US to Pak: Punish perpetrators of Mumbai attack in the country

Islamabad, Jan 2 (PTI) The US administration is asking
Pakistan to ensure that those responsible for the Mumbai
terror attacks are punished inside the country instead of
being extradited to India, according to a media report.

The Bush administration has informed the Pakistan
government that it would like it to initiate "prosecution with
sufficient efforts to ensure conviction" of those behind the
Mumbai incident, the Dawn newspaper quoted US sources as
saying.

The move is a "clear change" in the attitude of the
US, which earlier had backed the Indian demand that some of
the suspects be extradited to India.

The change apparently has been noticed in New Delhi,
where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday
that the US pressure on Pakistan to act against the Mumbai
perpetrators had "not produced tangible returns", the
newspaper said.

US officials had earlier supported India's demand for
the handing over of those behind the attacks but the change in
their attitude followed a realisation in Washington that it
would not be easy for the Pakistan government to extradite key
Lashker-e-Taiba leaders to India, the sources said.

In their negotiations with US officials on this issue,
the Pakistanis insisted that the extradition of Pakistani
citizens to India – particularly when the two countries did
not have an extradition treaty – would have unpredictable
consequences for the government, the sources said.

"The Pakistanis argued that the resulting political
instability would not only weaken the government but could
also harm the war against the Taliban and Al Qaida militants
in Afghanistan as Pakistan played a key supporting role in
this war," the report said.

The "softening in US attitude" is also linked to a
crackdown in Pakistan on LeT and other militant groups. The
move appears to have convinced the US that Pakistan is serious
about uprooting militant groups that use its territory for
conducting attacks inside India and Afghanistan, the report
said.

The Americans, who have stayed involved with the
investigation, have "noted with satisfaction that Pakistani
authorities were seriously interrogating the suspects involved
in the Mumbai attacks and looked determined to find out those
responsible".

The New York Times Thursday reported that Pakistani
authorities had obtained confessions from LeT members that
they were involved in the Mumbai carnage. The Times quoted a
Pakistani official as saying that the "most talkative" of the
LeT leaders being interrogated is Zarar Shah, the group's
communications chief.

The Wall Street Journal had on Wednesday reported the
news of Shah's confession. The Times reported LeT operations
commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is also cooperating with
investigators.

Mukherjee too said that an FBI team currently in
Pakistan had shared with Pakistani authorities "strong
evidence" of Lashker-e-Taiba's involvement in the Mumbai
attacks that killed over 180 people.

He said an extradition treaty is not needed for
handing over three terror suspects — Dawood Ibrahim,
Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and Lakhvi – who
India believes staged the Mumbai attacks. PTI RHL
RKM
NNNN