After Pakistan admitted last week that Mumbai attacks were planned on its soil, it sent India a list of 30 questions, which it said were essential to be answered before it could take further action against the guilty. The ball is now inIndia's court.
Pak fires 30 questions on 26/11 to India
Since then there has been a slew of meetings in the home ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs to decide on the response. The urgency arises asIndia doesn't want Pakistan to either divert attention from the terror issue or for it to say that India is not cooperating in the probe.
India Today has obtained exclusive details of Pakistan's note verbale, including the 30 posers, sent to India. Most of the questions are specific and seek details of the Indian probe, including Ajmal Amir Kasab's confessions in court, recent photographs of the nine dead terrorists, DNA samples, fingerprints and other identity particulars.
Pak admits links to Mumbai terror attacks
Pakistan, however, has also raised some tricky questions about the circumstances related to Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare's death. This, besides hinting at the role of Indians in the Mumbai attacks by seeking to know how the attackers managed to get Indian SIM cards and why the Indian Navy could not intercept them.
The note says that based on the information provided by India and its own investigations into the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan had filed FIR No 01-2009 in the special investigation unit of the Federal Investigation Agency against eight suspected terrorists. It says these clarifications and information are essential for Islamabad to complete the investigations and to get the accused convicted in a court of law.
The global link in Mumbai terror attack
Pakistan also said six of the eight accused of the Mumbai plot belonged to the now defunct Lashkar-e-Toiba, had been taken into custody and were being interrogated. It also said links to the conspiracy were found in other nations, including the US, Austria, Spain, Italy and Russia. Sources say, the Indian response, which is currently being drafted, may ask Pakistan to allow Indian investigators to question those eight suspects and piece the missing links together. Pakistan, meanwhile, has indicated that it may want to question Kasab.
Indian experts view Pakistan's posers seeking details on the circumstances leading to the death of Karkare as not without political motive. Islamabadhas also sought interrogation reports of two Indians, Tausif Rehman and Mukhtar Ahmed Sheikh, who were arrested in Kolkata for allegedly providing SIM cards to the attackers.
Special: Mumbai terror attack
Besides, the poser on how they got Indian SIM cards is being viewed as an attempt by Pakistan to strengthen the theory that there may have been strong Indian links to the attacks. Not satisfied with the transcripts of the conversation Delhi had given, Islamabad is also insisting on tapes of recordings of the conversation of the Mumbai attackers and those of the conversations they had with their Pakistan-based handlers. Sources say this could be a complicated process as giving actual tapes that run into more than 60 hours may not be feasible. Besides, it may also compromise the source of interception.
Analysts question Islamabad's motives. If they are not capable of probing the assassination of their former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, how do you think they will hold a fair trial into the Mumbai attacks? These questions have been sent as part of a tactical shift by them, and I don't think anything will come out of it, says Ajit Doval, former director of the Intelligence Bureau.
Another glaring omission in Pakistan's response is that it avoids any mention of the role played by Pakistani state actors, including the ISI. For instance, in the transcript that India had provided to it there was a reference to a major general who issued instructions to the attackers, butIslamabad has maintained silence on his identity.
The Pakistani response is not without its fallout in Islamabad. Intelligence inputs suggest that there is a growing rift between Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani over the Mumbai investigations.
While Gilani, under the influence of ISI and the army, wanted to soft-pedal the probe and delay it, Zardari has been pressing for a time-bound probe, partly under the US pressure and also because he realises that it was a similar cocktail of jihadi groups that killed his wife Benazir.
India realises that its diplomatic pressure has worked and that it has madeIslamabad admit to its complicity, which has never happened in the past. So, in the coming days it will only mount more pressure. And the indications were there, during the week, when US special representative for Pakistanand Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The message was also conveyed to Washington that while India had noted that Pakistan had taken the first step, the international community had to ensure that Islamabad followed it with action against the Mumbai attackers and dismantled the terror infrastructure.
India will have to ensure that global heat is maintained on Pakistan so that the Mumbai investigations do not become just another tactical ploy byIslamabad to buy time and instead, some real and credible action is taken against the masterminds of 26/11.
PAKISTAN'S POSERS
30 queries on 26/11 and India's likely response.
Q1. What has Ajmal Kasab said in his confession before the court?
Response: Yet to give a statement
Q2. Give his recent clear photographs
Response:Will send
Q3. Give his DNA samples and forensic analysis report
Response:They are a court property
Q4. Report of marks on his clothes
Response:Court has to authorise
Q5. Details of his national identity card
Response: Not recovered
Q6. Record of the items recovered from the culprits
Response: List already provided
Q7. Log details of GPS
Response: Shared with Pakistan
Q8. Details of call logs and forensic analysis of Thuraya satellite phone?
Response: Already given
Q9. Details of forensic analysis of the cell phones used by the attackers
Response: Court has to authorise it
Q10. DNA samples from the boats
Response:Court has to authorise it
Q11. The complete tapes of the intercepted conversation
Response: Selected tapes may be given
Q12. Seizure memo of items recovered
Response: Court has to authorise it
Q13. Complete tapes of intercepted conversation with the handlers
Response:Only relevant excerpts may be shared
Q14. Forensic analysis of SIM cards
Response:Court has to authorise it
Q15. Interrogation report of Tausif Rehman and Mukhtar Ahmed Sheikh arrested for providing SIM cards
Response: Details may be shared
Q16. Howthey got Indian SIM cards
Response: Smuggled to Pakistan
Q17. Details about the markings on the recovered weapons
Response: More details may be given
Q18. Photos of weapons seized
Response: Already provided
Q19. Clear photo of attackers
Response: Already provided
Q20. Complete details of all the culprits and their identity proofs
Response: No such documents found
Q21. Details of events leading to Karkare's death
Response: In public domain
Q22. Eyewitnesses'statements on Karkare's death
Response:Court has to authorise it
Q23. Howthe attackers reached Mumbai without refuelling?
Response: Boats had 2,200 litre of fuel
Q24. Did boats refuel in India?
Response: No
Q25. Whywere the culprits not intercepted by the Indian Navy?
Response: Culprits hijacked Indian boat to avoid detection
Q26. Fingerprint samples of attackers with forensic analysis
Response:Court has to authorise it
Q27. Howdid Kasab recognise Zakir-ur Rehman Lakhvi?
Response: Met him during training
Q28. Source of Lakhvi's photo
Response: Can't be revealed
Q29. Howdid attackers reach Mumbai with arms and ammunition?
Response: Carried from Karachi
Q30. Details and forensic report of the digital diary recovered
Response:Court has to authorise it
Sources From India Today.
