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India gives Pakistan proof on Mumbai attacks

India on Monday handed Islamabad the evidence linking the Mumbai terror strikes to “elements in Pakistan” and intensified its diplomatic offensive.

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India on Monday handed Islamabad the evidence linking the Mumbai terror strikes to “elements in Pakistan” and intensified its diplomatic offensive by briefing missions of the countries who lost their citizens in 26/11 about the progress of the investigation.

Foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon handed over the evidence to Pakistan’s high commissioner for India Shahid Malik in South Block while Indian envoy in Islamabad Satyabrata Pal handed it over to foreign secretary Salman Bashir. A foreign office spokesman in Islamabad confirmed receipt of the dossier and said the evidence was being examined.

The evidence includes material from the interrogation of captured terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir; tapes of the terrorists’ communication with their handlers in Pakistan; details of the weapons, equipment, and other articles recovered from the terrorists, and data retrieved from recovered GPS and satellite phones, including Skype call details.
India also handed over the dossier of 26/11 investigations to the US, UK, Germany, Singapore, Israel, Australia, and Japan. Menon briefed visiting Chinese vice foreign minister He Yafei about the role of Pakistani elements in 26/11.

External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters: “What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime… we ask [Pakistan] only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India... It is my hope that the world will unite to achieve the goal of eliminating the threat of such terrorism.”  

US ambassador David Mulford was categorical that Washington was bent on getting to the bottom of this as much as New Delhi. “The US will pursue this matter to its logical conclusion. Period,” he said. Mulford said the FBI is gathering evidence and was grateful for the cooperation from the Indian authorities.

US vice-president-elect Joe Biden, a long-time friend of India, is travelling to Islamabad this week, signalling that the incoming Obama administration is keen to get a handle on the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India tangle. He is expected to raise the Mumbai terror strikes. It is not yet known if Biden will also visit New Delhi.

Menon later said: “It is time the world acted because we think terrorism is a threat not just to India but to all countries.” Addressing a news conference, Menon hinted at the complicity of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). “It is hard to believe that the kind of planning and training which went into the commando-style operation could be possible without the authorities being aware.” But despite repeated questioning, he chose not to name the spy agency.

Asked by a Pakistani reporter why India did not want a joint investigation, Menon shot back: “Jurisdiction rests in the country where the crime was committed. The crime was committed in India, though the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan.”

He said India expects Pakistan to follow the leads and cooperate in the investigation and hand over those behind the terror attacks to New Delhi to face trial in India.

With inputs from Amir Mir in Islamabad

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