India hands over second dossier to Pakistan

A 400-page document was handed over to Pakistan by India, answering all 30 questions posed by Islamabad on 12 February as part of its investigations into last year's Mumbai terror attacks. This is the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's   second dossier to Pakistan on this issue.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, was summoned to South Block and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon handed over the additional information, which includes forensic reports of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives who staged the attacks, telephone conversations between the attackers and their Pakistan-based handlers, forensic analysis of GPS, ammunition and other equipment used, documentary proof and CDs.

An External Affairs Ministry statement said India expects this would lead to “bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and to credible action by Government of Pakistan against the infrastructure of terrorism in that country.”

Earlier in the day, Home Minister P Chidambaram handed over the dossier to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, saying the answers are “very comprehensive” to facilitate Pakistan to prosecute the perpetrators it has under custody. “We have put together answers to 30 questions submitted by Pakistan. It is a very comprehensive document, answering each of the 30 questions,” said Chidambaram.

India had handed over the first dossier on 5 January and Pakistan had sought additional information such as fingerprints and DNA profiles of the terrorists, post-mortem reports of those killed and the “authenticated copy” of the confession made by Ajmal Amir Kasab – the lone captured terrorist – to the court.

India's reply comes a month after Pakistan sought it and the time taken by New Delhi to put together the reply had drawn criticism from Pakistan, with its Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, saying that India had to reply soon for Islamabad to continue with its investigation. However, Chidambaram had said the charge-sheet prepared by the Mumbai Police was a public document that was available for Pakistan's perusal.