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India keeps up Pak-Is-Guilty
propaganda
WSN Network
 NEW DELHI:
Indian media and India's government competed with each other all
through the entire last week in accusing Pakistani bluntly and
explicitly, and now even officially, of its involvement in the
deadly attacks in Mumbai which left 172 dead.
India's Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said 'official agencies' in Pakistan
supported the militants who attacked Mumbai in November and claimed
that New Delhi had "enough evidence" to prove that the attack was
most likely backed by some official agencies in Pakistan.
On Monday,
India
claimed it handed over a dossier of alleged evidence to Pakistan and
demanded that it act.
The evidence
handed to
Pakistan rests
largely on the interrogation of the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed
Ajmal Amir Iman, also known as Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who is said to
hail from the Pakistani Punjab.
He has
reportedly told authorities that he and nine other gunmen were
Pakistanis, that he was trained in
Pakistan and
that the people behind the attack were still there. Pakistan has
said it has no record of Kasab as a Pakistani citizen.
Other evidence
included: conversations between the alleged handlers in
Pakistan
and the gunmen during the attack; recovered weapons; and data
retrieved from global positioning system and satellite phones.
Islamabad
says there is no proof the attacks were launched from its soil.
Pakistan has so
far responded with skepticism. Sections of the civil society which
could have spoken up for better ties between
India
and Pakistan were forced to stay out of the debate after
India's
rabid anti-Pakistan propaganda.
Pakistan said it
was examining the contents of the 'information' passed on to it and
will 'evaluate' it. However, it proposed setting up of a joint
commission to be headed by the respective national security
advisers.
Most of what
India claims to have handed over to Pakistan authorities has in any
way been leaked to the media but the best support that India got was
from
US Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard
Boucher who said it is clear the "attacks have links to Pakistan or
lead to Pakistani soil". He said the perpetrators could only be
found if the South Asian rivals cooperated. He called on the
neighbours to cooperate with each other for peace.
Diplomatic
Push
Meanhile, India
seems to have begun a decisive diplomatic offensive against Pakistan
on Monday. India's Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon briefed
foreign envoys to New Delhi on the 'evidence'. These included envoys
from over a dozen countries including the US, the UK, Israel,
France, Japan, Germany, Turkey and Canada.
Indian
Government led by the Congress party is under pressure to be seen as
a strong one since the country is set to go to polls early this
year, possibly in May.
7 January 2009
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