US backs again India's claim on Mumbai attack

The United States on Tuesday reiterated India’s claim that Pakistan based terror outfits were involved in the coordinated attacks but urged New Delhi and Islamabad to refrain from escalating tensions and work in coordination to bring those responsible for the outrageous strikes to justice.

Dubbing exchange of information between India and Pakistan as “encouraging and a good sign,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday that tensions need to be managed and it seems that the two sides have an interest in doing that.

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To a query about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statements that the 26/11 terrorists had the backing of Pakistani official agencies, McCormack said the greatest threat to India and Pakistan were not each other but the “violent extremists operating out of Pakistani territory.”

McCormack also said that they had talked about the origins of the attack coming from Pakistani soil. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had also expressed the same thought during her visit to the region.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher, held talks with the Pakistani leadership in Islamabad, as New Delhi handed over to Islamabad dossier on Mumbai terror strikes, and told a press conference in Islamabad it was “clear that the perpetrators had links that lead to Pakistani soil.”

He, however, refrained himself from passing any judgment saying the investigations are still on when asked about evidence given by India to Pakistan on Mumbai attacks.

Boucher, who went to Pakistan after visiting New Delhi on Monday, reiterated that whoever was involved in heinous act needs to be brought to justice.

Pakistan’s reaction:

Pakistan on Tuesday categorically rejected India’s allegation that Mumbai attack on Nov 26 was helped and coordinated by some official agencies in Pakistan, and accused India for ‘whipping up tensions’ in the region instead of responding positively on her offer of joint probe into 26/11 attacks on Mumbai.

Regretting over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remark that ‘Pakistan has utilised terrorism as an instrument of state policy’ and ‘some official agencies in Pakistan was involved in the attack,’ Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said: “Pakistan emphatically rejects the unfortunate allegations levelled against his country by the prime minister of India in New Delhi on Tuesday.”