Monday, January 05, 2009

India Starts Diplomatic Offensive Against Pakistan (Update 1)

Jan. 5 -- India opened a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, distributing a file of what it says is evidence that Pakistani militants carried out the November terrorist attacks that killed 164 people in Mumbai.
India’s Foreign Ministry said it gave Pakistani diplomats details from the interrogation of the surviving gunman, and from “the terrorists’ communication links with elements in Pakistan during the Mumbai attack.” India also shared the evidence today with China’s visiting vice foreign minister He Yafei and with ambassadors in New Delhi to underscore the demand that Pakistan hand over suspects from the Lashkar-e-Taiba guerrilla group, which India says conducted the attack.
Pakistan, which has denied repeatedly that its nationals were involved, said in a Foreign Ministry statement that it’s examining the material. In Islamabad, visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher discussed the issue with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and was to meet with President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s Dawn News television channel said, citing unidentified Pakistani officials. Vice President-elect Joe Biden will visit Pakistan Jan. 9 and meet with Zardari, 11 days before taking office with Barack Obama’s new administration, Pakistan’s GEO TV channel reported, citing officials it didn’t identify. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the mission doesn’t discuss officials’ travel plans.
U.S. Role
The U.S. has “a duty to pursue all avenues to get to the bottom” of the Mumbai plot, particularly as American citizens were among those killed in the attack, U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford told reporters in New Delhi. Mulford said the U.S. government supports India’s demand for prosecution of the plotters and “will pursue this matter to its conclusion.”
The U.S. is concerned that increased tension between India and Pakistan may divert Pakistani authorities from their fight against Taliban and allied guerrilla groups along its western border with Afghanistan.
India will urge the Bush administration to press Pakistan for action when its home minister, who is responsible for security matters, visits Washington this week. The minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, told reporters he will travel to the U.S. with the evidence as India seeks “cast iron guarantees” from Pakistan that it will stop terrorists using its soil to stage attacks.
Guarantees Sought
“Guarantees have to come from those who control the levers of power and that means the elected civilian
government, plus the army,” Chidambaram told India’s NDTV news channel. “These are guarantees that have to be given to the international community.”
The material distributed today includes details about weapons and equipment recovered from the Mumbai attackers, plus data from satellite phones and geographical devices, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It includes a confession from the surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, and transcripts of phone conversations between the terrorists and their “handlers” in Pakistan
during the attacks, the Press Trust of India news agency reported Jan. 2, citing unidentified sources.
“What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime,”
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi today. “As far as the government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India.”
The home minister is expected to meet with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and possibly President-elect Obama’s transition team, PTI reported.
Phone Intercepts
Zarar Shah, a top Lashkar commander captured in a raid in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, admitted a role in the assault during interrogation, the unidentified Pakistani official told the Journal. The admission is backed by U.S. intercepts of a phone call between Shah and an attacker at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the official said.
Lashkar’s alleged role is sensitive for Pakistan because the group received weapons and logistical support from the main intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, for attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir in the 1990s, according to Indian and U.S. officials and independent Pakistani analysts. Pakistan denied involvement in those attacks.
“Our goals are clear,” Menon said. “We want the perpetrators to be brought to Indian justice. The assistance from Pakistan extends up to and includes extradition.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; James Rupert in New Delhi at jrupert3@bloomberg.net

No comments:

Glimpse of Hope © 2008. Design by :Shruthi Enterprises Sponsored by: Dilamazing Communicate
This template is brought to you by : powtr.santosh Blogger Templates