India asks Pakistan to unveil full conspiracy

Calcutta News.Net
Friday 13th February, 2009

A day after Pakistan admitted to the role of its citizens in the Mumbai atrocity, India Friday asked Islamabad to unveil the full conspiracy and take 'credible action' against the perpetrators and the infrastructure of terrorism in its territory.

'It is imperative that it (Pakistan) act with sincerity and act effectively against the licence that terrorist groups enjoy in its territory,' Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement in the Lok Sabha.

Describing Pakistan's response to India's dossier 'a positive development', he said Islamabad should unveil the full conspiracy behind the assaults and asked it to act in a completely transparent and verifiable manner against the Mumbai terrorists.

The minister spoke about Pakistan's earlier response to the Mumbai attacks which was characterised by 'prevarication, denial, diversionary tactics and a misplaced sense of victimhood' and hoped that Islamabad would now act to prevent a 'recurrence of such acts'.

Stressing that the Indian government had taken a conscious decision not to disrupt people-to-people relations between the two countries, Mukherjee said it would be up to Pakistan's leaders to determine what kind of relations they want to have with India.

Much depends on the way the Mumbai incident is brought to its logical conclusion, he stressed.

Terming terrorism emanating from Pakistan a 'global menace and cancer', Mukherjee also reminded Pakistan to honour its bilateral and international obligations not to allow its territory to be used for terror attacks against India.

'The international community has also worked with us using its influence on Pakistan to ensure that the terrorist infrastructure and the support provided to such elements is put to an end,' he stated.

Pakistan for the first time has admitted the involvement of its nationals in the Nov 26-29 terror attack in Mumbai in which over 170 people were killed.

'In their official response, the Pakistan authorities have admitted that elements in Pakistan were involved in the terrorist attacks on Mumbai,' Mukherjee said.

'They are still in the process of investigating the attacks, and have taken certain actions, including the arrest of some of those who were involved and filing a first information report.'

Responding to Pakistan's demand for more information and material relating to the terror strike, India agreed to examine the issues and will share whatever it can with Pakistan.

'It remains India's goal to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai to book, and to follow this process through to the end,' Mukherjee said.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said at a crowded news conference in Islamabad Thursday that the terrorists were 'non-state actors'.

'This is an individual act, act of individuals or non-state actors. Their purpose is to create terror for their own motives. These motives need to be determined. Both India and Pakistan need to work it out,' he said. 'A part of the conspiracy has been done in Pakistan,' Mailk admitted, but claimed 'a major part was shaped in India'.

He said a first information report (FIR) was registered in Islamabad Thursday. The FIR has named nine people, including Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving attacker captured during the Mumbai mayhem, as well as Javed Iqbal of Barcelona who had allegedly played a role in funding the attackers.

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