India hands over Mumbai terrorist attack evidence to Pakistan
New Delhi - India has provided evidence on the Mumbai terrorist attacks to Pakistan, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday.
"We have today handed over to Pakistan evidence of the links with elements in Pakistan of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26th November, 2008," Mukherjee said.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon gave the Pakistani high commissioner based in Delhi material that linked Pakistani elements to the attacks of November
26-28 in which more than 170 people were killed in India's financial capital.
The material included interrogation reports of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the attacks. India claims Kasab, who is in police custody, is a Pakistani national.
The evidence given to the Pakistani official also included details of the terrorists' communication links with elements in Pakistan during the Mumbai attacks, an Indian Foreign Ministry statement said.
Details of weapons, equipment and other articles recovered from the terrorists and data recovered from GPS and satellite phones used by them were also handed over.
"It is our expectation that the government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice," the statement said.
India claims that elements based in Pakistan were behind the Mumbai attacks and has demanded that Pakistan take action against these non-state perpetrators.
A statement from the Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad said the Indian foreign secretary had handed over some information regarding the Mumbai terrorist attacks to the country's high commissioner in New Delhi
The material had reached Pakistan and was being examined by concerned authorities, the statement added.
Mukherjee said he had written to his counterparts in several nations giving details of the events in Mumbai and the progress made in investigations and the evidence collected so far.
India's Foreign Ministry would be briefing all heads of missions in Delhi over the next 24 hours, Mukherjee added.
"What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime," the Indian foreign minister said. "It is my hope that the world will unite to achieve the goal of eliminating the threat of such terrorism," he added. (dpa)