ISLAMABAD: Pakistan must fully investigate November’s militant attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai and cooperate with the Indian government on the issue, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.
Relations between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have been strained since militants killed 179 people in the attacks, and India has put dialogue on hold. Ban, in Pakistan after a stopover in neighboring Afghanistan, said the United Nations wanted India and Pakistan to resume dialogue and resolve outstanding disputes peacefully.
“(Pakistan) must have a full investigation into this issue and fully cooperate with the Indian government,” Ban told a news conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. India blamed the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group for the attacks in its commercial hub and said there must have been support from Pakistani security agencies.
Pakistan has denied any involvement by state agencies and says it is investigating a dossier of information from India. The dossier contained the confession of a surviving attacker, satellite phone intercepts between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan, and a list of Pakistani-made weapons used by the militants, India said.
Ban also said he will soon establish an independent investigation into the killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He gave no details on the mandate of the probe after meeting Pakistan’s president. Benazir died in a gun and suicide bomb attack on Dec. 27, 2007, as she left a campaign rally.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Taleban released yesterday 29 paramilitary soldiers and policemen they had captured in a raid on a police station in the Swat Valley in the northwest, two of the captured men said.
Security has deteriorated sharply in northwestern Pakistani areas along the Afghan border, as well as the Swat Valley where troops are struggling to stem spreading Taleban influence.
In the latest violence, militants attacked and destroyed a police station in Shamzoi village in Swat, and captured the 29 men after a siege of more than 24 hours, police said earlier. “They have released all of us. They did not harm us,” said policemen Abdul Haq, one of the two men who spoke to Reuters by telephone after their release. “The Taleban have given us a new lease of life,” he said.
A Taleban spokesman, Muslim Khan, said the Taleban had released the captives after they had promised to quit their jobs and not act to against the militants. The Swat Valley, 130 km northwest of the capital, Islamabad, was for years a main tourist destination.
Militants infiltrated into the valley from Al-Qaeda and Taleban strongholds on the Afghan border, to the west of the valley, and began battling security forces in 2007 while trying to impose strict Islamist rule. Residents say the militants have gained control of virtually the whole valley, which has become a test of the government’s determination to tackle the spread of the Taleban.
Meanwhile, nine insurgents were killed yesterday in a gunfight with the police, officials said. Police tried to intercept a group of armed men in Bazidkhel area on the outskirts of Peshawar city, just a few kilometers from the restive Khyber tribal district. “Nine insurgents were killed in the fighting, which also left two policemen injured,” local police officer Abid Rahim told reporters.
The officer said the rebels belonged to a proscribed militant organization, Lashkar-e-Islam. The outfit is also believed to be involved in kidnappings for ransom.
So far more than 80 people have been killed, many went missing and thousands of innocent citizens dislocated during the ongoing military operation “Rahe Haq” against the militants.
In another development, Pakistani authorities yesterday announced a reward of one million rupees ($12,610) for information leading to the rescue of a kidnapped UN American official, police said. John Solecki, head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the city of Quetta was snatched at gunpoint and his driver killed on Monday.
