I guess they forgot to tell Indians who from very start were saying attackers were Pakistanis & even bullets used in attack were made by Pakistan ordinance factories.
No evidence linking Pakistan to Mumbai attacks yet: US
No evidence linking Pakistan to Mumbai attacks: US
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
WASHINGTON: The State Department on Tuesday said the United States does not encourage any countries for strike against terrorist targets into territories of other nations as it urged Pakistan-India cooperation in investigation into last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
State Department Deputy spokesman Robert Wood said the US expects Pakistan’s cooperation in the investigation and noted that Islamabad remains committed to fight against terrorism.He said: “It’s too early to say where these attackers originated—where they originated from, who was behind these attacks.” Washington has so far had no evidence of Pakistani link to the Mumbai crisis, Wood said and hoped that the investigation would help establish the source of the attacks.
“We don’t give green lights to any countries, green or red lights to countries. What we’re trying to do is we’ve got a tragedy that took place in India. We want to work with the government of India and other players to do what we can to bring the culprits of these attacks to justice,” Wood said.
The spokesman was asked to comment if the United States would give India a green light to strike any terrorist targets inside Pakistan.“We’re going to continue to work with India and Pakistan, as I said, and to see what we can do to, you know, prevent these types of attacks from going—taking place, and, of course, to get to the bottom of who carried out these attacks and bring those culprits to justice,” he stressed at the daily briefing. Pakistan, he said, is on the frontlines of fight against terrorism and in this respect cited President Asif Ali Zardari’s statements expressing anti-terrorism resolve of his nation.
“Pakistan is on the frontlines of terrorism, as India is, as Afghanistan is. And the Pakistanis understand the threat. And what we need to do is to ratchet up our cooperation. We need Pakistan first and foremost to investigate—be part of this investigation of the attacks; as I said, follow any lead, no matter where it goes; and to work with the international community.”
He said the United States obviously has concerns with regard to the situation in the tribal areas but at the same time reminded that getting rid of the menace of terrorism afflicting the region is a tough challenge.
“It’s not an easy problem. It’s going to take a lot of work. Pakistan, we believe, is committed to this fight. President Zardari said that he wants to see these culprits brought to justice. I think it’s too early to say where these attackers originated—where they originated from, who was behind these attacks. The investigation will obviously point us in a certain direction.”
“But we need to let the investigation take its course. Finger-pointing is not necessarily the best thing at this particular time. However, it’s incumbent upon Pakistan to, as I said, do what it can to make sure that they’re cooperating with this investigation and help bring these culprits to justice.”
Questioned as to why the United States has been focusing on Pakistan from the start of the Mumbai crisis, he said Washington has no evidence of Pakistani link with the incident.“We don’t have evidence. But there are concerns, based on what we’ve heard from Indian officials and others that these folks may have—this terrorism may have come from Pakistani soil. We don’t know that yet.
“There’s an investigation under way which will hopefully lead us in a direction that will get to the bottom of the source of this.”He also said Pakistan has been facing challenges from terrorist groups on its soil and the “Pakistani government understands this and knows that it needs to take effective measures. It’s not an easy situation. And that’s why I stress that we have to be cooperating together, all of us in the region”.
