By IANS,
New Delhi/Islamabad : Regretting Pakistan’s “continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial” in the wake of the Mumbai atrocity, India Wednesday said it was still awaiting a response and underlined that statements by Pakistani leaders only reinforced its doubts about Islamabad’s capacity to act against terror.
“There is a continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial in Pakistan’s response to the terrorist attack on Mumbai,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.
He was responding to a question on Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s statement before the National Assembly Tuesday in which he had dismissed the material given by India Jan 5 linking Pakistani nationals to the Mumbai attacks, saying it was merely information and not evidence.
“We have asked their government to undertake investigations in Pakistan and to share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Mukherjee said.
“We await a response from the Government of Pakistan. Instead, we hear of statements by Pakistani leaders at high levels to the media,” the minister said on a day Army Chief Deepak Kapoor said India was keeping all its options open.
“These reinforce the already strong doubts which exist on Pakistan’s stance on terrorism from Pakistan, and on its capacity and willingness to cooperate with other countries against terrorism,” Mukherjee said.
”Pakistan must fully implement its international obligations under various legal instruments on terrorism,” he stressed.
“All that has been received formally from India is some information. This needs to be carefully examined,” Gilani told National Assembly in Islamabad Tuesday.
Gilani regretted that India had not responded to Pakistan’s proposal for a joint investigation. “I hope they will see merit in it and accept a joint inquiry. Serious, sustained and pragmatic cooperation is the way forward,” he remarked.
In a policy statement made in the National Assembly, Gilani Tuesday had said that Pakistan the government was carefully examining the ‘information’ about the Mumbai terror attacks and would share with India results of its own investigation in due course of time.
Alluding to the dossier India handed over to Pakistan Jan 5, he said the information received had been sent to the ministry of interior for necessary investigation in accordance with the country’s law.
With Pakistan not showing any sign to act against perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage, Army chief Deepak Kapoor Wednesday said that although war was the “last resort” but India was keeping all options open.
Stressing that any decision on the issue had to come from the political leadership, Kapoor said at a press conference that the perpetrators of the Nov 26-29 Mumbai savagery were from Pakistan.
“We do feel that perpetrators of the 26/11 (date of Mumbai attack) came from Pakistani soil. In view of that.. we in India are keeping all our options open.
“The options include everything, whether diplomatic, economic and, as last resort, fighting,” he told reporters while stressing that there was no troop movement on the Indian side.