Pak allowing banned outfits to operate from its soil: Sharma

Accusing Pakistan of allowing proscribed terror groups to operate under different names, India on Saturday asked Islamabad to respect international limitations on such organisations. "Individuals and masterminds have been named by the UN Security Council," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told reporters in an obvious reference to banned outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa. "Rather than dismantling or taking action, many organisations have been allowed to change signboards. That shows the sincerity of Pakistan," he said. Sharma said it would have been better if Pakistan would not have gone into denial mode over terror groups operating from its soil. "It would have been better if Pakistan would not have gone into denials. It is pointless. Everybody knows who all are involved," he said. "Pakistan as a nation state must also respect international limitations on such organisations," Sharma said. His comments came two days after Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon virtually blamed ISI for the Mumbai attacks by saying that those responsible for the terror strikes were "clients and creations" of the Pakistani intelligence agency.

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