India suspects Pakistan hand in Mumbai blasts

Peace talks in trouble, Pak tries to undo damage caused by Kasuri's remarks.

India strongly suspects Pakistani hand in Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai suburban trains with all leads pointing to involvement of ISI-backed terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, highly placed sources said tonight.

"The involvement of Pakistani hand is obvious... There is no doubt that LeT, which is backed by Pakistan's ISI, is involved," the sources said.

Various agencies investigating the serial blasts are also probing whether other terror groups were involved along with LeT, they said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Aziz Ahmad Khan today held a low profile consultation with experts on Kashmir to ascertain where the dialogue with India was going, as it became quite clear that not only was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to Pakistan not happening in the foreseeable future but also that the current peace dialogue could also be in jeopardy.

The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are due to meet in New Delhi on July 20 to discuss confidence building measures (CBMs).

The Pakistan government today made desperate efforts to revive the peace process and undo the damage that foreign Minister MA Kasuri's statements yesterday had caused. In Islamabad, Pakistan said it was ready to help India's investigation into the Mumbai blasts. "Pakistan stands ready along with the international community to help India's investigation, because terrorism is a global problem," Tasnim Aslam, Pakistan's foreign ministry spokeswoman, said. She said such help would be unconditional and in no way dependent on a resolution of Pakistan's dispute with India over Kashmir.

In the parallel, Kasuri warned that any 'knee-jerk' reaction by India needed to be avoided. In an interview to CNN in Washington, Kasuri said India should be careful about an attempt to attribute the attacks to so-called Pakistan-based militants. Kasuri repeated his firm condemnation of Tuesday's attacks, which he had already called "ghastly" but went on to ask: "Why should there be a finger pointing (at us) every time?... India is a vast country. There are attacks in other parts of India ...there should not be a knee-jerk reaction that everything happening in India starts in Pakistan."

There are pragmatic reasons for India putting its conversation on hold "" it is not clear whether anything is to be gained by continuing to talk to Gen Pervez Musharraf who is seeking a political role for himself next year and by current reckoning, will have to enter this arena as a civilian.

India has seized upon the Mumbai blasts as the catalyst to put talks, that were floundering any way, in the deep freeze. This has created outrage and indignation in Pakistan of the same variety that was evident after the attack on Indian Parliament. Pakistan feels India prejudges situations without enquiring whether the responsibility of sporadic violent incidents is Pakistan's.

The telephone call by US President George Bush today where he conveyed US support to India in the fight against terrorism and expressed sympathy for the victims of the Mumbai serial train blasts is not likely to go down well in Pakistan, the US's ally in the war against terror.

During the telephonic conversation, Bush expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the Tuesday blasts.