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India Pakistan Foreign Secy-level talks have terror high on agenda
India hands over Pak passport of detained terrorist; Pak asks for consular access.
BY OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
November 13, 2006
With the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan beginning, India passed on the passport and other identification details of Mohammed Fahad , the Pakistani militant nabbed in Mysore. New Delhi is now expecting a response at the talks. Pakistan, meanwhile has requested consular access to verify Indian claims.
It may be recalled that Mohammed Fahad and another ultra, Mohammed Ali Hussain, were arrested last month in Mysore under charges for trying to set up a base for militant outfit Al-Badr and planning an attack on Karnataka’s Vikas Soudha.
Police sad they were trying to obtain an Indian identity and had also applied for Indian passports. Fahad is believed to be the man behind managing finances. He was also said to have been helping obtain fresh identities for militants who were to be sent later.
Hussain is believed to have crossed the LoC to India way back in year 2002. Post-entry into Kashmir, Hussein became the district commander for the group. Meanwhile, Fahad had reportedly delivered finances to the Al-Badr outfit in Kashmir. All these details have been handed over to Pakistan ahead of the talks beginning Tuesday.
The high level parleys are intended to finalise the anti-terror mechanism agreed upon between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Havana. Tariq Usman Haider (UN and International Organisations) and Mohammed Akhtar Tufail (Asia-Pacific), two Additional Secretaries, are part of the Pakistani delegation.
In the meantime, India is keen on setting up an Additional Secretary-level group. Setting up the mechanism, and also holding a meeting this time is on the Indian agenda. However, whether India would share information on the Mumbai blasts, given that the chargesheet is still to be filed in the case, is not known. The understanding is to only part with information where help is needed from Pakistan with regard to investigations currently on.
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