UN urges Pak to enact laws for 26/11 trials

New York, Jul 5: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in an interview with

said that Pakistan has been repeatedly urged to enact laws to punish its citizens who engage in terrorist acts, such as the 26/11 attacks outside its borders.

According to Ban, less than three months after the Mumbai attacks, Pak PM Yusuf Raza Gilani had told him that Pakistan lacked legislation to punish its citizens who engaged in terrorism outside its borders.

“I have been discussing continuously the need for such laws and will continue to do so," Ban said. Even Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao during her own recent visit to Islamabad, revealed that the Pakistanis “speak of the fact that non-state elements in this relationship" of terrorism within Pakistan “need to be tackled".

During his first term in office, Ban spent a third of his time on the road, engaging in personal diplomacy through visits to trouble spots instead of using the UN as a bully pulpit to hold forth on the burning issues of the day.

“I am aware of the positions of both India and Pakistan. And the Indian and Pakistan government leaders — they have been discussing this matter among themselves and foreign ministerial-level meetings have taken place. I understand that there is going to be one soon. I hope that all these issues should be resolved peacefully through dialogue between the two governments," he said.

Describing Osama bin Laden"s death as a “watershed" in the fight against global terrorism, Ban said “we have to do more in terms of institutionalising our common efforts to mobilise resources and strengthen solidarity" among countries in creating effective instruments for counter-terrorism.

The secretary-general paid tribute to India"s role in the Security Council, to which it was elected from January 1 this year and whose presidency New Delhi will acquire next month for the first time in almost two decades.

OneIndia News