India and Pakistan will resume peace talks as planned, government sources say, despite a deadly restaurant bombing and questions over whether Islamist militants were involved.
As police scoured security camera footage of Saturday's blast at the German Bakery in Pune, western India, a government source in New Delhi told AFP on Monday there was "no change" to a scheduled meeting of Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries on February 25.
It will mark the first official talks between the two South Asian rivals for 14 months.
Another source said the government would refrain from any "knee-jerk reaction," amid calls from the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the meeting should be called off.
India broke off all official dialogue with Pakistan following the November, 2008 Mumbai attacks which it blamed on the Pakistani-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Saturday's blast in Pune was the first major attack on Indian soil since then and came just a day after the two sides agreed to the foreign secretaries' meeting.
Two foreigners - an Italian woman and an Iranian man - were among the nine people killed. Twelve of the 57 people injured were foreign nationals.
Indian media reports sought to link Saturday's bombing to previous attacks by an India-based Islamist movement, the Indian Mujahideen, fearing sleeper cells were now active and further strikes likely.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for swift action to bring the culprits to justice but police have refused to comment on speculation the blast was the work of the Indian Mujahideen.
The group claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in New Delhi in September 2008 and reports have highlighted similarities between them and the Pune blast.
A bomb hidden in an abandoned rucksack left under a table exploded at about 7.30pm local time on Saturday while the restaurant was packed with mainly young Indians.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has also refused to speculate on who was responsible.
But on Sunday he said they were keen to speak to David Coleman Headley, a US-Pakistani national currently awaiting trial in the United States on a string of terror charges.
Headley, 49, is alleged to have scouted possible targets in India for the LeT before the Mumbai attacks. He denies the claims.
Chidambaram said Headley stayed at the Osho Ashram - a religious retreat popular with foreigners - which is a stone's throw from the German Bakery.
A religious and cultural centre run by the orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement is also nearby. A similar centre was one of the targets in the Mumbai attacks.
The Times of India said Monday that the bombing should be seen in the context of the resumption of the diplomatic talks and a major coalition offensive in southern Afghanistan.
Pakistan-based Islamists "could well be trying to open up a conflict zone on Pakistan's eastern front, which would deflect attention from them," an editorial in the daily said.
India's BJP has said the attack - which triggered heightened security across the country - underscored fears the government had acted rashly in agreeing to resume talks with Pakistan.
Senior party leader Arun Jaitley said Pune was "a grim reminder about the fragility of our security system, and the adventurous track that we are walking.
"The whole nation is wondering today as to what has changed that we decided to change our diplomatic position. When terror threatens India, then not talking is also a legitimate diplomatic option," he said.
Front page
RSS Feed