Dissatisfied with the steps taken by Pakistan to curb terrorism, the Centre on Wednesday said New Delhi will pressurise Islamabad to hand over wanted criminals to be tried under Indian law.
"The Indian government is not satisfied with the steps taken by Pakistan to deal with terrorism so far," Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan told reporters in Jammu.
"We want terrorist activities like running of training camps to be shut down in Pakistan and will pressurise Islamabad to deport criminals who were involved in terrorist activities on our soil," he said, adding "the criminals will be tried in India and they will be allowed to defend themselves."
On the statement of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari that such terrorists will be tried in Pakistan if India provided proof of their involvement in terrorist activities, Chavan said New Delhi had given enough proof and now wanted them to be deported.
Ruling out any possibility of war with Pakistan, the Union minister said the confidence-building measures have been affected between the two countries after the Mumbai. terror strikes.
On the steps taken by Centre to deal with terror, Chavan said initiatives like modernisation of the police force and setting up of a Federal Investigating Agency are under way.
On the election results of five states, he said people have, by and large, voted for development and progress.
Every state got sufficient funds from the Centre which helped them undertake developmental projects for the benefit of the common masses, he said, adding the BJP also retained Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on the development plank.
He said the victory of Congress in three states indicated that people have rejected the BJP's move of politicising terror and issues like Indo-US civil nuclear deal and inflation. "We thank electorate for showing their prudence," he added.
Expressing the hope that the results will have a positive impact on the ongoing elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he appealed to the people of the state to vote for Congress which brought development during the coalition government, especially during the last two and a half years.
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