Rice in India to ease out Indo-Pak tension

With the sole purpose of easing out tensions escalating between India and Pakistan in the wake of Mumbai terror strike; discussing its fallout with Indian leaders and put pressure on Islamabad for transparent cooperation in the probe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in New Delhi on Wednesday morning.

Rice, who comes for an overnight visit, will discuss the fallout of Mumbai terror strike with both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and may suggest them to have patience in dealing with Islamabad amid aggravating situations.

She may ask to India to wait and see how Islamabad cooperates in the investigation prior to resorting any punitive action.

Ahead of her departure to New Delhi, Rice said the primary goal of her visit to India was to express solidarity with her people.

“I am going to express solidarity with the Indian people. This was a horrible attack and, of course, a very great concern to the United States as an American citizen has also been killed in the incident," Rice said.

She also had said she wanted to consult with the Indian government about how US could help India to bring perpetrators of the terror attack to justice, and to try and prevent further attacks of this kind.

The Indian Government is expected to share with Rice details of the evidence it has accrued so far against Pakistan, including telephone intercepts, records of satellite phones, confessions by the one detained terrorist, GPS tracks, e-mail, and ordnance and forensic evidence among other things.

Rice is also likely to visit Pakistan on Thursday in a bid to dilute tensions between both the neighbours — India and Pakistan. There is, however, no official confirmation about it.

Meanwhile, US has directed to Islamabad to prove its innocence and non-complicity at the official level, with a full and transparent cooperation in the face of overwhelming evidence that the footprints of the terror attack lead back to Pakistan.

Rice has already given hint prior to Delhi visit by saying Islamabad must follow evidence wherever it leads and lend absolute and transparent cooperation in the investigation.

Islamabad has been vehemently rejecting any kind of involvement in the Mumbai terror strike, but as per the media reports, the official accompanying Rice alleged that Islamabad had accepted the possibility that there might be people/group, based in Pakistan, involved in the attack.