Pak may prosecute 120 people connected to Mumbai attacks

Islamabad, Feb 3 (PTI) The Pakistan government plans
to prosecute over 120 people who might be connected to the
Mumbai terror attacks, but the list includes "few if any" of
the top militant leaders against whom India has sought action,
according to a media report.

This will be the first time that Pakistan will
prosecute militants once supported by the country's powerful
Inter-Services Intelligence agency though the absence from the
list of most militant leaders whose prosecution has been
sought by India "reflects the delicate balance Pakistan is
trying to achieve", ABC News quoted a senior intelligence
official as saying.

Those prosecuted might include "anyone who made any
suspicious contacts inside India as the (Mumbai) attacks
began" and they will be charged under Pakistan's cyber crime
laws because the suspects used Internet phones to communicate,
the intelligence official said.

The government's move is aimed at "appeasing
international pressure to crack down on militants who have
operated from its soil and at the same time not completely
dismantling groups that the intelligence agencies still see as
assets", the report said.

Indian and US authorities have accused Pakistan-based
Lashker-e-Taiba terror group and its front, the
Jamaat-ud-Dawah, of planning the attacks that killed over 180
people in Mumbai. The LeT was created with the backing of the
ISI and it has for long had links to the spy agency.

The Mumbai attacks "forced Pakistan to choose between
continuing to support, or at least shelter, a group created by
its powerful spy agency almost 20 years ago, or shutting it
following massive international pressure", ABC News reported.

The debate "played out inside the government and
military for weeks... with some in the government initially
arguing for the extradition of some suspects to India",
officials said.

Asked if Pakistan's plans to prosecute were evidence
of Pakistani leaders' suspecting the Obama administration will
be tougher on them than the Bush administration, an Obama
administration official told ABC News, "I see this as evidence
that Pakistan recognizes these extremists threaten Pakistan as
well as the US. We need an alliance against the extremists,
and I believe that is what you will see us work to build."

US and Indian authorities do not differentiate between
the LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawah, which was banned by Pakistan
after the Mumbai attacks, but Pakistani officials have
indicated they will have to "step carefully" because the
Jamaat is a popular charity.

In a recent interview, Interior Ministry chief Rehman
Malik said: "The risk – I tell you what it is – street power.
Because the religious parties and the extremists are joining
hands, we are already seeing that... violence, yes, that is a
risk (as well)."

Pakistan has said that it has completed a preliminary
investigation into the dossier provided by India on the Mumbai
attacks and it is expected that Islamabad will share its
findings with New Delhi this week. The report on the initial
probe is currently with the law and interior ministries.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that
Pakistan would act according to its own laws against anybody
found guilty of involvement in the Mumbai attacks. PTI