Lakhvi, two others now in police custody

ISLAMABAD: LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the suspected Mumbai attacks mastermind, and communications expert Zarar Shah are in Pakistan���s custody, a day after an FIR was lodged against them by the country���s FIA in connection with the 26\11 terror strikes.

Both Lakhvi, Shah and Hamad Ameen Sadiq, a key militant linked to Mumbai terror attack, are linked to the Lashkar-e-Toiba and have been named in the FIR lodged by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), western diplomatic sources said.

Though Shah and Lakhvi were arrested during a raid by Pakistan Army near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) in early December, they were handed over to ISI for investigations, they said. Sadiq was taken in to custody by FIA after its investigations into the dossier given by India on the 26\11 Mumbai terror strikes, interior ministry chief Rahman Malik had told reporters on Thursday.

Sadiq, who hails from southern Punjab and was arrested in Karachi, is being seen as a key LeT operative though he had not come under the scanner of India.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said Pakistan has demonstrated its sincerity in cooperating with India by making public the findings of its probe into the Mumbai attacks, a day after Islamabad admitted that the terror strikes were "partly" plotted in this country. Zardari stated this during a meeting with US Ambassador to Islamabad, Anne Patterson, Dawn News channel reported.

It quoted him as saying during the meeting that Pakistan has shown its commitment and sincerity to cooperate by making public the findings of its probe into the dossier provided by India.

Zardari discussed with Patterson the regional situation and Pakistan���s ties with the US, the channel said.

In the face of evidence provided by India, Islamabad yesterday also acknowledged a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) link to the Mumbai attacks that began on November 26 and claimed the lives of 183 persons, after a series of flip-flops on the credibility of the Indian dossier and initial denials of a Pakistani hand.