Pakistani cabinet’s defence panel set to receive Mumbai report

By IANS,

Islamabad : The Pakistani cabinet’s defence coordination committee is set to receive a report on the Mumbai attacks Monday amid reports that three people have been held for their alleged involvement in the carnage.


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Speaking to reporters in Multan on Sunday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the report would be presented to the committee at its meeting here Monday.

However, it was not immediately clear when the report would be presented to India through diplomatic channels, as New Delhi has repeatedly demanding. India has also taken umbrage to portions of the report being leaked through Pakistani politicians, diplomats and the media.

The Federal Investigation Agency (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.

The interior and law ministries have already vetted the report.

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 attacks and who is now in the custody of the Mumbai police.

“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 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.

India has blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group for the Mumbai mayhem. New Delhi has also blamed the same group for the Dec 13, 2001 attack on the Indian parliament.

Pakistan had banned the LeT after the parliament attack, after which it morphed into the Jamaat-ud Daawa (JuD) that claimed to be a charitable organisation.

Last December, in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, the UN had proscribed the JuD, following which the security forces sealed its offices in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and in the Punjab province.

The authorities have also arrested several LeT commanders Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah who India has accused of planning the Mumbai carnage and whose extradition New Delhi has sought.

Pakistan has flatly refused to hand over any terror suspects, saying those against whom evidence existed would be tried in this country.

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