Islamabad: Pakistan said on Monday that it needed more information on the Mumbai terror attacks, a demand that is likely to trigger a fresh row with India, which has been complaining that Islamabad is not doing enough to prosecute the perpetrators of the carnage.
A statement issued in Islamabad after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani chaired a meeting of the cabinet Defence Coordination Committee said the evidence India had furnished pointing to involvement of elements from Pakistan in the Mumbai mayhem was insufficient.
"The meeting, however, observed that without substantial evidence from India it will be exceedingly difficult to complete the investigation and proceed with the case," said a statement issued after the meeting, which was attended among others, by Pakistani Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
"In order to complete the investigation the questions which are arising from the inquiry carried out by the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) need to be answered by the Indian authorities," the statement said.
"These will be communicated to the Indian authorities shortly," it added.
The FIA has prepared the report on the basis of a dossier provided by India pointing to the involvement of elements from this country in the Nov 26-29, 2008 Mumbai carnage that claimed more than 170 lives, including those of 26 foreigners, and injured over 300.
While Gilani has previously said Pakistan would share the outcome of its investigations into the Mumbai attacks on Monday or Tuesday, it is now apparent that this will be delayed, leading to fresh charges from India that Pakistan is obfuscating on the probe.
The statement effectively shot down India's demand that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, which New Delhi has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, be extradited, saying anyone found to be involved in the carnage would be tried within the country.
"The case should be registered and further investigation be carried out so that the perpetrators, wherever they may be, of the heinous crime are brought to justice in accordance with the law of the land," the statement maintained.
On Monday, there were reports that the FIA had arrested three men in Karachi for their alleged involvement with Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks and who is now in police custody.
"A source privy to the matter disclosed that intelligence agencies had taken the men into custody from different areas of Karachi in connection with their alleged affiliation with Kasab," Daily Times reported on Monday.
"They were reportedly taken to Islamabad and an investigation was in progress," the newspaper said, adding the arrests were made by the FIA in collaboration with other intelligence agencies.
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