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India disturbed by jihad call by Pak elements: Rao

February 22, 2010 18:05 IST

India said on Monday it is "disturbed" by the call for jihad by certain elements in Pakistan and made it clear that terrorism would dominate the forthcoming foreign secretary-level talks.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said India has consistently maintained that Pakistan should bring perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to trail expeditiously.

"We have been telling them that they should dismantle terror infrastructure on their soil and it was in this connection that Pakistan's Foreign Secretary (Salman Bashir) has been invited for talks in New Delhi on February 25 for a dialogue," she said.

She was delivering the key note address at the 3rd International Institute for Strategic Studies-Ministry of External Affairs Dialogue, Perspectives on Foreign Policy for a 21st Century India.

Rao, who will hold discussions with Bashir in New Delhi on Thursday, said India is "disturbed by the call for jihad by certain elements in Pakistan."

"Pakistan has taken certain steps against terrorism in a selective manner which is meaningless," she said.

In response to a question about the outcome of the talks, Rao said: "I will comment about the talks after the meeting."

She described the relationship between India and Pakistan as "complex" and said India has taken repeated steps to stablise the relations.

The Foreign Secretary's comments come in the backdrop of militant outfits based in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir calling for 'jihad' against India.

Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, accused of masterminding the Mumbai attacks, had said the only solution to problems between India and Pakistan is the "liberation of Jammu and Kashmir, failing which radical groups would resort to the "option of jihad".
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