US working with India to bring Mumbai attackers to justice

Reiterating that it would continue to work with India to bring those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks to justice, the US says it has encouraged collaboration between Pakistan and India on the case.

"Obviously we've been, over the years, working closely with and cooperating with the Indian Government in its investigation," of the Nov 2008 attacks, State Department Spokesperson Mark C. Toner told reporters Thursday.

"We're committed to doing all we can to assist the Indian Government in pursuing every possible lead to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice."

He was responding to a question about Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative David Headley's testimony to a Mumbai court about the nexus between Pakistani army and its spy agency ISI and the attackers' handlers.

Toner noted that Headley, who is undergoing a 35 year sentence in Chicago for his role in the attack, provided testimony via a video link to the Mumbai court.

"The victims of that attack included not only Americans, Indians, but also citizens of other nations," he said. "We're going to continue to work with India to make sure that those responsible are brought to justice."

Asked if the ball was not more in Pakistan's court as those responsible were roaming freely in that country, Toner said: "Well, we've worked and encouraged that kind of collaboration between Pakistan and India on this particular case."

Asked to confirm a report that India and the US are planning to have a joint patrol in the South China Sea, Toner said there were no such plans at this time.

"The United States and India do have a shared vision of peace, stability, and prosperity in Asia," he said. "We're committed to work together with others in the region to achieve our shared goals in an open, balanced, and inclusive security structure."

"But at this time, I can say there's no plans for any joint naval patrols," he said adding, There were no plans for naval patrols in the Indian Ocean either.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)