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New Delhi is finalising a detailed dossier on recent acts of Pakistan-backed terrorism to present at talks with Islamabad scheduled for this weekend. The dossier, government sources said, is being prepared by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in consultations with intelligence services and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
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The dossier, sources said, will contain precise information on up to a dozen jihad training facilities that have resumed operations after being briefly shut down in the wake of the 26/11 attacks. The camps include the Markaz Taiba camp near Mansehra in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where several terrorists arrested in recent years have trained.
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In addition, the dossier will contain requests for specific information on Muhammad Naveed, a Pakistani captured this month during the course of a terrorist attack in Udhampur, as well as a terrorist strike in Gurdaspur, alleged to have been launched from across the Punjab border.
New Delhi, a senior government official said, will also underline the need for Pakistan to take action against Indian Mujahideen fugitives named in ongoing criminal proceedings, notably the organisation’s alleged chief, Riyaz Shahbandari.
“In the past”, the official said, “talks have been confined to our presenting a list of allegations, and receiving a vague set of complaints back. This time, we want to put up specific issues on which we expect Pakistan to act before the next round of dialogue.”
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A list of India’s most-wanted fugitives in Pakistan will also be handed over — a list of 50 was shared in 2011 and the current list, pending clearance from Doval, has around 70 names.
“On the 26/11 case, New Delhi will press for execution of Letters Rogatory sent to Pakistan, while on the issue of misuse of Pakistani soil, India will cite details of active terror camps from which militants are sent across for attacks,” sources said.
Pakistan’s chief of army staff, General Raheel Sharif, met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and senior ministers on Tuesday, in a meeting that media reported was intended to design an agenda for Sunday’s talks. General Sharif is believed to have told the political leadership to push hard on alleged Indian involvement in Sindh and Balochistan.
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It remains unclear, though, if Sharif’s Special Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, who will represent Pakistan at Sunday’s talks, will present a formal dossier of evidence.
“For the Indian government, this will be an acid test of the Sharif government’s intentions and seriousness,” said Sushant Sareen, an analyst at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi. “Having said that, I doubt that there’s any great optimism that India’s hopes will be met.”
New Delhi has presented several terrorism-related dossiers to Pakistan in the past, notably one on the details of its 26/11 investigation, which formed the basis of the Federal Investigation Agency’s prosecution of suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi.
Lakhvi’s release on bail earlier this year provoked outrage in India. Prime Ministers Sharif and Modi, however, agreed to begin a security-focussed dialogue.
In the midst of the 2002 crisis with Pakistan, India had also handed over a list of 20 top terrorists it wanted extradited, but failed to get results.
“India’s friends in the West want this dialogue to go on, because they fear a crisis may erupt,” the government official said. “We want to show them that we’re willing to take the first steps, and also that we have concerns that Pakistan needs to address.”
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