Global Security Newswire

Pakistani officials yesterday denied any support for the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, refuting stepped-up allegations from India, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 6).

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said yesterday that the sophistication of the late-November attacks demonstrated that "some official agencies" in Pakistan must have been involved. Islamabad quickly dismissed the charge.

"The government of Pakistan emphatically rejects the unfortunate allegations leveled against Pakistan by the prime minister of India," said a Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement.

"Instead of responding positively to Pakistan's offer of cooperation and constructive proposals, India has chosen to embark on a propaganda offensive," the statement added. "It will not only ratchet up tensions but occlude facts and destroy all prospects of serious and objective investigations into the Mumbai attacks."

"Pakistan is a victim of terrorism. ... Pakistan is not a state sponsor of terrorism," it continued. "Pakistan would not allow its soil to be used for acts of terrorism at home and abroad."

India delivered a dossier to its nuclear rival this week providing some results of its Mumbai investigation, including information suggesting that the attackers trained in Pakistan, began their operation in Pakistan and spoke to handlers in Pakistan during their three-day rampage (Agence France-Presse/Channel News Asia, Jan. 6).

India has historically accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence of supporting militant organizations in the disputed Kashmir region, including the Lashkar e-Taiba group that New Delhi has argued is responsible for the Mumbai attacks. ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, however, denied last month that his agency backed the attacks or operated outside of civilian control.

"We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds," he said in a Der Spiegel interview published yesterday. "We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India" (Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press/Google News, Jan. 7).

India's defense minister today complained that Pakistan has not reacted adequately following the Mumbai attacks and warned of the consequences.

"Even after [Nov. 26], there is no serious attempt to dismantle the terror outfits, and that is a major worry," said A.K. Antony, while threatening that India could take pre-emptive action to prevent future incidents.

"We will do everything to prevent this. For that we are examining all possible available options," he said (Nigam Prusty, Reuters, Jan. 7).