The Hindu : Front Page : Zardari keeps up pressure on India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 15, 2008
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Zardari keeps up pressure on India

Nirupama Subramanian

Asif Ali Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari kept up the pressure on India to share evidence in the Mumbai attacks to help Pakistan investigate the carnage from its side and said it was “too much” to expect his government to come up with “proof” of the perpetrators’ alleged links in Pakistan before India did so.

“When the Indian side is investigating and the incidents have taken place there, to say that we could come up with proof earlier than they can would be asking for a little too much from us. We are investigating and we are using all possible assistance from the international community,” he said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Asked if Pakistan had begun investigations into the activities of Mohammad Ajmal Amir , the surviving gunman of the Mumbai attacks now in the custody of the Mumbai police, Mr. Zardari said, “What I hear from the press and not directly from [the Indian] government is they have still not completed their investigations. I’m hoping that once the Indian government completes its investigations and shares the information with us we will have further leads to further find if there are any culprits [on] this side of the border, we shall take action against them,” he said.

“Joint investigation”

The President said his government had already offered to cooperate with India in the investigations, and also offered a “joint investigation” but side-stepped a question on whether British authorities would be allowed to interview suspects in Pakistan. He denied he was “appeasing” India, and said he was “assisting the world and Pakistan.” Reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to the fight against terror, he said was a “personal victim” of terrorism. He reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the fight against terror. “I feel for the people of Mumbai,” he said, and expressed the hope that through cooperation with India bilateral relations could be taken to “another level.”

The U.K. has proposed a new anti-terror pact with Pakistan to take more effective action against terrorism, including what Prime Minister Brown called “the most comprehensive counter-terrorism package that Britain has with any country.”

Mr. Brown, who described the Mumbai attacks as “horrific” and “a human tragedy on a terrible scale,” also announced his government would put up £ 6 million to deal with the “causes of radicalisation” in Pakistan and to strengthen the country’s democratic institutions.

“Through these measures we hope to do more to break the chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of the United Kingdom and other countries.” around the world,” he said.

“I am waiting to see Pakistan keep its word”

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