Menon, Hillary discuss Mumbai terror attacks

Washington, Mar 10 (ANI): Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Tuesday.Menon, who is on a four-day visit to the U.S, met Clinton at the State Department and discussed with her key bilateral and regional issues including the situation in Sri Lanka, progress on the Mumbai terror attacks and the next steps to be taken for the implementation of Indo-US nuclear deal.

Earlier, Menon met Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns and Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.

Menon is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama's Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard C. Holbrooke and several key Congressional leaders.

Holbrooke met Menon last month and was briefed about the situation prevailing in South Asia from an Indian perspective.

Holbrooke then said that he was in New Delhi to seek the Indian leaderships' assessmed to brief the latter about his visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively.

He said this common threat comes from developments in Pakistan's remote Swat Valley, where the Taliban virtually calls the shots.

The Indian leadership is also said to have discussed the evidences that it had collected on the November 26, 2008 attacks on Mumbai with Holbrooke.

This is Menon's first high-level visit to Washington after Obama became US President.India has been urging the international community to put pressure on Islamabad to bring the perpetrators and attackers of the Mumbai carnage that claimed 179 lives to justice. It is also insisting that Pakistan must not allow terrorist activity to flower from its soil. (ANI)