Updated on Monday, January 05, 2009, 00:00 IST

New Delhi, Jan 05: Rejecting the theory of "non-state actors" carrying out the Mumbai terror attack independently, India on Monday hinted at the involvement of elements in Pakistani establishment in the deadly strike which claimed over 200 lives.

"It is hard to believe that something of this scale that took so long in preparation and of this nature that amounts to a commando attack could occur without anybody, anywhere in the establishment knowing this was happening," Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told a press conference.

"This beggars my imagination. Wherever the investigations leads us, we fill follow," he said.

However, Menon did not name any organisation of the Pakistani establishment.

The Foreign Secretary said the distinction made by Islamabad between non-state and state actors was "almost impossible to believe".

He said India was of the view that there is nothing called non-state actors and even such elements "function within a state".

"I don't think there is anything called non-state actors. After all they also live within a state and they are the responsibility of the state. We find the distinction between non-state actors and state actors hard to believe", Menon said.

The relations between terror group Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT), which India believes is behind the gory attacks in the western metropolis, and Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in the past was "well known", he noted.

Sources said India has sought extradition of LeT commanders Zakirur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah along with some others who could be associated with ISI.

Bureau Report