'Pakistan mainstreaming terrorists, allowing them to contest elections' PM Modi tells Pence

Modi said that all the traces and all the leads in the global terror attacks ultimately lead to a “single source and single place of origin.”

Image tweeted by @VP

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told US Vice President Mike Pence that Pakistan is mainstreaming terrorists which can be a threat for the entire world. Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Singapore, met Pence on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit. The two leaders discussed a wide range of bilateral and global issues of mutual interests. Modi expressed concerns over the participation of terrorists in elections in Pakistan, in an apparent reference to the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.  Modi said that all the traces and all the leads in the global terror attacks ultimately lead to a “single source and single place of origin.” Foreign Secretary Gokhale briefed that the two parties hailed the cooperation between them on counter-terrorism as Pence made reference to the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks carried out by Pakistan based LeT, in which around 166 people were killed. Prime Minister Modi also expressed concern over the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's party contesting the July 25 elections in Pakistan. “He (Modi) did point out that the mainstreaming of people involved in the Mumbai attacks in a political process which has taken place in the recent elections in Pakistan should be a matter of serious concern not just to the two countries - India and US - but to international community," Gokhale was quoted as saying by PTI. It is to be noted that Hafiz Saeed-led banned Jamat-ud Dawah, a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, had fielded its candidates from the platform of little known political entity Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT). Another extremist outfit Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), which was banned in Pakistan till early this year, had also fielded dozens of candidates including those who are on Pakistan's terrorism watch list.