Pakistan failed to give a clear picture on the findings of its probe into the Mumbai attacks and gave enough indications that their response to India's dossier will take some more time.
Pakistan on Monday failed to give a clear picture on the findings of its probe into the Mumbai attacks and gave enough indications that their response to India's dossier will take some more time.
However, in the face of international heat to deliver, Pakistan decided to register a case and conduct further investigations but said it would be "exceedingly difficult" to complete the probe without more evidence from India.
Speculation that a detailed response may be given today to the Indian side fizzled out as a meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by prime minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani, decided to send queries for further information to India in order to carry forward the probe.
"In order to complete the investigation, the questions which are arising from the inquiry carried out by the FIA need to be answered by the Indian authorities," said a statement
issued by the Prime Minister's House after the meeting.
"These will be communicated to the Indian authorities shortly," it said.
The Committee decided that a "case should be registered and further investigation be carried out so that the perpetrators, wherever they may be, of the heinous crime are
brought to justice in accordance with the law of the land".
It, however, observed that "without substantial evidence from India it will be exceedingly difficult to complete the investigation and proceed with the case," said the statement.
The meeting, attended by defence minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, roreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and senior military and intelligence officials, reviewed the report of the Federal Investigation Agency's preliminary probe into the Mumbai attacks.
There was no official word on when the findings of Pakistan's probe would be shared with the Indian government. There was also no mention in the official statement on the exact findings of the investigation by the FIA. India had handed over an information dossier on the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan on January 5. The FIA last week handed over its report on the dossier to the interior ministry.
Subsequent reports in the Pakistani media said the FIA's investigators had found a Bangladeshi connection to the planning of the attacks. The reports also said that the
attacks were apparently planned in a European country.
Meanwhile, media here said Pakistani intelligence agencies have arrested three men in Karachi for their alleged links to Amir Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured by India during Mumbai attacks.
"The intelligence agencies had taken the three men into custody from different parts of Karachi because of their alleged affiliation with Ajmal," the Daily Times newspaper
quoted a source as saying.
The men were "reportedly taken to Islamabad and an investigation was in progress", the newspaper reported.
The Defence Committee claimed that the "(FIA's) inquiry had been conducted professionally and endorsed the recommendations of the interior ministry to proceed with the registration of the case", the statement said.
The Committee also discussed the security situation in Pakistan, particularly in the troubled Swat valley and the tribal areas. "The security agencies were directed to clear
the area of militants while ensuring safety of the locals," the statement said.
The meeting was also attended by Information minister Sherry Rehman, Law minister Farooq Naek, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen Tariq Majid and Inter-Services Intelligence agency chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha.
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