Exactly one month after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, India has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to mount pressure on Pakistan to take action against terrorists on its soil.
Government sources have told NDTV that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has had a 30 minute long talk with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jeichi and asked China to step up pressure on Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure in the country. He reportedly told China that Islamabad's war rhetoric should not divert the world's attention.
New Delhi is also engaging with Pakistan's allies in the Gulf, like Saudi Arabia. Earlier on Friday, Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal arrived in Delhi for talks with Pranab Mukherji. After the meeting, Prince Faisal said that the global terror had to be dealt with by jointly and without delay. "Terrorists want to create conflict between countries. We are urging the UN to create a special body to fight terror."
Pranab Mukherjee added that the Saudi minister conveyed his condolences to India on behalf of the people of Saudi Arabia. "We agreed that global terror has to be dealt with jointly and without delay," he said.
Saudi Arabia has tremendous leverage with Pakistan because of the amount of funding it sends, including subsidised oil.
Official sources say the meeting was scheduled earlier, but it is believed the Saudi minister sought this meeting after the Mumbai attacks, to see how they can help ease tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.
The United States is also a key component of the pressure-building exercise. Pakistan's constant denial that the 26/11 terrorists were its nationals is not being bought by Washington. US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Richard Boucher in an interview with a radio network has said:
"Let's find the people responsible, let's eliminated the groups who were responsible and let's make sure we do everything we can to prevent India from suffering this kind of attack again. I think we also need to look for the possibility where India and Pakistan can jointly co-operate to get rid of these terrorists and keep them from operating in these regions."
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