By Arun Kumarm, IANS,
Washington : The United States Monday said it would hold Pakistan to its commitment to cooperate with the investigation of the Mumbai terror attacks though so far it has heard nothing to suggest that Pakistan’s government was involved.
“I’ve heard nothing that says that the Pakistani government was involved,” President George Bush’s press secretary Dana Perino told reporters even as the president was receiving an update on the attacks in the Situation Room.
Noting that Pakistani officials have pledged to work with the Indian government to find out who was behind the attack, she said: “”We have been encouraged by the statements by the Pakistanis that they are committed to following this wherever it leads. We would expect nothing less of them on this instance.”
The United States would hold Pakistan to its commitment to cooperate with the investigation, she added.
At Bush’s request, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to India not only to show solidarity in the wake of, but also to help stop the terror threat from expanding, Perino said.
Perino declined to comment on assertions by Indian investigators that the gunmen responsible for the attacks trained in Pakistan for months, but she said that the US wanted to help reduce tensions between the two countries.
She also declined comment when asked whether Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) security agency could have played a role.
Rice spoke to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley talked to his Pakistani counterpart and “both said they would continue to work with the Indian government to try to find out where this started”, Perino said.