Pak Says 124 Detained for Links to Terror

MEA Says no Let-up in Pressures

Results brought forth by the excruciating pressures unleashed on Islamabad by a refusing to relent New Delhi were finally visible Thursday, as Pakistan said it had detained and placed under surveillance some 100 people linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and Jamat-ud-Dawah in connection with the Mumbai attacks, and constituted a three-man team to probe the incident.

Pakistan said it needed more information from India to proceed with its investigation, including access to the site of the terror attacks, and reiterated its offer of a joint probe.

According to reports, the investigation team, drawn from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), comprises of Additional Director-General Javed Iqbal, the head of the Special Investigation Group of the FIA’s anti-terror unit Khalid Qureshi and agency director Liaquat Ali Khan.

At a press conference, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik listed actions initiated by Pakistan since the Novembr 26 terror strikes in Mumbai: shut down 20 offices of the JuD, 87 schools linked to it, two libraries, seven seminaries, eight other “small organisations” about which no details were provided, and seven websites.

Malik added that 13 disaster relief camps run by the JuD were also shut down, but did not comment on if the JuD’s Muridke headquarters had been sealed.

Malik said 124 people, including Hafiz Mohammed Saaed, the head of the JuD, Mufti Abdulrehman, Colonel (retired) Nazir Ahmed, Amir Hamza, and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, had been detained.

He parried questions on if Zarar Shah, the LeT operative reportedly responsible for the terror strikes was among those detained.

Carefully choreographing his words Malik said Islamabad was “fully committed” to helping India with the investigations into the Mumbai terror strikes.

He said Indian investigators need to give the FIA access to the attack sites to enable the Pakistani agency to convert “information” provided by India into “evidence” admissible in a court of law.

Meanwhile, in an interview to a leading English daily Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said there would be no let up in pressure for Pakistan this time around.

Mukherjee said that diplomatic rope-a-dope tactics employed by Islamabad will not bring about desired results, as India is determined to push for strict action against those responsible for the Mumbai terror strikes.

“Pakistan's response has to be one which can convince us that Pakistan is ready to tackle this (terrorism) seriously. We don't want a repetition of what happened after the Parliament attack (when Pakistan gave commitments which it did not fulfil)," said Mukherjee.

He dismissed as unconvincing Pakistan's reported action of shutting down five Jamaat-ud-Dawa camps and detaining 120-odd terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and other groups, and demanded proof of the action.

Making no efforts to cover up for the scepticism prevailing in India over Islamabad’s claims, he said similar bans in the past have proven to be half-baked.