19.1.09

Pakistan finally admits Indian dossier ‘good’


Pakistan finally acknowledged that India’s dossier of evidence on the Mumbai attacks contained “leads and good clues”. Speaking at a press conference, Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik said “quite a lot of material” was provided by India and that Pakistani investigators would work to convert this into “evidence that can stand judicial scrutiny”. He also promised to file criminal cases if prima facie evidence is found. Malik said Pakistan’s three-member commission investigating the Mumbai attacks had been given 10 days to submit its preliminary findings of the investigation. “If prima facie evidence is available on record, we will then convert it into a criminal case,” he said.
In Mumbai, Prime Minister Singh said, “The Pakistani government has announced that the results of their investigation will be made public in a few days. I urge the Pakistani authorities to come out with a full and complete disclosure of all the facts surrounding the case, without attempts at denial, diversion or obfuscation.” Singh was speaking at The Economic Times’ awards function. “We have shared the evidence that we have gathered so far... with Pakistan and others. Pakistan has admitted that the arrested terrorist is their national. We expect (them) to take all the consequent next steps against all those who planned, organised and executed these horrific crimes,” he said. Singh also said Pakistan should act against the Lashkar-e-Toiba and other terrorist groups and their sponsors—”in its own interest, in the discharge of its obligations under international instruments, and to honour the bilateral commitments it has given us at the highest level. It should ensure that nothing like Mumbai or the attack on our embassy in Kabul ever happens again,” he said.
In Islamabad, Pak President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan was determined to uncover the “full facts” behind the Mumbai attacks and needs India’s cooperation for the trial of any suspects linked to the terror strikes.
France, meanwhile, described the dossier of evidence provided by India as “totally credible” and commended Indian investigators for doing a “professional job”. French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s diplomatic advisor Jean-David Levitte, who met PM Singh and NSA M.K. Narayanan, however, refrained from blaming the official agencies of Pakistan, saying that the “dossier doesn’t say so”.

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