Pakistan yesterday said it detained 124 individuals affiliated with a charity that allegedly financed the November terror strikes in Mumbai, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Jan. 9).
The arrests included senior and mid-level members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, which Pakistan considers a front for the Lashkar e-Taiba group that New Delhi has alleged is responsible for the Mumbai attacks, said Pakistani Interior Ministry official Rehman Malik. Authorities have also closed 5 camps, 20 offices, 87 schools and 6 Web sites linked to the charity, Malik said.
He added that Pakistan has formed a panel headed by a high-level police official that would review information on the attacks provided by New Delhi and "try to transform it to evidence, evidence which can stand the test of any court in the world and of course our own court of law.”
“We are with you in this difficult time,” Malik said, adding that Islamabad's probe of the strikes would be transparent.
He also urged India to participate in a joint investigation, a proposal New Delhi has previously turned down. “We should share real-time information,” he said (Salman Masood, New York Times, Jan. 16).
India indicated for the first time Wednesday that it would accept alleged supporters of the attacks being tried in Pakistan, the Associated Press reported.
"It would be ideal if they (Pakistan's government) can hand over the fugitives," said Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. "If that is not possible, there should at least be a fair trial of these fugitives in Pakistan," he said.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister David Miliband said that Pakistan must show "zero tolerance" for terrorist entities in its territory (Munir Ahmad, Associated Press/Google News, Jan. 15).