial declaration about militancy … was discussed.”

“There is an agreement at the secretary’s level; it will be presented before the ministers tomorrow,” he added.

Pillai said issues related to 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes would come up during Chimdambaram’s meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik.

“Home Ministers will be taking it up when they meet in the evening,” Pillai said.

India has been insisting on Pakistan to tackle militant groups such as Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)- which master minded the 26/11Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan has been reluctant to do so, and has done little against LeT’s founder, Hafiz Saeed, who remains a free man.

Chidambaram will also attend the meet of the Home Ministers of eight-nation SAARC countries in Islamabad on Saturday. (ANI)