Quoting sources in the Indian Home Ministry, Times of India has reported that Pakistan has acknowledged that there is enough evidence to prosecute Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi for his involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
The paper said Pakistani officials admitted during last week’s home secretary-level talks with India that investigation conducted by the FIA had established Lakhvi’s direct involvement in 26/11.
It reported that the Pakistani officials told Indian Home Secretary RK Singh that the evidence against Lakhvi – largely related to his role in organising money and logistics, including the boat and inflatable dingy for the gang that ravaged Mumbai – was strong enough to secure his conviction in court.
“Pakistan told India about the development at the FIA’s end during the home secretary-level talks between the two countries in Islamabad last week,” the paper quoted an official privy to the details of talks between the two home secretaries as saying.
Indian officials termed it a “significant admission”, stressing Pakistani authorities would be required to produce the evidence in the court trying Lakhvi and six others, including Lashkar commanders Zarar Shah and Abu Al Qama, who all are in jail.
The development marks a validation of the evidence that India gathered against Lakhvi, Shah, Qama and others and can give satisfaction to the investigators, who saw Pakistan cussedly shrugging off their findings as flimsy.
It should also leave them intrigued because they maintain that the evidence about Lakhvi’s role contained in the several Indian dossiers submitted to Pakistan had been so foolproof that it could have easily been corroborated even by the neighbourhood cop long ago.
As it coincides with the pressure from the US for action against Hafiz Saeed, wary Indian officials wonder whether the new stance on Lakhvi’s culpability is meant to isolate the Lashkar chief from his junior jihadis and to strengthen Pakistan’s case that lack of evidence was the only reason why it was not acting against the Muridke-based Hafiz Saeed.
Significantly, Pakistani officials bluntly told their Indian counterparts that the demand for action against Saeed was based on what Interior Minister Rehman Malik called “hearsay”. They did not relent when the Indian side pointed out that in his confessional statement, Ajmal Kasab had spoken about Saeed’s role in motivating the 26/11 attackers.
Though the government, on India’s insistence, agreed to put before the court new details on Saeed’s involvement, it maintained that the FIA could not find anything against him.
Islamabad also gave an assurance to India that it would consider positively the request for release of Sarabjit Singh, a condemned Indian prisoner currently lodged in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore. The assurance was given when Indian Home Secretary RK Singh called on Malik in Islamabad last week.
“I have requested the Pakistan interior minister and my counterpart (Interior Secretary KM Siddiq Akbar) to release Sarabjit Singh. They have assured me that they will consider our request positively,” Singh said while briefing reporters about his visit to Islamabad.
Pakistan says enough proof to nail Lakhvi for 26/11: report
