NSA, Mukherjee differ on Pak reply

NEW DELHI: Even as external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said that India has not received any ���official Pakistani response to the Indian dossier���, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan in contradictory comments claimed that Pakistan has sent two sets of questions on India���s dossier and gave a thumbs up to Pakistan���s investigation techniques.

As Pakistan dithers on releasing the findings of the Mumbai terror attack, Mr Narayanan contradicted Mr Mukherjee, who is leading the diplomatic charge, saying that Pakistan is probing the Mumbai terror attacks in a manner an investigating agency ���should proceed��� and has sent two sets of questions on India���s dossier.

Without elaborating, the national security advisor, who after the Mumbai attacks has kept a low profile, further said in a television interview that India has sent a response to one set of questions.

This completely flies in the face of the government���s diplomatic campaign, which centres around Pakistan���s lack of response and highlighting this in the international community. On Sunday, Mr Mukherjee again blasted Pakistan for failing to inform India about the findings of the terror probe.

���The least Pakistan could have done is to inform the Indian government about the probe through the Indian high commission in Pakistan,��� he said. He further reiterated that Pakistan had not responded through official channels.
But this frustration with the lack of response from the Pakistani side is clearly not shared by the most senior security officer in the country. Mr Narayanan, diluting the government���s diplomatic stance, also dismissed a statement by the Pakistani envoy to the UK on the terror probe blaming it on the ���dysfunctional manner��� in which things have unraveled in Pakistan since the terror attack.

���What I am aware of is that after the receipt of the dossier by Pakistan, the neighbouring government has reverted to us and asked number of questions to which answers have been provided,��� Mr Narayanan said.

���I assume that they are yet to receive reply to the second set of queries they have made. So, I don���t know what the Pakistan high commissioner in London is talking about. I can only say that it is part of the dysfunctional manner in which several things are taking place in that country.���

Pakistan high commissioner in Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan had claimed that investigations had revealed that Pakistani soil was not used for planning the Mumbai terror strikes.

On a question about whether he was satisfied with the Pakistani response to the dossier, he said, ���I don���t know what the word satisfied (means) but certainly they appear to be taking things seriously and at least they are proceeding in a manner that one would expect an investigating agency to proceed, asking queries and not taking everything that is given at the face value that has been given.

���So it is good news from our point of view. (But) whether after all this they would still accept the truth that will kind of hit them in the face, that I don���t know.���

But Mr Narayanan is openly contradicting what Mr Mukherjee has been saying. Mr Mukherjee has blasted the Pakistani government for using the media to convey messages instead of through official channels.

Sources had further corroborated that Pakistan had not officially conveyed anything on the terror probe.