Pranab thumbs down NSA's remarks, says Pak yet to respond

Brushing aside National Security Adviser M K Narayanan’s remarks on Islamabad’s attitude towards Indian dossier on Mumbai terror attacks, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday reiterated that India was yet to receive any official response from Pakistan.

“The fact is Pakistan received material from us, but we have not received any official communication about the probe form them,” Mukherjee told reporters that whatever Narayanan said in an interview to a news channel was his own, while asked to make a comment on NSA’s statement.

Narayanan, on Sunday, talking to a news channel had said that Pakistan seemed to be taking things seriously and proceeding in a manner like an investigating agency proceeds, asking queries to which answers were being provided.

“To my knowledge, after receiving dossier from Indian official channels, the Pakistani government has reverted to us and asked number of queries to which answers were being given…I think they are yet to receive replies to the second set of queries they have made,” the NSA had said.

Surprised over the NSA’s careless remarks, policy makers in the External Affairs Ministry said that Pakistan’s attitude towards the Mumbai terror attacks has just been unsatisfactory. Despite promising to respond within 10 days to the detailed dossier handed over by India on January 5 on Mumbai mayhem, Islamabad has not yet officially responded even after a month.

Moreover, as per reports coming out from Pakistan is preparing to say that its investigating team has reached to the conclusion that Mumbai plot was not planned on Pakistani soil but somewhere else. Sources said that such outcome was not very surprising in the wake of Islamabad’s continuous flip-flops and denials.

Mukherjee’s comment on Tuesday coincided with Islamabad’s summon to its envoy to India Shahid Malik for holding important consultation with the officials of the foreign and interior ministries in connection with the Mumbai attacks. Reports say that Malik was briefed by Islamabad on its probe into the Mumbai mayhem.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister A K Antony lambasted Pakistan for its callous approach since Mumbai attack, dubbed it the “epicentre” of global terrorism and urged to act with sincerity and decisiveness against the Mumbai perpetrators.

“The dastardly attack on Mumbai could be planned and executed by elements in Pakistan totally undermines the commitments made by Pakistan to us that its territory would not be allowed to be used for terrorism,” asserted Antony while inaugurating the 11th Asian Security Conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.