Intensifying its diplomatic offensive, India has made it clear to the US and Iran as well as Pakistan's key allies, China and Saudi Arabia that they need to do more to use their clout to pressure Pakistan into acting against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage.

 

Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday (25^th December) night and conveyed New Delhi's growing impatience with Pakistan's denial and diversionary tactics.

 

Mukherjee also asked his interlocutors to use their considerable clout to compel Pakistan to eliminate the infrastructure of terrorism which is a threat not only to India but to the whole world. He also impressed upon them the need for intensified international efforts to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai mayhem to justice.

 

Mukherjee shared evidence of the complicity of elements in Pakistan in the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks and communicated the sense of outrage among the people of India at the audacious and meticulously planned attack mounted by elements based in Pakistan.

 

In her response Rice assured India that the US has not relented in its efforts to persuade Pakistan to dismantle terror camps in that country. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also conveyed Tehran's support to New Delhi against terrorism in the region.