`CIA helped India, Pak share intelligence on Mumbai attack`

Washington, Feb 16 (PTI) America's Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) has played a crucial role in India and Pakistan
sharing secret intelligence information on Mumbai terrorist
attacks, a media report claimed Monday.

In a front page article, The Washington Post said CIA
"orchestrated back-channel intelligence exchanges" between
India and Pakistan with the top American intelligence agency
itself playing the role of a neutral arbitrator.

"The exchanges, which began days after the deadly
assault in late November, gradually helped the two sides
overcome mutual suspicions and paved the way for Islamabad's
announcement last week acknowledging that some of the planning
for the attack had occurred on Pakistani soil, The Post quoted
sources as saying.

On November 26 last year, 183 people, including
American nationals, were shot dead by Pakistani terrorists who
entered Mumbai through sea. Only one Pakistani terrorists
involved in the attack was captured by the Indian security
forces and is in the custody of Mumbai police.

Referring to interviews with sources in the US and
foreign government, the newspaper said the intelligence went
well beyond the public revelations about the ten Mumbai
terrorists, and included sophisticated communications
intercepts and an array of physical evidence detailing how the
gunmen and their supporters planned and executed their
three-day killing spree in the Indian port city.

"Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies separately
shared their findings with the CIA, which relayed the details
while also vetting the intelligence and filling in blanks with
gleanings from its networks," the Post quoted sources as
saying.

"The US role was described in interviews with
Pakistani officials and confirmed by US sources with detailed
knowledge of the arrangement. The arrangement is ongoing, and
it is unknown whether it will continue after the Mumbai case
is settled," the newspaper said.

The Post article is a revelation as so far only the
role of FBI in the Mumbai investigation was known.

Terming the sharing of intelligence information
between the two South Asian neighbors as unparallel, The Post
said this signaled a thawing of tensions between the two
countries.

"India shared evidence bilaterally, but that's not
what cinched it," a senior Pakistani official familiar with
the exchanges was quoted as saying. "It was the details,
shared between intelligence agencies, with the CIA serving
mainly as a bridge," the official said.

Observing that intelligence has been a good bridge, a
US official was quoted as saying: "Everyone on the American
side went into this with their eyes open, aware of the
history, the complexities, the tensions. But at least the two
countries are talking, not shooting." PTI