Washington, Dec 07: Pakistan has agreed to a 48-hour timetable set by India and the United States to formulate a plan to take action against Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and to arrest at least three Pakistanis who Indian authorities say are linked to the multiple attacks in Mumbai, a top US daily reported citing a top Pakistani official.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said India has also asked Pakistan to arrest and hand over LeT commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhwi and former chief of Pakistans spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Hamid Gul in connection with the probe into Mumbai carnage, which killed nearly 200 people, the Washington Post reported today.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who has expressed his country's solidarity with India, is expected to review plans by his nation's top military and intelligence officials and follow through on India's demands, the official said.
"The next 48 hours are critical," the official was quoted as saying by the influential US daily. A week after the terrorist assault in the Indian financial capital, Indian officials have stepped up their efforts to make a clear case of link between the carnage and Pakistani elements. According to the Post, a high-level source in the Indian government, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said India has "clear and incontrovertible proof" that LeT an carries out the attacks and that the group's leaders were trained and supported by Pakistan's ISI.
"We have the names of the handlers. And we know that there is a close relationship between the Lashkar and the ISI," the source said.
Indian and US investigators have identified Yusuf Muzammil, a Let leader, as the mastermind behind the attacks, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has asked Pakistan to hand him and other suspects over, the report said.
Earlier, Gilani had said his country is committed to cordial relations with India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks and will not allow its territory to be used for any terrorist activity.
Islamabad has assured the Indian leadership of its complete co-operation in probing the Mumbai attacks and offered to form a joint commission headed by the National Security Advisors of the two countries, Gilani told a delegation of US Senators led by Republican John McCain.
Pakistan "remains committed for having cordial relations with India" and had condemned the Mumbai incident in the "strongest possible terms", an official statement quoted the Premier as saying.
Pakistan has expressed its readiness to work closely with India to "expose the hidden hands" behind the strikes and said it did not want terrorists to derail the peace process.
"I have assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of our complete cooperation in investigating these attacks. We are prepared to engage India closely to expose the hidden hands behind these attacks," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in his address at a dinner for the mission heads of EU states.
"While the terrorists may try to derail the peace process between Pakistan and India, we should not allow them to succeed in their nefarious designs," he said last night.
However, he said that the "sustainable resilience" of the militants is "directly correlated to the availability to them of drug money from Afghanistan". This source of terrorist financing must be checked, he added.
Bureau Report