India's Premier Suggests Pakistani Agencies Backed Mumbai Attackers

India's prime minister accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a policy tool and said the Mumbai attackers must have had the support of some official Pakistani agencies, allegations that appeared to dim any prospect of cooperation between the two countries in probing the attacks.

A statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said the nation "emphatically rejects the unfortunate allegations." Pakistani officials warned that Mr. Singh's remarks could affect Islamabad's offer of cooperation into the attacks. "Scoring points like this will only move us further away from focusing on the very real and present danger of regional and global terrorism," said information minister Sherry Rehman.

The attacks in late November left more than 170 dead. India claims the attackers came from Pakistan and provided a dossier of evidence to substantiate its claims to Pakistan Monday. The latest verbal sparring comes amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, though both sides have said they want to avoid war.
The usually soft-spoken and reticent Mr. Singh made his remarks at a conference in New Delhi to review India's internal security. India has announced the overhaul of its security system since the Mumbai attacks, which culminated a year of terrorist strikes around the country including in New Delhi, Jaipur and the northeast.
Mr. Singh made a distinction, however, between threats emanating from inside the nation, such as the separatist movement in the northeastern state of Assam and a Maoist rebellion in central and southeastern states, and terrorist threats from abroad.

Even though this year internally-launched attacks have claimed in total more lives than the Mumbai strikes, Mr. Singh said the key threat was from increasingly sophisticated and frequent attacks targeting the country's economy and infrastructure by groups emanating from neighboring states, chiefly Pakistan. The distinction may have been designed to focus attention on India's neighbors, rather than the nation's own internal problems, in advance of a national election that must be held before May.

"Terrorism is largely sponsored from outside our country, mainly Pakistan, which has utilized terrorism as an instrument of state policy," Mr. Singh said. He also said given the sophistication and precision of the Mumbai attacks, the terrorists must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.
Some analysts said Mr. Singh's remarks would complicate efforts to defuse tensions between the two countries and could further weaken the civilian government in Pakistan. "Both India and Pakistan need to be careful with their rhetoric," said John Harrison, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. It's in India's own security interests to "help stabilize the civilian government in Pakistan" not weaken it, he added.

Pakistan also poured cold water on India's claims that the dossier of evidence provided Monday contained proof that the attacks emanated from Pakistan. A senior official in the foreign ministry said the file provided no new information beyond what already had appeared in the Indian media. "We are willing to provide all cooperation provided India gives us more detail," the official said.

A major problem, according to the official, is that India wasn't willing to coordinate with the intelligence agencies involved in Islamabad's own investigation. "We have to develop a mechanism for the sharing of information and the investigation," he said.

Western diplomats, as well as Indian officials, have said Pakistan has all the information it needs to show that the attackers were Pakistani and launched their attacks from Pakistan. India and U.S. officials say the attacks were planned by Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistan security officials also say that one Lashkar leader arrested in the wake of the attacks has admitted to the group's involvement.