Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia during which he is understood to have made it clear that Islamabad should take concrete steps against terrorism, originating in his country and directed at India, reports say.
Singh, who arrived in Yekaterinburg in Russia's Far East on a three-day visit, met with Zardari on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) summit--the first top-level contact since last November's Mumbai terrorist attacks by 10 Pakistanis.
Dr. Singh is understood to have expressed outrage to Zardari over the release of the Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafeez Mohammed Saeed, the mastermind behind the Mumbai carnage, besides conveying New Delhi's "unhappiness" over Islamabad's inaction against terrorism directed at India.
The meeting was sought by Pakistan when its High Commissioner in New Delhi Shahid Malik met with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon last week.
Unity on Terrorism
Earlier, addressing the ninth SCO Summit, Singh noted that terrorism was dogging the South Asian and Central Asian regions, while emphasizing the need for "genuine" co-operation among countries globally to resolutely defeat the menace. He said New Delhi was seeking a conducive external environment for its sustained high economic growth needed to meet its development objectives.
"We wish to see peace, prosperity and stability in the region that the SCO represents. We have a lot to gain and learn from each other. It is in this spirit that we approach our engagement with the Organization and its different organs and bodies," Singh said, marking the first address by an Indian Prime Minister at the six-nation grouping in which India is an observer.
On security challenges in the region, he said the "specter of terrorism, extremist ideologies and illicit drug-trafficking haunt our region." He emphasized that terrorist crimes being committed were transnational in nature and no country was immune to them.
The SCO was formed in 2001 by China, Russia and the four former Central Asian Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, to curb extremism in the region and enhance border security. Later, India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia joined as observer-members.
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