This will be the first time that Pakistan will prosecute militants once supported by the ISI. But the list includes "few if any" of the top militant leaders.
The Pakistan government plans to prosecute over 120 people who might be connected to the Mumbai terror attacks, but the list includes "few if any" of the top militant leaders against whom India has sought action, according to a media report.
This will be the first time that Pakistan will prosecute militants once supported by the country's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency though the absence from the list of most militant leaders whose prosecution has been sought by India "reflects the delicate balance Pakistan is trying to achieve", ABC News quoted a senior intelligence official as saying.
Those prosecuted might include "anyone who made any suspicious contacts inside India as the (Mumbai) attacks began" and they will be charged under Pakistan's cyber crime laws because the suspects used Internet phones to communicate, the intelligence official said.
The government's move is aimed at "appeasing international pressure to crack down on militants who have operated from its soil and at the same time not completely dismantling groups that the intelligence agencies still see as assets", the report said.
Indian and US authorities have accused Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba terror group and its front, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, of planning the attacks that killed over 180 people in Mumbai. The LeT was created with the backing of the ISI and it has for long had links to the spy agency.
The Mumbai attacks "forced Pakistan to choose between continuing to support, or at least shelter, a group created by its powerful spy agency almost 20 years ago, or shutting it following massive international pressure", ABC News reported.
The debate "played out inside the government and military for weeks... with some in the government initially arguing for the extradition of some suspects to India", officials said.
Asked if Pakistan's plans to prosecute were evidence of Pakistani leaders' suspecting the Obama administration will be tougher on them than the Bush administration, an Obama administration official told ABC News, "I see this as evidence that Pakistan recognizes these extremists threaten Pakistan as well as the US. We need an alliance against the extremists, and I believe that is what you will see us work to build."
US and Indian authorities do not differentiate between the LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, which was banned by Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks, but Pakistani officials have indicated they will have to "step carefully" because the Jamaat is a popular charity.
In a recent interview, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said: "The risk – I tell you what it is – street power. Because the religious parties and the extremists are joining hands, we are already seeing that... violence, yes, that is a risk (as well)."
Pakistan has said that it has completed a preliminary investigation into the dossier provided by India on the Mumbai attacks and it is expected that Islamabad will share its findings with New Delhi this week. The report on the initial probe is currently with the law and interior ministries.
Prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that Pakistan would act according to its own laws against anybody found guilty of involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}