The foreign and home offices are apprehensive that officials from Pakistan side would leave no stone unturned to question the authenticity of India's charges that Islamabad has been backing and abetting terrorism in India.
Pakistan may put forward the logic that Anti Terrorist Squad of Mumbai police that has been probing the Malegaon blast has revealed another fact that it was the handiwork of some pro-Hindu zealots, not the Islamist terrorists.
According to a senior Home Ministry official, Pakistani officials who always find excuses to put blame on India either by describing Kashmiri militants as freedom fighters or claiming that terrorism in India is indigenous, they would certainly make every effort to prove the claims they earlier made were valid.
Although, the Indian side has not yet said anything as to how they would counter Pakistani offensive, but the officials are confident of giving a befitting reply to their Pakistani counterpart. India is expected to maintain that the probe of Malegaon strike is its domestic matter and no foreign country has right to intervene in its internal affairs.
India and Pakistan had agreed to put in place a joint mechanism to fight terrorism jointly in October 2006. The first meeting of ATM was held on March 7, 2007. India has been maintaining that it would continue to use meetings with Pakistan to seek clarification from Pakistan on the actions it has taken on the evidences and information provided by the Indian side.
At a point of time relations between the two deteriorated with increasing incidents of terror strikes in Indian soil. New Delhi then threatened to dismantle the mechanism accusing Islamabad of sitting on the list of Indian fugitives who have been given shelter in Pakistan. India had demanded the deportation of all those criminals.
The possible link of Hindu militants in Samjauta train blast is another trouble for Indian officials as most of those who were killed in that blast were Pakistani nationals. Islamabad has been mounting pressure on New Delhi to expedite the probe. Indian side might counter this particular case in question arguing that it is carrying out an independent inquiry into the incident and would not spare whosoever culprits are.#
India: Terror talks
Malegaon to overshadow Indo-Pak terror talks
Involvement of Hindu zealots could hamper dialogue between two estranged neighbours
Kushal Jeena - 21-11-2008 11:16 GMT-0000
New Delhi: Worried over the possibility of findings of Malegaon bomb blasts overshadowing next round of Indo-Pak Anti-Terror Mechanism talks that begins on November 22 in Islamabad, India's foreign and interior establishments are working over time to evolve a strategy to counter possible Pakistani onslaught.