ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 4  -- Pakistan's major political parties have condemned the Mumbai terrorist massacre, but reject Indian charges it was masterminded by militants in their country.

In a show of oneness, party leaders issued a resolution saying they shared India's grief, the BBC reported. But they rejected "unsubstantiated allegations made in haste against Pakistan."

India, the report said, has not directly accused the Pakistani government but wants it to surrender about 20 people accused by Indian authorities of being linked to militant attacks over the years.

There have also been accusations by some Pakistani media and some lawmakers that the Mumbai attacks were a conspiracy by Hindu extremists to malign Pakistan.

Karachi, Dec. 4 : About 130 Sindhi Hindu, Chinese, Japanese and Buddhist families have been waiting for a year for their Indian visas to be approved.

According to the Daily Times, they want the visas to travel to India to immerse the ashes of their loved ones in the Ganges River.

The ashes are sealed in copper or earthen pots and tied up in red and white cloth with Sindhi, Hindu, Urdu and English tags with the details of the deceased on them.

According to the paper, these urns are lying in a unique catalog room inside an old library at the Gujjar Hindu Community Burial and Cremation Ground in old Golimar, near a Muslim graveyard.

Islamabad  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday arrived in Islamabad to defuse escalating tensions between India and Pakistan over last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

During her five-hour stay in the Pakistani capital, Rice was scheduled to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

She was expected to mount pressure on the Pakistani leadership to fully cooperate with New Delhi in investigating the Mumbai carnage and bring those behind it to justice.

Islamabad, Dec.

Lahore, Dec. 4: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday to discuss “the latest regional situation” and “other matters of mutual interest”.

The Daily Times quoted a private TV channel as saying that Zardari also discussed with the UN secretary general last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and the rising tensions between India and Pakistan.

Washington, Dec. 4 : Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Abdullah Hussain Haroon has told the US television network CBS that Pakistan has been handing over any foreigners it has caught in Pakistan, who have been suspected of or carried out terrorist activity.

Both countries have identified these suspects as being “under rendition”.

‘Rendition’ or ‘extraordinary rendition’ is the CIA activity of ‘transferring’ or flying captured terrorist suspects from one country to another for detention and interrogation without the benefit of formal legal proceedings.