Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, while talking to reporters at his monthly press conference, also indicated that there could be some movement on India’s demand seeking the voice samples of these handlers, which could then be matched with the ones who are on tape giving directions during the 2008 attacks.
He said that he had requested Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rahman Malik to provide the voice samples to India as quickly as possible. Pakistan has been citing legal hurdles to deny the samples.
“We are hopeful that we will get the voice samples soon. They have told us that they are consulting their legal officers. They may come to us with something,” Shinde said.
Malik is expected to visit India later this month. Shinde did not say whether a breakthrough was expected during that visit with regard to the voice samples.
Home Secretary R K Singh said that India’s demand for the voice samples does not get compromised in any way by the invitation to Pakistan’s cricket team to play a series in December. “India’s stand on this issue is very clear. We have been consistently putting pressure on Pakistan to give us the voice samples. The Pakistan government has informed us that it was expediting its own legal process and requested a court in Rawalpindi to fast-track the trial of the seven accused persons (believed to be the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks),” he said.
“We have told Pakistan time and again that the ring leaders must be put on trial. There is no climb down in our position,” he said.
Islamabad has been telling New Delhi that under its law there was no provision to pass on voice samples of people accused of carrying out crimes in other countries. But sources said that Pakistan was considering an amendment to existing laws to let voice samples be taken as legal evidence and also to be allowed to be handed over to another country, if necessary.
SSB to guard Indian mission in Tripoli
A contingent from the Sashastra Seema Bal, which guards the India-Nepal border, would be sent to violence-hit Libya to ensure security at the Indian embassy in Tripoli, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. About 50 SSB personnel are likely to be sent for the task, following a request from the External Affairs Ministry, which was concerned about the safety of the embassy and other Indian installations in Libya. Recently, US ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.