Pune: The United States on Wednesday asked Pakistan to make more progress in bringing the suspects of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice.
"We need to see more progress to be made on (booking and trying) the suspects in Pakistan," US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer said.
He noted that India had delivered justice in the case by concluding the trail of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the November 2008 attacks, who has been given death sentence.
The US envoy, who was here to visit the German Bakery, which was rocked by a bomb blast on February 13, and pay homage to the victims, said six Americans were killed in the Mumbai attack and the world community expected justice to be done by punishing the perpetrators of the carnage.
Without spelling out a specific timeframe, Roemer said India could have an access to Mumbai attack mastermind David Headley "at some point of time in weeks ahead".
He said the US understands the importance of Headley for India and the "door is open" to deliver access of the terror suspect to New Delhi.
Talking to reporters after placing a wreath in memory of the victims of the Pune blast, the US Ambassador said "Headley symbolises the historic cooperation between the US and India" in the global fight against terror.
Asked repeatedly to give a timeframe for Headley's access to India, Roemer said "some of questions in this regard need to be resolved" by Indian government in "days and weeks to come".
On the terror links being traced back to Islamabad, Roemer said it was the American stand that "Pakistan has done a lot on the terrorism front and they need to do a lot more to make India, the US and the world safe".
The Ambassador said the US is "proud to be a strong, strategic and indispensable partner of India to fight terrorism wherever it occurs".
"We are hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder in sharing intelligence to prevent next terror attack anywhere," he asserted.
Asked whether the US still "equate" India with Pakistan in its global policy, Roemer negated the suggestion, saying the civilian nuclear deal was the testimony to the importance America attached to its relationship with New Delhi.
He pointed out that Pakistan had not got the similar deal from the US. Roemer spoke profusely about the warm Indo-US ties and said apart from fighting the menace of terrorism, the two countries were collaborating in tackling many global problems.
"India is an indispensable partner of the United States and we are honoured to be partners and friends."
Roemer met the owners of the German Bakery in Koregaon Park area and hailed their efforts to rebuild the landmark eatery destroyed in the terror attack that killed 17 persons and injured over 50.
"It is a testament to the courage and resilience of the people of Pune and the city's openness and tolerance."
Later, Roemer attended a function where he distributed certificates to participants of a two-week intensive English language skills training programme funded by the Regional English Language Office (RELO) of the US embassy and hosted by Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education Society.
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