Condoleezza Rice was meeting Great Zardari, the President of Pakistan, and General Kiyani today. I wonder what evidence was presented? According to the article Condoleezza Rice said Pakistan’s government has been given sufficient evidence to take action against suspects?
Pakistan Has Enough Mumbai Evidence to Act, Rice Says
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice](http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Condoleezza Rice&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said Pakistan’s government has been given sufficient evidence to take action against suspects in last week’s deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Pakistan’s leadership “is very focused and very committed” to acting against those who planned the attack, Rice told reporters after meeting President Asif Ali Zardai and Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Islamabad today. India has blamed “elements” in Pakistan for the attacks and asked Zardari’s government to extradite 20 suspected terrorists.
There is a “lot of information about what happened here, a lot of information,” Rice said. “And so this isn’t an issue of sharing evidence.”
Rice is pushing the government in Islamabad to cooperate with India’s investigation to prevent an escalation of tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The Mumbai assault targeted the city’s main railway station and three five-star hotels, leaving at least 195 people dead.
The “information needs to be used now to get the perpetrators,” Rice said. “There needs to be action, urgently and transparently, and that is a message that has been well received here in Pakistan.”
Pakistan “will not only assist in the investigation but also take strong action against any Pakistani elements found involved in the attack,” Zardari said in a statement.
Peace Process
The Bush administration wants to ensure the attacks don’t damage the more than five-year-old peace process between Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars since 1947, two over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Rice declined to say how confident she is that the two governments will work together on the investigation.
“I hope they will keep the lines of communication open,” she said. “It’s a difficult time.”
The two sides have shown more restraint than in 2002, when both amassed forces at their border after militants thought to have originated in Pakistan attacked the Indian Parliament in December 2001.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee this week sought to dispel fears that the Mumbai death toll and possible links to Pakistan might prompt a war, saying “no one is talking about military action.”
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell said two days ago the group behind the Mumbai assault also carried out the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament, which authorities blamed on the Pakistani militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. He didn’t mention the group by name.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
His assessment echoed that of a U.S. counterterrorism official, who said there are strong indications the gunmen were linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. The official, who asked not to be identified, cautioned that the probe is in its early stages.
The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that former officers from Pakistan’s army and its Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate helped train the Mumbai gunmen. The newspaper cited a former Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, for its report.
The official said no links had been uncovered between the gunmen and Pakistan’s government, the Times reported.
Pakistan’s top army commanders met in Rawalpindi today and were briefed on the security environment, the military said in a release. Army chief Kayani “expressed satisfaction on the operational preparedness and training of the army,” according to the release.
He hoped peace and stability in the region will be maintained, the release said. Kayani met Rice before the meeting with army commanders.