Islamabad claims elements in India assisted Mumbai attacks; US official holds talks with Pak leaders
Afp, Pti, New Delhi/ Islamabad
India yesterday accused Islamabad of delaying its investigation into the Mumbai attacks, which have been widely blamed on militant groups based inside Pakistan.
The charge came a day after Islamabad said its investigators needed more information from India to complete its probe into the November 26-29 siege in which 165 people were killed by 10 gunmen.
India’s junior foreign minister, Anand Sharma, said New Delhi had sent its own detailed report on the attacks to Pakistan, and that it expected a swift response.
“The identity of the individuals and the perpetrators of those who masterminded these dastardly attacks is fairly well known to Pakistan, to India and to the entire international community,” Sharma told reporters.
“The organisations too stand identified and named at the United Nations Security Council itself,” he said, without naming the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group at which fingers have been pointed.
The LeT has denied involvement but Sharma demanded action from Pakistan, which has fought three wars with India since independence in 1947.
“What is required of Pakistan is that it should not delay, deflect or confuse but act,” Sharma told reporters in New Delhi.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee separately said Pakistan had not sought additional information from India.
“We would expect an official communication from the Pakistani authorities whether they want anything extra from us and if they need anything additional otherwise it is extremely difficult to deal with it,” Mukherjee said.
On Monday, Pakistani cabinet ministers and senior army officers in Islamabad said that information provided by India was insufficient.
On Tuesday US President Barack Obama’s regional envoy Richard Holbrooke, embarking on a massive US policy review to turn around the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, met Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Pakistan called yesterday for dialogue to “combat terrorism” and expressed concern about military action against Islamist militants in its first talks with Holbrooke.
Holbrooke, considered the architect of peace in Bosnia, heard criticism from a civilian government worried that US missile strikes against militants in Pakistan will exacerbate its domestic problems and unpopularity.
“It’s an orientation visit. Pakistan conveyed that military action is not the only solution. We should look for dialogue and development also as a tool to combat terrorism,” a foreign ministry official told AFP.
India’s Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon last Thursday directly accused Pakistan’s military spy agency, the ISI, of involvement in the Mumbai attacks — a charge Islamabad vigorously denied.
Pakistan has come under strong Western pressure to prosecute those suspected of being behind the attacks.
Meanwhile, giving a new twist to probe into Mumbai attacks, Pakistan is now alleging that there were “elements in India” who helped carry out the strikes and wants its investigators to be provided access to them.
“There is a strong realisation in Pakistani security agencies that without the help of elements in India, the Mumbai crime could have not been committed,” official sources were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper on Tuesday.
In what could further delay the prosecution of Mumbai attackers, the paper said Pakistan is also seeking DNA samples of the terrorists involved in the strikes and more information about contacts made by them through the internet.
Pakistan’s investigation report into the Mumbai attacks, which was reviewed on Monday at a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, would be sent to New Delhi in a couple of days, the paper quoted these officials.
In its report, Pakistan has sought results of DNA tests on Ajmal Kasab and the nine other attackers killed by Indian security forces so that these could be matched with their family members, if any, in Pakistan, the sources said.
Pakistan wants information about weapons used by the terrorists and details of mobile phone calls made by them and taped by Indian security agencies.
Pakistan also wants information regarding IP addresses from which emails were sent to attackers by the alleged perpetrators, the sources said.
It wants India to provide details about people who were reportedly killed by the terrorists when they illegally entered the country’s territorial waters.
The Pakistan government on Monday decided to register a case against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to bring them to justice in accordance with Pakistani laws.
An FIR would be registered in a “couple of days” and this would also make the contents of the Pakistani report public, the paper said quoting sources.
The government has described the information provided by India as “insufficient” to reach a logical conclusion and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
An official statement issued on Monday said further queries would soon be sent to India.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
