By IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistan admitted Thursday for the first time that “a part of the conspiracy” related to the Mumbai terror attacks was planned on its soil and that it had arrested six suspects.
But Interior Minister Rehman Malik insisted at a news conference here that the terrorists, who slaughtered some 170 people in Mumbai in November and who India says were Pakistanis, were “non-state actors”.
Stressing that the Pakistani state had nothing to do with the Mumbai killings, he said: “This is an individual act, act of individuals or non-state actors. Their purpose is to create terror for their own motives. These motives need to be determined. Both India and Pakistan need to work it out.”
“A part of the conspiracy has been done in Pakistan,” the minister admitted, adding that a first information report (FIR) was registered in Islamabad Thursday.
“The alleged mastermind has been located and is under investigation,” he said. He added that a total of six men had been arrested in Pakistan for their links with the Mumbai massacre.
Any Pakistani who directs, conspires or does an act of terrorism abroad would deemed to have committed the acts in Pakistan, he stated.
Pakistani had initially sought to deny any links with the 10 terrorists who sailed to Mumbai by sea from Pakistan Nov 26 and then went on a horrific killing spree that lasted three days.
Nine of the terrorists were killed and one, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was captured. India said the terrorists were linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has reportedly had close links with the Pakistani intelligence.
“Our leadership is fully concerned and serious in bringing all the culprits to justice,” Malik said. “We are serious� We mean business. We have to bring these terrorists to justice.”
He said Pakistan had gone the extra mile to prove its “sincerity, commitment against this act of terrorism”. He added: “I would like to assure the government of India, the people of India, we are with you.”
According to Malik, Pakistani investigators worked “day and night” and transformed information provided by India into credible leads to identify the conspirators in Pakistan who were linked to the Mumbai savagery whose victims included 26 foreigners.
He said three men facilitated “the acts of terrorism in Mumbai” and helped the terrorists, including Kasab, to reach the Indian city from the southern port city of Karachi.
The minister said the investigators had traced the owner of the shop that sold one of the rubber boats in which the terrorists sailed to Mumbai as well as its engine.
The shopkeeper provided the investigators a telephone number that led to more suspects as well as “hideouts of terrorists in Karachi”, he disclosed.
A total of three boats used in the journey to Mumbai from Karachi had been identified.
“We have located those locations which were used by the terrorists (to train) before launching themselves,” he said. “Some of the accused have given us the full run down.”
All these “have given us a complete picture. Obviously these accounts lead to the (terrorist) leadership also”, Malik asserted.
The minister, however, said Pakistan desired more information from India. He said a set of 30 questions had been sent to New Delhi through its envoy in Islamabad.
These included fingerprints of all the dead terrorists and also better pictures of the men who were killed by Indian commandos.
In one case, he pointed out, India had identified a dead terrorist as “Ali from Sialkot”. This, he said, amounted to identifying a person as “John from New York” or “Sharma from Delhi”.
“We are requesting this information. We have a joint responsibility. We need some help, we need more evidence.”