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| India hands over evidence to Pak | |
| MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS | | BS Reporter / New Delhi January 6, 2009, 0:02 IST | |
Foreign minister briefs ‘friendly’ govts.
India has handed over material regarding the probe into the Mumbai terror attacks to the Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi and its foreign secretary in Islamabad, according to Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.
The material handed over includes the details of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab’s interrogation, details of the weapons and ammunition used and data from the satellite phones recovered from the attackers.
“The material is linked to elements in Pakistan,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “It is our expectation that the government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
In light of this information, Menon said, India expected Pakistan to follow up with investigations it was legally obliged to carry out as it was a signatory to international conventions and legal instruments under SAARC.
“Pakistan must fulfill [its] commitments to us,” said Menon. India expected Pakistan to provide all legal assistance to India, including extradition of suspects, he added. Even though India and Pakistan had not signed an extradition treaty — and considering the nature and scale of the attacks — Islamabad was obliged under international conventions to extradite suspects to India, he said.
The foreign secretary said in such attacks there was no difference between state and non-state actors. He said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had written to friendly governments and shared the details of the investigations. The Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister, He Yafei, who is in New Delhi, had also been briefed, he added.
Menon said the creation of a joint anti-terror mechanism, or abandoning the ones in place, was a secondary issue. He added Pakistan must act based on the information India had provided and expressed displeasure over the crackdown on the Jamaat-ud-Dawah saying its functioning had not been affected. Menon said it was hard to believe that an attack of such a scale could take place without the knowledge of high-level officials in the Pakistan establishment.
US Ambassador to India David C Mulford told reporters that the United States fully supported India and the investigation. “The United States will pursue this matter to its conclusion. Period,” Mulford told reporters. “The level of cooperation of the FBI is very, very significant.”
PTI reports: Pakistan, on its part, assured the US that it was examining the “information” provided by India in its probe into the attacks and was committed to punish any Pakistani national in case “credible evidence” was found against them. The assurance was given by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in their separate meetings with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher.
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