Rice deputy in Delhi to hold talks on Mumbai attack

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte arrived here Friday on a daylong visit to firm up counter-terror cooperation and to persuade India to exercise restraint in dealing with its neighbour Pakistan, officials said.

During his visit, a day after Pakistan banned the Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a front organisation for the Laskhar-e-Taiba suspected of masterminding Mumbai attacks, Negroponte will hold talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

He will brief the minister on his talks with top Pakistani leaders in Islamabad Thursday and share Washington's perception of Pakistan's reported crackdown on terrorist outfits in that country.

He is also expected to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In his talks with Negroponte, Mukherjee is likely to convey India's exasperation with 'token action' taken by Pakistan against terror outfits in that country and seek the US' support to pressure Islamabad into taking genuine steps to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in that country, reliable sources said.

Negroponte comes here 10 days after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited New Delhi and asked Islamabad to take action against 'non-state actors', saying Pakistan must cooperate 'urgently and transparently' with India in the probe into the Mumbai terror attacks.

Indian security agencies have collected more evidence since Rice's visit and are now zeroing in on the list of 'ISI handlers' of the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror strikes. New Delhi is likely to share additional evidence with Washington when Indian officials meet Negroponte, sources said.

According to The Dawn newspaper, Negroponte had shared a list with his Pakistani interlocutors, that contains names of lesser-known groups like the Pasban Ahle-e-Hadith against whom Washington wants Islamabad to take action.

The US diplomat has asked Islamabad to continue action against the LeT and to expand the scope of the operations to other 'groups that may be linked with subversive activities in India', the Pakistani daily reported.