Scholar Lisa Curtis wants Pakistan to bring perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks to justice

New Delhi, Sept 17 (ANI): Lisa Curtis, an analyst of the Heritage Foundation, US, has said that the Indo-Pak peace dialogue can move forward only when Pakistan 'prosecutes' the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks.

She added that Pakistan needs to do more to close terror camps operating from its soil. I think the situation in Pakistan is in transition. It's very opaque to determine how much control the military still retains over these groups. I think there is a certain loss of control. However, we need to see Pakistan doing more to crack down. Because it's now more of question what they are doing to actually shutdown these groups. And that brings us to the issue of the attacks in Mumbai last year and how they are approaching the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)," said Curits.

"I think there is an opportunity to move forward within the Indo-Pak peace process, because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is so committed to this. Yet first, I think India needs to see that Pakistan is prosecuting the Mumbai attackers and re-arresting Hafiz Muhammed Saeed and taking steps to shutdown LeT for once and for all. And then there is a genuine opportunity to move forward with the dialogue picking up on the process that was taking place between the period of 2005 and 2007 which of course Prime Minster Singh was involved in," Curtis added.

Appreciating India's handling of the post 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Curtis said Pakistan is accountable and should not let its land be used by terrorist networks.

"I think it's very difficult to move the process forward when there is the perpetual threat of terrorist attacks in India. I think India acted with the utmost restraint after the Mumbai attacks. But the question is if there is another attack so that leaves the onus on Pakistan to take responsibility for what happens on its own territory," said Curtis.

She said that the US needs to bring terrorist organisations such as LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed under its scanner, other than Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

" I think it has been a mistake for the US to so nearly focus on just Al Qaeda or the Taliban because it's clear that the groups that have targeted India conducted attacks not only Kashmir but throughout India," Curtis added.

"We have to look at this problem more holistically and understand that the root problem is Pakistan's reliance on radical Islamist groups to carry out its foreign policy agenda. It includes the Afghan Taliban as well as these groups that target India. But they are danger to not only to India. They are danger to international community. It's important to the security of South Asia but also to the security of America that Pakistan take action to crack down now," said Curtis.

She said that at the moment the US and Pakistan are too busy tackling the Taliban.

She further said both countries need to give equal importance to dismantle infrastructure of other terrorist organisations, including LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

"Pakistan is moving in a positive direction. We have seen a change in attitude to the Taliban. There is more clarity within both the military and Pakistani public that the Pakistani Taliban poses a threat to the country. But we have got to keep the momentum going," Curtis added. (ANI)