In a blunt message to Pakistan, the US today asked it to investigate the “circumstances” under which the Mumbai terror attacks were carried out and take the responsibility of dealing with “non-state actors” operating from its territory.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who flew in this morning from New Delhi and held talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, said Pakistan must provide “robust” and “effective” cooperation to India, in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice.
“We talked at length about the importance of Pakistan taking its responsibility to deal with those who may use the Pakistan territory, even if they are non-state actors,” she said at a press conference here after meeting the Pakistani leadership.
“Pakistan needs to investigate the circumstances under which these attacks took place in Mumbai,” said Rice, who was provided evidence by India yesterday, about the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in last week’s attacks.
“There is a lot of information. There are many mechanisms for sharing information and they should be used,” she bluntly told Pakistan.
Noting that the sophistication seen in the Mumbai strikes was never witnessed earlier in this part of the region, Rice said “there is an urgency to get to the bottom of these attacks, urgency to bring the perpetrators to justice and urgency to use this information to disrupt and prevent further attacks.”
During her meeting with Zardari, Rice said Pakistan must take “necessary steps to prevent any non-state actors from indulging in such activities (as the Mumbai attacks) against any country from its soil.”
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Rice, who has been sent to India and Pakistan by President George W Bush in the wake of rising tensions, yesterday met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who told her that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by Pakistani terrorists.
The top US diplomat said Washington was looking for “a robust response and one that is effective” in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice. The government of Pakistan should “provide unequivocal assistance” to India and it “should be seen acting sincerely and quickly,” an official statement quoted Rice as saying during her meeting with Gilani.
She also underlined the need for cooperation in the investigation during her meeting with Zardari, who said the Pakistan government “will not only assist in the investigations but also take strong action against any Pakistani elements found involved in the attack”.
“Pakistan is determined to ensure that its territory is not used for any act of terrorism,” Zardari was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the presidency.
Gilani conveyed to Rice “Pakistan’s firm commitment to combat terrorism with the full support” of the country. He said a meeting of all the political forces on December 2 had expressed its “full support to the government’s efforts in this regard”.
Pakistan had “immediately condemned the Mumbai attacks in the strongest terms” and offered its full cooperation to the Indian government in probing the incident, Gilani said. He also “reiterated Pakistan’s determination to not allow its territory (to be used) for any terrorist activity”, said a statement from the Prime Minister's House.
Rice noted that “not only innocent Indians but nationals of other countries, including the US, had been targeted (during the Mumbai attacks) and every country must support the Indian government to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice”.
She assured Gilani that the US administration would extend its full support to Pakistan for “building the capacity of its paramilitary forces to prepare them for facing the challenges of extremism and terrorism”. Rice travelled to Pakistan a day after the visit of America’s seniormost military official, Admiral Mike Mullen, who asked Islamabad to “investigate aggressively” all the possible links between Pakistani groups and the Mumbai attacks and to take more action against militants across the country.