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India drowns hopes of early dialogue

‘The man arrested in Delhi does have links with Hafiz Saeed,’ Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters.

NEW DELHI: Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday linked an arrested terror suspect to Jamaat ud Daawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Foreign Minister SM Krishna drowned hopes of an early resumption of talks with Pakistan, saying Islamabad must first show tangible measures to stop attacks from its soil on Indian targets.

Press Trust of India quoted Mr Chidambaram as linking Mohammed Omar Madani with Mr Saeed, whose recent release ordered by the Lahore High Court, further soured relations with Pakistan. India says Hafiz Saeed is involved in last November’s terror attack on Mumbai.

‘The man arrested in Delhi does have links with Hafiz Saeed,’ Mr Chidambram told reporters here. He was asked to comment on the arrest of Mr Madani by the Special Cell of Delhi Police near the 12th century Qutab Minar monument on Thursday.

Complimenting the Delhi Police for the arrest, Mr Chidambaram said it ‘is a measure of the good intelligence and good investigative work done by our intelligence agencies and police.’ Police had recovered $8,000, Rs 50,000 worth fake Indian currency and Rs 40,000 in Nepalese currency from Mr Madani’s possession.

Police officials said Mr Madani, a resident of Bihar, was in charge of recruiting young men and sending them to Pakistan through Nepal for training in arms and explosives.

Mr Krishna, meanwhile, put to rest speculation that the government was considering early resumption of talks with Pakistan. He said that until Pakistan took tangible measures to prevent terrorism directed against this country, there is no such possibility.

The Hafiz Saeed incident showed how serious Pakistan is against terrorism, Mr Krishna was quoted by PTI as saying. Unless Pakistan dismantles the terror infrastructure, talks are not possible he added.

‘Not unless they (Pakistan) take concrete measures to prevent terrorist attacks emanating from the soil of Pakistan aimed against India (can talks resume),’ Mr Krishna told reporters outside Parliament House. He was responding to a question if there was any move to resume the dialogue with Islamabad.

DAWN: Saturday, 06 Jun, 2009