M A I N   N E W S

Mumbai Heat
Pak to take on Lashkar
Action in 48 hours: Post

Washington, December 6
Pakistan has agreed to a 48-hour timetable set by India and the United States to formulate a plan to take action against Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and to arrest at least three Pakistanis who, Indian authorities say, are linked to the multiple attacks in Mumbai, a top US daily reported citing a top Pakistani official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said India had also asked Pakistan to arrest and hand over LeT commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhwi and former chief of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Hamid Gul, in connection with the probe into Mumbai carnage, which killed nearly 200 persons, the Washington Post reported today.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who has expressed his country’s solidarity with India, is expected to review plans by his nation’s top military and intelligence officials and follow through on India’s demands, the official said.

“The next 48 hours are critical,” the official was quoted as saying by the US daily.

A week after the terrorist assault in the Indian financial capital, Indian officials have stepped up their efforts to make a clear case of link between the carnage and Pakistani elements. According to the Post, a high-level source in the Indian government, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said India has “clear and incontrovertible proof” that LeT had carried out the attacks and that the group’s leaders were trained and supported by Pakistan’s ISI.

“We have the names of the handlers. And we know that there is a close relationship between the Lashkar and the ISI,” the source said. Indian and US investigators have identified Yusuf Muzammil, an Let leader, as the mastermind behind the attacks, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked Pakistan to hand him and other suspects over, the report said.

Islamabad: Earlier in the day Condoleezza Rice told Pakistan that there was “irrefutable evidence” of involvement of elements in this country in the Mumbai terror attacks and it had no option but to act urgently “otherwise, the US will act.”

Rice, who travelled here after a visit to India earlier this week, “pushed” the Pakistani leaders to move against the perpetrators of the terror strikes. The clear message was conveyed by her to Pakistan's top leadership during her brief stopover here on Thursday, diplomatic sources said. Rice said there was "irrefutable evidence" of the involvement of Pakistani elements in the Mumbai attacks, the sources said.

In India, Rice was shown the extensive evidence to prove the linkages between the Mumbai attackers and Pakistan-based elements, especially the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba terror group, they said. — PTI