'Already Sent A Message To The Pakistani Government'

Pranab Mukherjee: I have just concluded discussions with H.E. Dr. Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State. She has specifically come to express the solidarity of the United States of America with India in the wake of the heinous attacks by terrorists who struck in several locations in Mumbai last week. We greatly appreciate this gesture.

I informed Dr. Rice that there is no doubt that the terrorist attacks in Mumbaiwere perpetrated by individuals who came from Pakistan and whose controllers arein Pakistan. This is an assessment that is widely shared by the internationalcommunity.

I briefed Dr. Rice on the discussions we have had with the Government ofPakistan following the Mumbai terrorist attacks and our expectations ofcooperation from them to ensure that the terrorists and organizations whoperpetrated these attacks are arrested and brought to justice. We expect allfriendly governments and the international community to ensure that thishappens.

I have also conveyed to Secretary Rice the feeling of anger and deep outrage inIndia following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai which were preceded by similarterrorist attacks in other cities in India earlier this year in Jaipur,Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi and now Mumbai. Almost 350 innocent lives havebeen lost in these attacks and more than 733 people injured. Government of Indiais determined to act decisively to protect India’s territorial integrity andthe right of our citizens to a peaceful life with all the means at our disposal.

We look forward to the international community’s cooperation in ourlongstanding struggle against terrorism.

I would now like to invite Secretary Rice to make her observations.

I think perhaps we have some sense of what this is like, the sense ofvulnerability, the questions that arise, and the desire to make every step totry and make sure that it does not happen again. I know, too, that this is atime when cooperation of all parties who have any information is reallyrequired. This is a different situation. It is a situation in which the attackswere clearly targeted to send a message about India, about its integration intothe world. Foreigners were targeted, indeed, America lost citizens as well.

And so we have to act with urgency, we have to act with resolve. I have saidthat Pakistan needs to act with resolve and urgency and cooperate fully andtransparently. That message has been delivered and will be delivered toPakistan. But it is a time when cooperation between all peoples who suffer theseterrorist attacks really is required and is necessary. I will shortly speak witha number of members of the Indian leadership. I am looking forward to thoseconversations to review whatever we can do in terms of cooperation, in terms ofshared experience about how one deals with this kind of attack and what you cando going forward. And so again, I am here principally to express the solidarityof the United States and to offer whatever help we can to the Indian people andto the Indian leadership and to the people of Mumbai. And with that, I’mpleased to take a couple of questions.

Question:  A couple of quick questions. You talk about willing tosupport the Indian Government in any way that they need your support. Could youqualify if there are any concrete proposals that you bring with you for thatcooperation? Second question, you said that (inaudible) a message, it was –these attacks were meant to send a message. Do you see an al-Qaida hand in theseattacks?

And we’ve learned a lot over the last seven years since September 11^thabout the importance of activities that prevent. Because you can’t be in asituation in which you act as if, in law enforcement, they commit the act andthen they’re punished. The long pole in the tent here is prevention, and soany work that I hope to do with the Indian officials is to talk about what wecan contribute in terms of knowing how to use information, how to use leadstoward prevention. That now has to be number one. Yes, these people have to bebrought to justice for the terrible things that they did, but number one needsto be to try to prevent another attack. Because I can tell you that some sevenand a half years after 9/11, we know that there are people who are stillplotting and planning every day to try to bring up another successful attack.

Question: Madame Secretary, the Indians have handed over another listof 20 fugitives [Backin 2002, the list used to be at least twice this size] that they would likePakistan to deal with or to turn over. What do you think Pakistan’s responseshould be at this time in order to ease tensions between the two countries?

Condoleezza Rice: Well, first of all, the Pakistani Government hassaid unequivocally that it intends to cooperate. And President Zardari has toldme that he will follow the leads wherever they go, and I think that is a veryimportant commitment on the part of Pakistan.

I think we should – I should refrain from speculation about what thePakistani Government might do in response to specific requests because I –what has to happen here is that there has to be a real sense of transparency, areal sense of action, a real sense of urgency, because these are terrorists whoare extremists who really have the same intention and the same goal, and that isto terrorize and send messages to states around the world, including -- by theway, extremists have done great damage in Pakistan. And so Pakistan and Indiaand the United States – and I spent a good deal of time with my Britishcounterpart when I was in London and with their people – we all have a greatinterest in getting to the bottom of this and we have a great interest inbringing people to justice and we have a great interest in prevention.

And so that would be my message. I don’t want to get into the specifics ofwhat Pakistan may or may not do. But I’m going to take, as a firm commitment,Pakistan’s stated commitment to get to the bottom of this and to know thatthese are enemies of Pakistan, as well as they’re enemies of India.

Question: Secretary Rice, I have a couple of questions. One is that --what would your message to the Prime Minister be this evening? And secondly,does the United States know about the alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attackin the sense that -- you know, India believes it’s the Lashkar e-Tayyiba whichnow goes by a different name in Pakistan. It’s leader, Hafiz Saeed, has beenvery public anti-India speeches calling for jihad against India. Would you besending a message to the Pakistani Government to at least arrest him, hand himover?

Condoleezza Rice: Well, I have already sent a message to the PakistaniGovernment, and the Pakistani Government has received that message favorably,which is that wherever this leads these people have to be brought to justice.And they – we need, or the government will need, to make certain thatthey’re doing everything that they can to garner information so that you canprevent further attacks.

I will tell you that the last – over the last seven years, the experienceof bringing people to justice, the experience of learning about the way thatoperations are carried out, learning about money flows -- I read this morningsomething about trying to trace money flows. Let me tell you, don’tunderestimate, in any case, the importance of getting to the bottom of fundingfor terrorism. It has been one of the most important tools that the UnitedStates has used in helping to trace people, plots, and money.

Secondly, I will say to the Prime Minister, again, that the United States isprepared to work on the intelligence information that we have. Obviously, I’mnot going to go into details on that. One of the things that we all have to bevery careful about is in empowering terrorists by allowing them to know what weknow. I know that very often, and I respect the role not just of the press butof those who, in democratic states, want to know. But there is an important wallthat must be there so that terrorists don’t know what you know. They are veryactive and quick at reacting when they have leads. And so I will spend some timeon that.

And then finally, as I said, I’m prepared to share with the Prime Ministerany ideas that we may have, given our experience, of how to move forward towarda strategy of prevention. But this is a time for everybody to cooperate and todo so transparently, and this is especially a time for Pakistan to do so.