ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Saturday it was investigating a militant leader whom India accuses of masterminding last year’s Mumbai attack, but said he would be arrested only after concrete evidence was found against him.
The government has asked India to furnish forensics reports and other information regarding the Nov. 2008 attack.
“We have supplied to India a fifth dossier that was prepared by Pakistan’s intelligence and security outfits,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told a press conference. “In return we are seeking more information from India for speedy completion of our investigation.” Malik said suspects Zakiyr Rehman Lakhwi, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Siddiqui, Umar Abdul Wajid, Zarar Shah and Shahid Jamil Riaz would be formally charged next week.
Malik told reporters that the court would be provided with information regarding the hideouts of the terrorists while bank accounts used in the Mumbai attacks have also been unearthed.
India wants Pakistan to prosecute Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, before it resumes a peace process broken off after last November’s attack that killed 166 people.
“Hafiz Saeed is being investigated. He has been included in the investigation,” Malik said.
“I assure my Indian counterpart that if there was evidence against (him) during our investigation, I assure you he will not get out of clutches of law. We will take action.”
Pakistan detained Saeed in December after a UN Security Council resolution put him and his charity on a list of people and organizations supporting Al-Qaeda.
But a court released him in June on grounds of insufficient evidence, prompting the Pakistani government to appeal at the Supreme Court for his re-arrest. The case is pending.
— With input from agencies
