Pakistan seeks Mumbai bomb proof

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/5399104.stm

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Pakistan has promised to take action if India provides evidence it is connected to July train bombings in Mumbai (Bombay) that killed 186 people.

But the foreign ministry said no formal communication had arrived from India.

Mumbai police arrested four people and on Saturday said the attacks were carried out by Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pakistan quickly denied the accusation as "baseless" and demanded proof. The row has set back peace moves.

'Share the evidence'

Pakistan has repeatedly demanded India prove it has any link to the bombings, in which more than 1,000 people were injured - and did so again on Monday.

The Mumbai police chief said the 11 July case was "solved"

"If India feels that it has some information that suggests links with some people here or some kind of connection, then yes we will take action and will help India in its investigations," Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson, Tasnim Aslam, said in Islamabad.

"What we expect from India is to share the claimed evidence and information with us so that we can co-operate with them."

Ms Aslam told the BBC that without evidence the allegations could not be taken seriously. If evidence were provided, "strict action would be initiated against those who are proven guilty under the relevant terrorism laws".

A day earlier, India's new foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon had said India wanted Pakistan to "not only talk, but act too".

He added: "We will take the issue up with Pakistan in view of new evidence."

The row was rekindled on Saturday when Mumbai police commissioner AN Roy told a news conference that the authorities had "solved" the case.

"The whole attack was planned by Pakistan's ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence agency] and carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba and their operatives in India," he said.

He said the Students' Islamic Movement of India (Simi) had also assisted.

'Propagandist'

Mr Roy said 11 Pakistanis were involved in the operation, and had crossed into India in small groups from Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Calling Mumbai police "propagandist", Ms Aslam said India was attempting to "divert attention from indigenous elements" engaged in terrorism in India.

Former ISI chief Hamid Gul, who is seen as a hardliner in Pakistan, told the BBC that the timing of the accusations against the spy agency were interesting.

He said India was taking its cue from the US and UK, who wanted to see Pakistan declared a rogue state and deprived of its nuclear weapons.

Lt-Gen Gul pointed out that many of the Mumbai casualties had been Muslims.

India postponed peace talks with Pakistan after the July bombings, but Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met recently in Cuba and said they had agreed to resume the negotiations.

The two sides agreed to set up a joint mechanism to fight terror and the foreign secretaries of the two countries are due to meet in Delhi later in November to discuss the issue.

On 11 July 2006, seven blasts in the space of 15 minutes ripped through trains on Mumbai's busy commuter network.

Pakistan's leaders were swift to condemn the blasts. Lashkar-e-Toiba, a leading militant group fighting in Kashmir and based in Pakistan, also condemned the attacks.