LeT confessions to absolve ISI

NEW YORK: Pakistan appears to be building a case for absolving ISI of any involvement in the Mumbai attacks, planning to use the confessions from Lashkar-e-Toiba militants to prove its argument that non-state actors "operating on their own" were behind the terror strikes.

Pakistani authorities have obtained confessions from members of LeT that they were involved in the November 26 attacks, the New York Times reported, a day after a similar report appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

"After weeks of stonewalling, it also seems clear that Pakistan may use its investigation to make the case that the Mumbai attackers were not part of a conspiracy carried out with the spy agency... ISI, but that the militants were operating on their own and outside the control of government agents," the Times report said.

The most talkative of the senior Lashkar leaders being interrogated is said to be Zarrar Shah, a Pakistani official told the paper. American intelligence officials say they believe that Shah, the group's communications chief, has served as a conduit between the LeT and the ISI.

"His close ties to the agency and his admission of involvement in the attacks are sure to be unsettling for the government and its spy agency," the report said.

The LeT operational head Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is also said to be cooperating with investigators.

"These guys showed no remorse," said the Pakistani official. "They were bragging. They didn't need to be pushed, tortured or waterboarded" into making their statements.

The confessions made no mention of any involvement by the Pakistani government, said the official, who added, "They talk about people acting on their own."