Pakistan must act on ‘strong evidence’ given by FBI: Pranab

When asked whether an extradition treaty was needed for Islamabad to hand over the suspects, he said that an “extradition treaty is not required to take action on these matters” as Pakistan is party to various international conventions and arrangements starting from the SAARC convention against terrorism in 1987 to various international conventions tackling the subject.

On whether the US pressure on Pakistan was working, Mukherjee said “tangible” evidence of Pakistani cooperation on the Mumbai terror attack was yet to be witnessed.

Mukherjee asked Pakistan to act on the “advice” of the world community and in accordance to international conventions besides its own commitments. “The taste of the pudding is in the eating. What we are asking Pakistan to do (is) to fulfill their own commitments, which they have made to our Prime Minister twice (on January 6, 2004, and in September last year)… until now, we have not seen tangible and credible action taken by Pakistan,” Mukherjee said.

To a question about whether the countries was stirring up “war hysteria”, the External Affairs Minister said, “At least we are not responsible. We have not created any war hysteria. In our utterances, in our actions, there is no question of creating any war hysteria or war cry.”

He, however, reiterated his statement that India will “keep all options open” if Pakistan does not take action against terrorists. “They have not done anything to convince that they are serious about tackling the terrorist activities emanating from the land of Pakistan,” Mukherjee said.

Meanwhie, in an interview to All India Radio, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon echoed that Pakistan was not following its international obligations, adding that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa has resurfaced as a new group, has a fresh website and that funds are still flowing in.