Want to see justice, accountability in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack: US

Washington: Asserting that Washington has been very clear that it wants to see accountability and justice in the case of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, the United States said it is making its concerns clear that Pakistan needs to go after all the terrorist groups operating or seeking safe haven on their soil.

Speaking at the daily press briefing, the US State Department Deputy spokesperson Mark C Toner said that Washington has long encouraged and pushed for greater counter-terrorism cooperation which includes the sharing of intelligence between India and Pakistan in the Mumbai terror attack.

"We`ve been very clear that we want to see accountability and justice in the case of the Mumbai attacks, and as you noted, there were American citizens who lost their lives in that - those terrible attacks. We`ve long encouraged and pushed for greater counter-terrorism cooperation, and that includes the sharing of intelligence between India and Pakistan in that regard," Toner said.

Toner further emphasised that the US has made its concerns clear that Pakistan needs to go after all the terrorist groups operating in the country over the terrorist attacks, which includes 26/11.

"We want to see full accountability for these terrible attacks. We`re working with Pakistan, we`re making our concerns clear that they need to go after all the terrorist groups that are operating or seeking safe haven on their soil. And that`s been our clear objective for a long time now. We`ve seen progress, but we need to see more," he added.

On being asked on former US ambassador to the UN and Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad recent statement that the US should consider taking some kind of sanctions against Pakistan for not taking enough action against these terrorist networks, Toner said, "I don`t think we`re even at that point. I mean, we continue to have, as I said, conversations with the highest level of the Government of Pakistan. And our basic point in all of these conversations is that Pakistan must target all militant groups, including those that target Pakistan`s neighbors, and eliminate all safe havens."

He added that the US has received a response from Pakistan that they have assured to do the same.

"We have been encouraged by some of the steps they`ve taken, some of their recent counter-terrorism operations along the border of the Afghan - Afghanistan. And we`re going to continue to work with them to increase those efforts and apply more pressure on these groups," he added.

India has long asked Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice but Islamabad has claimed that the evidence provided by New Delhi is not sufficient.

Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, who orchestrated the November 2008, Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed is based in Pakistan.

Though the UN has declared JuD a terror organisation and individually designated Saeed as a terrorist in December 2008, he continues to live freely in Pakistan.