New Delhi:
Pakistan has rejected "any insinuation of the involvement of any state agency" in the Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people in 2008. In Delhi, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Jaleel Abbas Jilani said that Pakistan is "even willing to offer a joint investigation" into the statements made by Abu Jundal, the terrorist who played a key role in 26/11. Jundal was deported from Saudi Arabia to Delhi last month, and has said that during the attacks on Mumbai, he was stationed in a control room in Karachi along with other handlers. Jundal has said that supervised by officers from Pakistan's military intelligence agency, the ISI, he and five other handlers instructed and coordinated the 10 terrorists on the ground in Mumbai.
Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said that the arrest of Jundal has added a "new urgency" to the need for Pakistan to effectively and quickly provide information on the masterminds of 26/11.
"I emphasised that bringing the guilty to justice in the Mumbai attacks would be the biggest confidence-building measure," Mr Mathai said.
"Whatever evidence India has should be shared with us and we will investigate the matter. We are even willing to offer joint investigation into the whole affair but finger-pointing won't help," said Mr Jilani. "We hope not," he said when asked if Jundal's revelations will hurt the progress India and Pakistan have made in recent months on matters like better cooperation in trade. "We cannot afford a setback," he said.
Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that Jundal's details prove that the 26/11 attacks could not have been executed without state support. Pakistan has denied the charges.
Foreign Minister SM Krishna will travel to Pakistan in September to meet his counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar. (
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