26/11 suspects’ indictment unlikely to change anything in Indo-Pak relationship: Analysts - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistani authorities, on Wednesday, reframed charges on all the seven accused of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, and named Lashkar-e-Taiba’s operations commander, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi the mastermind of the terror attacks, however, analysts believe the step would hardly bring in any change in India, Pakistan relations. While Pakistan, by indicting the accused, wants to show the international community that it is serious about cracking down on terrorists, it is highly unlikely that the step would alone lead to resumption of Indo-Pak bilateral talks, which were suspended after 26/11. “The move is unlikely to make ‘much of a difference’ to relations between the two nuclear powers,” The Christian Science Monitor quoted renowned Pakistani journalist and author of ‘Descent into Chaos’, Ahmed Rashid , as saying. “ Pakistan says it wants to resume dialogue. India is saying ban LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) , and then we can resume the dialogue. This ‘all or nothing approach’ makes it difficult to move forward,” Rashid added. Lahore based political analyst, Hasan-Askari Rizvi, pointed out that the timing of the indictment appeared to be ‘manufactured’. “These people have been in detention for almost 11 months. The timing suggests Pakistan wants to send out a message that they are pursuing the people responsible,” Rizvi said. While New Delhi has provided five dossiers to Islamabad on the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan maintains that it needs more evidence to prosecute the suspects.