India wants full story from Pakistan on Mumbai carnage (2nd Roundup)

Feb 13, 2009, 11:43 GMT

New Delhi - India on Friday urged Pakistan to 'fully unveil' the conspiracy behind the Mumbai attacks and take action against terrorist groups to prevent such strikes in the future.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee made the remarks in Parliament, a day after Pakistan admitted the November attacks were partly planned on its soil.

'The primary onus of responsibility lies on Pakistan to fully unveil the conspiracy, identify those guilty and act in a transparent and verifiable manner,' Mukherjee said.

Pakistan on Thursday handed over its response to India's dossier of evidence that linked the three-day gun-and-bomb attacks, which claimed at least 173 lives, to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.

Admitting for the first time that the terrorist attacks were partly planned on its territory, Pakistan said a criminal case had been registered against the suspects, many of whom were already in police custody.

   Islamabad had initially denied any link to the attacks but later accepted that the lone surviving attacker, who is in Indian custody, is a Pakistani.

   Mukherjee said Mumbai was not the only attack on India to be linked to Pakistan and Islamabad needed to do more to eliminate terrorist hideouts on its soil.

   'Nonetheless, with Mumbai, a threshold was crossed, and it was imperative that Pakistan act credibly against that [terrorist] infrastructure to prevent further attacks,' he said.

   The statement disappointed Islamabad, which was expecting a more positive response from New Delhi on its cooperation against the militant organization that it had covertly supported in the past.

   A Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said the Mumbai issue was being mixed with 'compulsions of domestic politics in India,' where right-wing Hindu nationalist parties are pressing the liberal government for a harder stance against Pakistan.

   'Mr Mukherjee's remarks are essentially a rehash of the standard Indian line against Pakistan and in complete variance with the imperatives of a serious approach to uncover the 'full facts' relating to the Mumbai attacks and bringing the perpetrators to justice,' Abdul Basit said.

   Relations between India and Pakistan have deteriorated since the attacks and a four-year peace dialogue was halted as New Delhi accused Pakistan of not doing enough to bring the culprits to justice.

   Mukherjee told the parliament it was up to Pakistan's leaders to determine the kind of relations they want to have with India.

   Much depends on Pakistan's actions in resolving the Mumbai attacks, he said.

   The minister also said Islamabad had sought further information and material relating to the investigation.

   'The government of India will now examine the issues raised in Pakistan's response,' he said. 'After our examination, we will share whatever we can with Pakistan.'

   But Pakistan's admission on Thursday was condemned by the LeT and the United Jehad Council, a conglomerate of Muslim militant groups fighting in India-administered Kashmir.

   Council spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain said Islamabad had 'surrendered before US and Indian pressure' after US special envoy Richard Holbrooke's visit.

   'The Pakistani rulers have fallen prey to the conspiracy of the India-American combine,' he said. 'We strongly condemn it.'

   LeT spokesman Abdullah Gaznavi said Pakistan's report was meant to appease the United States and India.

   Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said Pakistan had a weak foreign policy and had bowed to foreign pressure.