India asks Pakistan to take action against 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed

New Delhi, Feb 25 (ANI): India on Thursday reportedly raised all key issues on terrorism with Pakistan, asking it to take stern action against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed.

Saeed is considered to be the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

India reportedly handed Pakistan a list of 24 terrorists, which includes five leaders of the Indian Mujahideen terror outfit.

Sources said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao raised the issue of Saeed roaming scot free, with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, despite repeated assurances given to India by the akistan Government

Media reports said that Pakistan has promised to take action against Saeed, adding that they are equally concerned over the issue.

Talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan ended earlier in the day, and both sides have reportedly agreed to start the process for holding delegation-level talks.

Foreign Secretaries Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir met each other along with their respective officials for a little over an hour at Hyderabad House here.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said both Balochistan and Kashmir would be on the agenda for Thursday's talks.

Bashir, who led a four-member delegation in the talks held with Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said, he had come to New Delhi with the hope of taking talks with India on key bilateral issues, including Kashmir and Balochistan, forward.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit told ANI and other media that Islamabad will be discussing Kashmir in the talks as it saw the issue as being a core one.

The Indian side, it is believed focused on the issue of terrorism, and what Pakistan is doing to stop such activities on its soil, while the Pakistan side reportedly put all issues of bilateral importance on the table, and expects New Delhi to respond positively.

Bashir also said he would discuss any issue, including terror.

During his stay, Bashir is also scheduled to call on External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon.

Earlier, speaking in Beijing, on Wednesday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi termed the February 25 Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan as an "exploratory" meeting and insisted that Islamabad wants a meaningful dialogue with New Delhi.

Qureshi also recalled that India, through a joint communiqui, had agreed that acts of terrorism would not impede the process of dialogue between both nations.

Qureshi said the ball is now India's court, and the outcome the talks would largely depend on New Delhi's response and approach. (ANI)