New Delhi:
A serving Pakistani army officer has been accused of involvement in the 26/11 attacks in a dossier handed over by India to Pakistan on Thursday. The officer is referred to as Major Iqbal, a pseudonym, according to sources.
India gave Pakistan three new dossiers at a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries for India and Pakistan. The meeting lasted for an hour and a half in New Delhi. Sources describe the meeting as "constructive and useful." (
Read: Highlights of Indo-Pak talks)
The first dossier focuses entirely on the trial and investigation related to 26/11. India has named 8 people, including Major Iqbal and Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). India wants Pakistan to take action against these men and then hand them over to India.
Sources say 'Major Iqbal' is not the person referred to as 'Major General Sahib' in the phone conversations between the terrorists who carried out the attacks in Mumbai in 2008 and their handlers.
The role of 'Major Iqbal' is believed to have emerged in the interrogation by the FBO of US citizen David Coleman Headley, arrested in Chicago in September last year. (
Read: FBI shares details on Headley's recces across India)
The second dossier is on Ilyas Kashmiri who served as a guru for David Headley, accused of being one of the major architects of 26/11. Headley visited India several times between 2006 and 2009, and surveyed the four locations targeted in the Mumbai attacks. Headley was arrested in Chicago in September, along with Tahawwur Rana. Both men have been formally accused of planning and executing 26/11.
Emails intercepted by the FBI show that Headley reported to Ilyas Kashmiri, believed to be a commander of the Al Qaida, and a top operative of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). After the Pune blast, Kashmiri sent an email to a Pakistani website warning foreigners not to travel to India for the Hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.
The third dossier says Pakistan is providing sanctuary to militants of the Indian Mujahideen and Khalistani supporters. India suspects that the blast in Pune earlier this month, which left at least 15 people dead, was a joint operation of the Indian Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Toiba. (
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Transcript)
Addressing the media after the meeting, India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said, of the meeting, "Our aims were modest." She added that India approached the talks with an "open mind but fully conscious of limitations imposed by large trust deficit between the two countries."
At the talks, India stressed that terrorism emanating from Pakistan has to end. Rao said she told the Pakistani Foreign Secretary, "The steps taken by Pakistan so far in fighting terrorism do not go far enough in dealing with 26/11 suspects." She said that India asked Pakistan to follow up urgently on leads on those involved with the 26/11 attacks, particularly after the arrests of Tahawwur Rana and David Headley.
Rao said that the Indian government also shared its objection over leaders of terrorist groups like the Jamaat-u-Dawa (JuD) holding public rallies in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir earlier this month, where they "openly incited violence against India."
Pakistan has also been asked to investigate the groups that took responsibility for the Pune blast. (
Read: Pakistan blames 'Indian networks' for 26/11)