India to call Pakistan bluff at NSA meet

India has prepared a comprehensive rebuttal to Pakistan's claim that the Samjhauta blast case, in which several Pakistanis were killed, is not progressing and the main accused are likely to get away. Pakistan has often put forward this argument whenever India has raised the issue of the 26\11 Mumbai attack trial in Pakistan heading nowhere. Government sources said a befitting reply on the Samjhauta case will be given clearly stating that the two cases cannot be compared.

India will communicate to Pakistan during the NSA-level talks that all the accused in the Samjhauta case are in jail, including Aseemanand, who was granted bail but will not be released since he cannot fulfil bail conditions. India will also take a stand that in the 26\11 case Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is freely moving around after obtaining bail as the prosecution had failed to build a strong case despite India handing over all the evidence.

"Not only is Lakhvi out of jail but has Pakistan dismissed the evidence given against Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, one the main plotters of the attack. We will reiterate our stand on this," said a government official privy to the issues. Countering Pakistan's claim, India will also point out that there was no involvement of state actors in the Samjhauta case unlike the Mumbai carnage.

NIA chargesheet

An explosion on Samjhauta Express connecting Delhi to Lahore on the night of February 18-19, 2007 killed 68 people, mostly Pakistanis. After the NIA filed three charge sheets against eight persons, the NIA court in Panchkula has framed charges against Aseemanand, a former activist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and alleged bomb planters Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajinder Chaudhary. All four are facing trial under the anti terror law - the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

"We are confident of securing convictions but the same cannot be said about the 26\11 trial in Pakistan," said a government official. Among the four other accused in the case, Sunil Joshi was murdered in 2007, while Sandeep Dange, Ramchandra Kalsangre and Amit alias Ashwani Chauhan are absconding. Sources said a strong counter argument will made and a status of the Samjhauta case will be explained in detail if Pakistan brings it up. Pressing it's claim that Pakistan is going slow in the 26\11 case it will be pointed out that Islamabad has not acted upon the Letters Rogatory sent in connection with the Mumbai terror attack case.

In the backdrop of the slow progress of the Mumbai attack trial, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will communicate to his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz that Pakistan is still sponsoring terror against India. India will confront Pakistan with evidence that the three terrorists who carried out attacks in Gurdaspur and the two terrorists who struck in Udhampur, one of whom was caught alive, had sneaked in from across the border. A fugitive list of about 60-70 persons will also be handed over to Pakistan.

Naved details

Details of the interrogation report of Mohammad Naved, who was arrested in Udhampur, is also expected to be given to Pakistan. In his statement, Naved has said that Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and persons appearing to be Pakistan Army officers visited the terror camp once in a while and gave them motivational speeches and tips. The evidence on Naved being a Pakistani will be provided to Aziz. It will include his address and details of the camps where he was trained. During interrogation, Naved has revealed that he belongs to Rafiq colony in Tokianwali of Ghulam Mohamadabad in Pakistan's Faisalabad district and he sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir on June 6-7 along with three other LeT terrorists. India will also trash any attempt by Pakistan to link Indian agencies to the unrest in Baluchistan.