Indian PM urges speedy Pakistan probe into attacks
17 Jan 2009 16:03:58 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds Pakistani interior ministry official's comments) By Rina Chandran MUMBAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday urged Pakistan to fully disclose all facts about the attack in Mumbai last November that killed 179 people and to act swiftly against militant groups on its soil. India has sent evidence to Pakistan that it said linked Pakistani militants to the attacks and has asked for the suspects to be extradited. "We expect Pakistan to take all the consequent next steps against all those who have planned, organised and executed these horrific crimes," Singh said at a function at the Trident hotel, one of the sites attacked by 10 gunmen. Pakistan's de facto interior minister Rehman Malik said the government had directed its investigating team to complete its inquiry within 10 days. "It's a 10-day deadline with the instructions to do it as quickly as possible. The report of their findings can come even before 10 days," the advisor to the prime minister on interior matters told a news conference. However, he added: "If you want good results ... then allow your investigators to interact with ours." Singh earlier this month said the Mumbai attacks must have had support from some of Pakistan's official agencies. Pakistan rejected the accusation and said such charges jeopardised chances of cooperation against terrorism. "I urge Pakistani authorities to come out with a full and complete disclosure of all the facts surrounding the case and desist from attempts at denial, diversion or obfuscation," Singh told a gathering of business chiefs on Saturday. Tensions have run high between the two nuclear-armed rivals since the attack that India has blamed on the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Singh said Pakistan should act against LeT and other militant groups "in its own interest" as well as that of India. "We expect the international community to use its full weight to see that the investigations are pursued to a speedy and logical conclusion and terrorist groups operating from Pakistan are completely shut down," Singh said. Pakistan has detained scores of the LeT and an affiliated Islamic charity, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, but India is demanding it dismantle what it calls the "infrastructure of terrorism". Pakistan has been angered by the Indian suggestion that Pakistani state agencies were involved and what it sees as repeated Indian hints of military action. But the chances of a military confrontation between the rivals, which have fought three wars since 1947, have receded, analysts say, thanks in part to diplomacy of the United States and other powers. (Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haider in Islamabad)
A Nepalese policeman performs a search for poultry products on a man who had just arrived from the Indian border, in Kakarvitta January 17, 2009. A senior Nepalese official said on ...
