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As the relations between India and Pakistan improve, complex issues start figuring in the talks. India has asked Islamabad to sign the Extradition Treaty and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), necessary as several militants continue to seek sanctuary in Pakistan, India has pressed.
Sources said that the Indian side sought inking of the Extradition Treaty and MLAT at the just-concluded Foreign Secretary-level talks in New Delhi.
However the Pakistani side has remained non-committal on the issue. The talks were on between India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan.
India has already given a list of 20 terrorists, including that of Dawood Ibrahim, to Pakistan about two years ago, seeking their deportation. But Pakistan has been claiming that they were not in the country.
At the meeting of the Foreign Secretaries, the Indian side conveyed to Islamabad that if such incidents continued, it could have negative impact on the ongoing peace process.
The Indian side also observed that Pakistan's response with regard to fight against terrorism has been "negative" even as several positive developments have taken place between the two countries on other fronts, the sources said. Conveying concerns over unabated cross-border terrorism, India specifically referred to the recent terror attacks in Delhi and Bangalore in which Pakistan-based Lasher-e-Taiba outfit has been found involved.
Pakistan, washing its hands off these incidents, offered to help in the investigations if India provided concrete evidence linking any group based in that country.
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