India to respond Pak-30 by next week: Chidambaram

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday that India would respond to Pakistan’s 30 queries on India’s dossiers on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks by next week. He also hinted that some information from Pakistan might be sought in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

The answers to Pakistan’s queries have been preparing by ministry of home affairs and it would hand over to ministry of external affairs by next week, thereby we would be able to respond, Chidambaram said.

“We are formulating the answers to the questions raised by Pakistan. Many of the answers are contained in the charge sheet filed by the police, which is a public document,” he told reporters at a press conference.

He, however, did not rule out the possibility of seeking some questions by New Delhi. “Just as Pakistan has asked some questions, we may also seek information from Pakistan. We will see as we go along. We have filed the chargesheet, we know where the gaps are and so we may seek more information from Pakistan,” he said.

He said Pakistan appears to have started an investigation in the Mumbai assaults, and New Delhi expects Pakistan to take the investigation to their logical conclusion and prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the crime.

When asked about the Pakistani Naval Chief Admiral Noman Bashir’s comment that the terrorists who attacked in Mumbai had not resorted to sea route, the Home Minister counter attacked Pakistan saying it has been indulging in prevarication.

“I am sure somebody in Pakistan will deny tomorrow what the Naval chief said. This is nothing but a part of prevarication,” he said, and added, after prevaricating for several weeks Pakistan itself had admitted that attack on Mumbai was planned (some part) and launched from its soil.

Mumbai Crime Branch also rejected Bashir’s claim saying, the four Global Positioning System (GPS) devices recovered from the terrorists revealed that they came by sea.

“We have no evidence whatsoever that Ajmal Kasab had gone to India from Pakistani territorial waters,” Bashir had said.

To a query about the role of Pakistani Army officer’s name tossed in the Mumbai chargesheet, Chidambaram said the issue was still under investigation.

Pakistan, on the day, after accepting that its soil was used by the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, had sent 30 questions to India seeking forthwith reply on February 12. India had handed over dossier on Mumbai attacks on January 5.

Earlier on Thursday, India’s Foreign Secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, conveyed New Delhi’s message to Pakistan when he met his Pakistani counterpart, Salman Bashir, in an informal meeting in Colombo on the sidelines of SAARC Standing Committee, that going back to business as usual with Pakistan is not possible until some credible actions are taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks as both India and Pakistan had entered entirely a “new phase of relations” since the Mumbai attacks.

Resumption of dialogue is not possible till Pakistan brings the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and act decisively against dismantling of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, Menon told Bashir, who stressed on the continuation of composite dialogue.