Pakistan has reiterated its commitment to deliver on its promise made after the 26/11 strikes and will respond within 48 hours to the dossier of evidence handed over by New Delhi on Mumbai terror attack.
Pakistan’s response is almost prepared after prolonged consultations among the foreign office, interior ministry and security agencies in Islamabad, and is being given the final touch, reports said.
Refusing to give any details at this stage as it could undermine the ongoing probe, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said: ‘Pakistan stands committed to bring culprits to justice. Whoever is found guilty will face action.’ The probe deadline has been extended by two days, he added.
Earlier on January 17, he had said that Pakistan would be ready with its first response to the dossier in 10 days, which passed on Tuesday.
The Special Investigation Group has made considerable advancement and is also examining how the material provided by New Delhi could stand up in the anti-terror courts. The Group was also trying to link the identity of suspects in the Mumbai strikes. Pakistan’s laws do not cover crimes committed by its nationals outside the country, the reports published in the Pakistani media said.
Few days ago changing his earlier stand on the extraditions of Mumbai suspects, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani even hinted that extraditions of the terror suspects to India was possible if bilateral relations were normalised. He said that Pakistan is committed to peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India to usher in an era of peace, progress and prosperity for the people in the region.
The media reports also said that Gilani was contemplating to make amendments in its anti-terror laws to bring accused to face prosecution. He had earlier said Pakistan’s anti-terror laws had no provision to prosecute accused for the crimes committed outside the country.
Meanwhile, New Delhi has kept its finger crossed hoping to get positive response from Islamabad on the dossier. As it is just few days ago that Gilani has backtracked showing positive signals against his earlier comments on the Indian dossier describing it as “scanty and insufficient”.
The dossier of incriminating materials from the probe into the Mumbai strikes include information on interrogations, confession of Ajmal Kasab-the lone captured terrorist, weapons and other articles recovered from Kasab and other killed terrorists that bear the inscription “Made in Pakistan”, and telephone intercepts between the attackers and their Lashkar-e-Taiba handlers in Pakistan.
Islamabad’s soften stand could be seen under continuous US pressure to act responsibly against the perpetrators of the Mumbai mayhem. Meanwhile, pressure on Pakistan is again started building up heavily as US has cut $55 million from a Pakistani bill seeking reimbursement of expenses incurred in the war in the tribal areas of Pak-Afghan border; this cut, however, has no link with Mumbai investigations. Now, US will only give $101 million to Pakistan instead of $156 million which Pakistan had claimed as it’s expenditure on war against terrorists till April 2008.
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