Pakistan seeks clarification on Indian official's 26/11 remarks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today said it had sought a clarification from India about an official's alleged remarks that the 2008 Mumbai attacks and a 2001 assault on the Indian parliament were "engineered".

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said Pakistan had sought a clarification from India about the comments by an Indian officer about the "engineered" attacks.

Pakistan will give its reaction on the matter after receiving India's response, he said.

Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi had contacted the Indian government over the so-called "revelations" by the Indian officer about the two terrorist attacks.

The controversy has its origins in a letter written by former Home Ministry official R V Mani in connection with the probe into the death of Ishrat Jahan, who was killed with three others in an alleged encounter in 2004.

In the letter, Mani wrote that senior police officer Satish Verma - who is investigating Jahan's killing - had claimed the Mumbai attacks and the attack on parliament were "orchestrated by the government in power".

Mani quoted Verma as claiming that this was done with the "objective of strengthening counter-terrorist legislation". Mani wrote that he had told Verma that such opinions are "held as ISI's view in the security establishment".

Pakistan has already acknowledged that the conspiracy behind the Mumbai attacks was hatched on its soil and arrested seven persons for the incident, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The Pakistan-based LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed were blamed for the 2001 attack on parliament.

Sections of the Pakistani security establishment have seized on Mani's letter to create confusion about the Mumbai attacks.