Bomb blast clouds Indo - Pak talks
INDIA: A deadly bomb blast in western India threw a cloud Sunday over
the scheduled resumption of India-Pakistan peace talks that were
suspended in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The blast, which killed nine people late Saturday in a packed
restaurant frequented by students and foreigners in the city of Pune,
was the first major attack on Indian soil since Mumbai.
Climate talks |
* Blast threw
a cloud over the scheduled resumption of India- Pakistan peace
talks
* Was the first majar attack on
Indian soil since Mumbai |
An Italian national and an Iranian were among the dead. Twelve of the
60 people injured were foreigners, police said.
The timing was particularly sensitive, coming a day after India and
Pakistan agreed to resume official talks after a 14-month hiatus. An
initial meeting between their foreign secretaries has been scheduled for
February 25.
India broke off all dialogue after the Mumbai attacks, which New
Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram described Saturday’s blast as a
“significant terrorist incident” but refused to speculate on who was
responsible or what impact, if any, it might have on talks with
Islamabad.
“Those are matters we will consider in Delhi. We are ruling out
nothing. We are ruling in nothing,” he said after visiting the blast
site.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the bombing.
“We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We want
the region to be free from this menace.
“We want to have good relations with India. We want talks to be
meaningful.” India admitted major intelligence failings after Mumbai,
but Chidambaram denied that was the case in Pune, describing it as an
“insidious attack with a bomb planted in a soft target”. Pune, Monday,
AFP |