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Pak doing NOTHING to punish 26/11 masterminds: India
India on Monday said Pakistan's move to take ahead the prosecution of masterminds of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is nothing but a 'facade' as it is doing nothing to pursue the people who were instructing the group of terrorists from the 'control room' on that day.
Home Secretary G K Pillai said Islamabad was not going to do anything in the case because they fear that cracking down on the militant leadership would spill the beans about the role of Pakistani officials in designing and executing the terror attack on Mumbai.
'India has already provided evidence to Pakistan'
Pakistan has named seven of its nationals in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, which killed 166 people including foreigners, but the trial has not so far started against them.
"India has already provided evidence to Pakistan, received from the United States from the questioning of Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley, but authorities there have not initiated any action on those leads," said Pillai.
Pak doing NOTHING to punish 26/11 masterminds: India
He said Headley had identified three out of four handlers from telephone intercept recordings, who were instructing the group of 10 terrorists who had attacked multiple targets in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, from a 'control room' in Pakistan.
Pillai said Headley's questioning by the US authorities had revealed that handlers of Mumbai attack had a 'sophisticated' command and control structure with each one of them handling a separate target.
Pak doing NOTHING to punish 26/11 masterminds: India
He said despite such details provided by Headley, his statements cannot be used in India and Pakistan against the accused as the LeT operative cannot be extradited because of the plea bargaining deal.
The secretary, however, said India was not consulted before the United States entered in a 'plea bargaining deal' with Headley, which has made it difficult for India to use the testimony of the LeT operative to prosecute the masterminds of the attacks.
'All you have to do is to catch these people'
The home secretary said top operatives of Lashkar-e-Tayiba like Sajid Mir were involved in the attack but despite providing their photographs, voice samples and other 'strong evidence', no concrete action has been taken by Pakistan.
"We have told the Pakistani authorities that we have provided you with photographs, voice samples. All you have to do is to catch these people and match their voice samples," the home secretary said.