India has right to go after terrorists: Obama

CHICAGO/ LONDON: US President-elect Barack Obama said India had every right to go after terrorists to protect itself like any sovereign nation, as the Bush Administration implored Pakistan to realise the "seriousness" of the unprecedented Mumbai terror attacks.
    
With Obama and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushing Pakistan hard to fully cooperate with India in the ongoing probe into the attacks, the President-elect said his administration will remain steadfast in support of India's efforts to catch the perpetrators of the strikes and bring them to justice.
    
"And I expect that the world community will feel the same way," he said while announcing at a news conference in Chicago that Hillary Clinton will be his Secretary of State.
     
Obama said he expected Islamabad to fully cooperate with New Delhi in the investigations.
      
Asked if India has the right to "take out" high-value targets inside Pakistan, Obama said "I think that sovereign nations, obviously, have a right to protect themselves." Obama had drawn criticism during the campaign including from Hillary Clinton when he said the US would be justified in pursuing al-Qaida terrorists in Pakistan if it had "actionable
intelligence."
     
"Beyond that, I don't want to comment on the specific situation that's taking place in South Asia right now. I think it is important for us to let the investigators do their jobs and make a determination in terms of who was responsible for carrying out these heinous acts," the President-elect said.
     
Ahead of her visit to New Delhi on Wednesday, Rice at a Round Table in London refused to speculate on how the government of India will respond but said it is "incumbent" on Pakistan to realise the seriousness of what has happened. Rice also wanted Islamabad to fully cooperate with the probe.
     
Responding to a query on the possibility of Pakistan's cooperation in the probe, Rice said, "it depends on what actually did happen there. But it also is incumbent upon Pakistan to realise the seriousness of what happened there. First of all, let's remember that this isn't the first attack.
   
"...I'm not going to speculate on what the Indian government may choose to do. But the question is: How do you best deal with the fact of the attack, the consequences of it, and prevention of future attacks? And the best way to deal with that would be through cooperation between Pakistan and India, and that's what we are encouraging. And in fact, this is a time for absolute transparency and for letting evidence lead where it may," Rice said in a media interaction.
  
Echoing the remarks made by Rice, Obama said "My expectation is that President (Asif Ali) Zardari of Pakistan, who has already said that he will fully cooperate with the investigation, will follow through with that commitment,"
    
Condoling the deaths in the attack, Obama said "our thoughts, and our prayers go out to the people of India, the families that have been affected".
    
"I've spoken to Prime Minister Singh and expressed these concerns to him. An investigation is taking place. I was briefed by Secretary Rice throughout the weekend."
    
Noting that Rice was on way to India and a team of FBI experts have also been sent to help in the investigation, he said "this is one of those time where I have to reiterate there's one president at a time. We're going to be engaged in some very delicate diplomacy in the next several days and weeks. So I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment.
    
"But what I can say unequivocally is that both myself and the team that stands beside me are absolutely committed to eliminating the threat of terrorism. And that is true wherever it is found. We cannot tolerate a world in which innocents are being killed by extremists based on twisted ideologies."