Washington: As US military documents implicate Pakistan in its support for terrorism, the Obama Administration has asked that country to bring to justice those responsible for Mumbai terror attack to "convince" India it has made a "fundamental change".
The White House also said that more needs to be done by Pakistan in the fight against terror as it does not want "status quo" to be maintained.
Simultaneously, the State Department said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a message to the Pakistani leadership during her recent visit to Islamabad asking it to to ensure that terror groups are not supported by elements within the establishment in Islamabad, who continue to follow the "old mindset".
"From the standpoint of India, India clearly, you know, wants to see, that Pakistan is taking steps to bring to justice those people that threaten neighbouring states," State Department spokesman P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news briefing yesterday.
"So, clearly, as we've said many, many times, if Pakistan wants to convince India that it has made this kind of fundamental change, bringing to justice those who are responsible for the Mumbai attack would be a very, very constructive and important step," he said in response to a question.
The comments by the White House and the State Department came against the backdrop of leaks by a whistleblower site WikiLeaks that exposed past links between the powerful Pakistani spy agency ISI and terror outfits.
Crowley also said the US gave a "heads up" to India, besides Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the leak of more than 90,000 classified documents pertaining to the war against terrorism.
The documents released by Wikileaks further strengthened what top Indian officials have been saying for quite some time now that ISI has links with al-Qaeda, Taliban and other extremist organizations.
"We also gave a heads-up to India," as he said that the Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan were also informed about the upcoming documents.
Crowley said the US continues to have conversations with Pakistan on bringing to justice those responsible for the Mumbai attack.
"In Pakistan, (Clinton) she emphasized the need for the Pakistani government to continue its strategic shift against insurgent groups and ensure that insurgent groups are not being supported by elements within Pakistan who continue to follow an old mindset that conflicts with Pakistan's own security interests," he said.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said "The direction of our relationship with Pakistan, based on steps that we've asked them to take,has improved that relationship."
But more needs to be done by Pakistan, as the White House do not want status quo to be maintained, he asserted.
"But at the same time, even as they make progress(in moving against extremists) we understand that the status quo is not acceptable and that we have to continue moving this relationship in the right direction," Gibbs said.
Reiterating that Pakistan should not expect a blank cheque from the US in the fight against terror, Gibbs said the US has made progress in moving this relationship forward, in having the Pakistanis address the issue of safe havens, the issue of extremists operating in that country, by undertaking operations, again, in Swat and in South Waziristan. PTI
