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Pakistan's 26/11 probe hasn't moved an inch: India

Last updated on: January 16, 2011 16:44 IST

India on Sunday said attempt to bring the guilty in Mumbai attacks to justice "has not moved an inch" in Pakistan and hoped that country will learn from

New Delhi's "fair" handling of the Samjhauta Express blast case and punish the perpetrators of the 26/11 carnage.

Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said "no real investigation" has taken place in Pakistan and the prosecution attempt in that country to bring the 26/11 guilty to justice "has not moved an inch" even as India's request for providing the voice samples of the handlers of the attackers has fallen on deaf ears.

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Pak's investigation not real: Pillai

Last updated on: January 16, 2011 16:44 IST

When Home Minister P Chidambaram asked for action against the 26/11 perpetrators and voice samples of handlers of the attackers during his Islamabad visit last year, his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik told him that "you would not be disappointed by our response".

But, Pillai said that seven months down the line, there is no Pakistani response. "We are disappointed," he added.

No key person, who was actually involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror strikes or giving directions to the attackers, has been arrested. Only second or third-level conspirators were put behind the bars.

"That is not a real investigation. From the steps so far taken by Pakistan, we would say we are quite pessimistic because when the Home Minister was in Islamabad, the interior Minister actually told him that he would respond," he said in New Delhi.

'India to share Samjhauta info with Pak after probe'

Last updated on: January 16, 2011 16:44 IST

A policeman stands outside a burnt carriage of a Samjhauta Express train

Referring to the investigations in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case in which right-wing Hindu activists have been arrested, Pillai said Indian government was committed to bring to justice anyone who commits terror irrespective of his religion or anything else as it considers such a person as "nothing but a criminal".

"I think in one sense, the probe shows that we are willing to be fair as far as possible. If somebody has done a crime, irrespective of who he is, what is his religion, we will go after him and make sure that he is punished," he said, adding India will share information on the case with Pakistan once the probe is over.

The blast in Samjhauta Express, which runs between India and Pakistan, took place on the night of February 17, 2007 near Panipat in Haryana, leaving 68 people dead, mostly Pakistanis.

The Home Secretary said he hoped that the message goes to Pakistan, which is yet to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice, so that they also do it irrespective of, who the person involved is.

'No feedback from Pak on voice samples of 26/11 handlers'

Last updated on: January 16, 2011 16:44 IST

Indian investigators have transcripts of the recorded conversations between the terrorists at each of the sites of the 26/11 attacks and their handlers based in Pakistan. India has given the names, photographs and addresses of the handlers and Pakistan just need to check out their voices.

"If they give voice samples to us and if these match with what we have, then we would know that this guy was sitting in Pakistan and directing the operations in Mumbai. You don't need any further proof," Pillai said.

On the eve of the second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year, India had conveyed to Pakistan that "substantive and verifiable" progress has not been made in the probe into Mumbai attacks case in that country.
Asking Islamabad to fulfill its "obligation and commitment" to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 carnage, India had regretted that no feedback has been received on several issues raised by New Delhi.

This included voice samples of Pakistan-based "handlers" of the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai and information about seven persons involved in the attacks whose names were given by Chidambaram during his meeting with Malik in June in Islamabad.

The names of seven handlers involved in terror attacks included that of two officers in the Pakistani Army. New Delhi had also conveyed to Islamabad that it wants to send a commission to Pakistan to question jailed Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and to get voice samples of the masterminds who were present in the control room directing the attackers.