Cranking up pressure on Pakistan, the US demanded that the perpetrators of the unprecedented Mumbai terror attacks be “eliminated” and said Islamabad has still a “lot to do” in combatting terrorism. Richard Boucher, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, elaborating on the US aim, said the countrys “immediate focus is to get rid of the terrorists and stop them from doing anything more.”

“Lets find the people responsible, lets eliminate the groups who were responsible and lets make sure we do everything we can to prevent India from suffering this kind of attack again. Thats an immediate focus that requires everybodys co-operation, and when we are through that co-operation, we can also start co-operation on broader things,” Boucher said in an interview to All India Radio(AIR). The strong message from Boucher came in the wake of Pakistani authorities trying to blur the focus away from cracking down on Pakistan-based groups like Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) suspected to have masterminded the Mumbai attacks on November 26 that left 179 persons dead.

“Pakistan has taken some promising steps, but there is a lot to be done to tackle the menace,” Boucher said.

Pakistan and India should co-operate and draw a plan to look over such incidents in the future to make certain that such terror assaults against India are curbed, he added.

Boucher further urged Pakistan to understand the significance of the term co-operation in such circumstances. “There are lot of issues here and lot of things it should be done. The focus right now is on getting the groups who took this horrible action, who committed these horrible crimes in Bombay,” Boucher said. He said the US always wanted to see that “Pakistan be able to control its territory and stop these groups from operating”, insisting “We need to co-operate with Pakistan.”

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