Pakistan seeks more information on 26/11

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will register a case on the Mumbai attacks to bring the perpetrators to justice under its own laws but says it needs more information from India to complete its investigations, or will find it “exceedingly difficult” to proceed.

This was the outcome of a marathon four-hour meeting of the Pakistan Cabinet’s Defence Co-ordination Committee that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani chaired on Monday to take stock of a report prepared by the Federal Investigation Agency on the material provided by India on the Mumbai attacks.

The defence committee met hours before U.S. Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke was to arrive here on his inaugural visit to the region.

“The meeting decided that on the basis of the inquiry conducted by FIA, the 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,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The stated intent to register a case seems to be a formal acknowledgement of the existence of a Pakistan link in the attacks, even though it is likely to raise questions of jurisdiction.

Pakistan last month announced it had detained 71 people in connection with the attacks. Most are linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba front Jamat-ud-Dawah. Pakistani authorities are also said to have detained two top LeT operatives, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, and perhaps a third named Muzzamil.

But it remained unclear if cases would be registered against any of these individuals.

The FIA report has not been made officially public, and the press statement carefully avoided going into details.

According to the statement, however, the meeting observed that “without substantial evidence from India it will be exceedingly difficult to complete the investigation and proceed with the case.”

There was no word about when the report would be shared with India, but the statement said Indian authorities needed to answer questions arising from the FIA investigation, and that these would be communicated to New Delhi “shortly.”

The meeting was attended by the Ministers of Defence, Information, Foreign Affairs, and Law.

The Prime Minister’s Advisers on Interior and Finance were also present, as were the three services chiefs, the ISI head, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, the Intelligence Bureau chief and the secretaries to the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Affairs.

“Rubbish,” says Chidambaram

Mumbai Staff Reporter writes:

Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday described Pakistan’s contention that evidence on the attacks was insufficient as “rubbish.”

“We have given them the dossier. Let them respond to it,” he said.

Mr. Chidambaram was here for a review meeting on internal security in the State.

The Home Minister did not comment on reports that the Mumbai attacks were planned in a European country.