Punish Mumbai perpetrators for talks, says India

Inidan Foreign Minister SM Krishna has said that New Delhi is ready to resume the stalled peace process only if Islamabad acts against the perpetrators of Mumbai attack, reported a private TV channel on Monday. We are ready to negotiate with Pakistan, but a stalled peace process can resume only if Islamabad acts against the planners of the Mumbai attack, Krishna said. He said that Indias position remains consistent that New Delhi is not afraid of talk. We certainly will keep talking, Krishna said adding, But at the same time we expect Pakistan to come out with certain concrete measures which are visible so that people of India and the world at large could realise Pakistan is serious about punishing those culprits behind Mumbai attacks and then reassuring India that such incidents will not occur. Indian Minister Krishnas comments came when a meeting is scheduled between Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt, on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement summit. Meanwhile in Sharm el-Sheikh, foreign ministers of NAM countries, including SM Krishna, on Monday held discussions to prepare the ground for the summit of their leaders on Wednesday and Thursday with India asking the member countries to unequivocally condemn terrorism. Addressing the summit Krishna said nowhere is international solidarity and development more relevant than in combating terrorism. Terrorism threatens democracy and democratic values...It is also a threat to international peace and security, he said. We call upon NAM Members to unequivocally condemn terrorism, no cause or reasoning can be used to justify such acts. In this context, the early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism being discussed in the UN is an immediate imperative, he said. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit took the chairmanship of the meeting of the NAM foreign ministers. Abul-Gheit said choosing International Solidarity for Peace and Development as the theme of the 15th NAM summit was out of belief that in the absence of solidarity there will be no peace, development or stability around the globe. The top Egyptian diplomat underlined the need to bolster coordination between NAM and the Group of 77 to formulate practical proposals to set the issue of development as a top priority for the UN. Egypt sees that it is unacceptable that the African continent remains distant from achieving the Millennium Development Goals though the international community does not lack the necessary human and natural resources to achieve this goal, he said. Abul-Gheit said more efforts are needed to make NAM succeed in defending the member-states interests.

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