Look east, says Islamabad now

NEW DELHI: As India looks to Pakistan to provide some answers on the Mumbai terror attacks, Islamabad has again claimed that the terror plot was not planned in Pakistan and that its government was not involved in the attacks. Further Pakistani investigators are now claiming that the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (Huji) was involved in the Mumbai attacks.

���We have been saying that the Pakistani government is not involved in this (Mumbai attacks). We have also been saying that this (plot) was not put together in Pakistan,��� minister of state for interior Tasnim Ahmad Qureshi, was quoted as saying. Mr Qureshi is the second senior government functionary to make this claim.

In a further attempt to deflect attention, Pakistani investigators are also claiming that there was Huji involvement in the terror attacks and that investigators have details of how the Bangladesh-based terror group planned and trained the Mumbai attack terrorists. A report in the Dawn said that this information is likely to be part of the Pakistani investigation report on the Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan has promised to share the details of this report with India and the international community.

According to the Dawn, the terror probe is likely to say that the Mumbai attacks were the handiwork of ``international network of Muslim fundamentalists������ present and spread from south to west Asia. The report further said that Pakistan could ``build the case for regional anti-terror cooperation.������

This latest revelation ties in with what a senior Pakistani envoy had said about the Mumbai attacks being planned outside Pakistan. The Pakistani establishment had subsequently tried to downplay the remarks by the Pakistani envoy but not before India had expressed irritation with the way the Pakistani government was conducting its affairs.

Pakistan���s consistent attempt has been to deflect international attention away from the crisis within its borders. Now Islamabad is trying to put the blame on a network of terror groups that are spread across the region.
According to The Dawn, the report concludes that there are ``clear indications������ that some of the planning for the attacks was done in Dubai. Further the Pakistani investigators believe that one of the Mumbai attack terrorists is of Bangladeshi origin and that there was local Indian support also. The investigators also further suggest that the attack may be remotely linked to Al Qaeda���s international terror network, according to the report.

So far The Dawn report ties in with what Pakistan has been saying. Islamabad has refused to admit to any Pakistani links and had only grudgingly admitted under intense international pressure that the sole surviving Mumbai attack terrorist was a Pakistani national. Mr Qureshi also announced that the findings of the report would be made public within a week and that a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has submitted its preliminary probe report.

���The report would soon be made public at a suitable time, possibly within a week,��� Mr Qureshi was quoted as saying.