Pakistan must act decisively against terror: Manmohan tells Obama

Toronto, June 28 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh made it clear to US President Barack Obama that Pakistan should abide by its commitment of not allowing terrorism directed against India to emanate from its soil.

Prime Minister Dr. Singh and President Obama met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit on late Sunday night.

Briefing the media after meeting of Dr. Singh and Obama, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said the two leaders discussed the situation in the region and they spoke of counter-terrorism measures in Afghanistan to bring stability there.

Rao told reporters that Dr. Singh briefed Obama about India's peace initiatives with Pakistan, but made it clear that Islamabad should abide by its commitment of not allowing terrorism directed against India to emanate from its soil.

Dr. Singh told Obama while peace initiatives had their place; it was for Pakistan to show whether it was serious about using that information to tackle terrorism in the region.

The activities of LeT terrorist David Headley also came up for discussion during the meeting, Rao said.

"Both the PM and President Obama spoke about the ongoing investigation activities involving David Coleman Headley," Rao said.

"Both India and the United States have a mutual interest in ensuring that the information coming out of this interrogation is taken seriously by Pakistan with the view to control and eliminate terrorist elements surfacing from its soil, which affects the stability of the region," she added.

Rao informed that the issue of extradition of former Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson to India did not come up for discussion during the meeting.

Commenting on Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik's reported statement that it was not possible for either Pakistan or India to control Lashkar -e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, Rao said it was possible for Islamabad to control the activities of people like Saeed, who were not doing right for relationship between the two countries.

She said Home Minister P Chidambaram during his trip to Pakistan had told Pakistan that it was New Delhi's hope that Islamabad continues to pay attention to the activities of Saeed.

Rao said during the meting both Dr. Singh and Obama referred to the strategic partnership between India and US and expressed satisfaction over the current momentum of the relations. (ANI)