By IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistan is awaiting “concrete proof” of charges that a militant group based in the country was behind the Mumbai terror attack, President Asif Ali Zardari has said.
“Pakistan is currently doing its own internal investigation and is waiting for concrete proof to be handed over to us,” Zardari told reporters in Istanbul Friday after a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Afghanistan.
“Our position is that we have always been and still are the victims of terrorism,” The News Saturday quoted him as saying.
Zardari was responding to a question on allegations that the 10 militants behind the Mumbai attacks that killed 172 people and injured nearly 250 belonged to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.
“The focus of the government of Pakistan has been anti-terror… We will continue with our fight against the perpetrators and stateless actors of terrorism,” Zardari maintained.
Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist who was arrested during the Mumbai terror strikes, has revealed during his interrogation that he was trained in at least four camps in Pakistan and met LeT leader Mohammad Hafeez Saeed.
Saeed is among the fugitives, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit’s chief Masood Azhar, whom New Delhi wants extradited from Pakistan.
In response, Zardari offered a joint investigation team, which has been cold-shouldered by India. Subsequently, he rejected the demand for handing over of fugitives and asked India to produce evidence so that they could be prosecuted in Pakistani courts.