India Hands Mumbai Evidence To Pakistan

Pakistan Starts Pouring Over Alleged Links To Terror Attack, But Insists No Extraditions

(CBS/AP)  India handed evidence Monday to Pakistan that it says links the deadly Mumbai attacks to Pakistani "elements" and called on authorities across the border to investigate further and help bring the culprits to justice.

India has blamed the November attacks that killed 164 people on Pakistani-based militants, but Pakistan has denied the accusations saying India had yet to provide proof.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon gave evidence to the Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi on Monday linking the attacks to "elements in Pakistan," said Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The evidence included material from the interrogation of the lone surviving gunman, details of conversations between the gunmen and their alleged handlers in Pakistan, recovered weapons, and data from satellite phones.

"This material is linked to elements in Pakistan," an official statement said. "It is our expectation that the government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice."

"The material has been received from India. The concerned people are now examining it," a senior Pakistani foreign ministry official told CBS News' Farhan Bokhari, confirming receipt of the intelligence dossier.

Pakistani officials, however, reiterated their refusal to hand over any suspects to India in connection with the terrorist attacks, instead renewing their standing offer to cooperate with their neighbor in the investigation, reported Bokhari, from Islamabad.

The foreign ministry official, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said it was too early to say if Pakistan would use the information handed over by the Indians to prosecute anyone. "There are bits of information, such as transcripts of conversations between the Mumbai gunmen and their supposed backers in Pakistan. Whether this information will be upheld by a court of law is impossible to know."

A second high-ranking Pakistani government official repeated that official position, telling Bokhari, "We do not have an extradition treaty with the Indians. Any prosecution will have to take place in a Pakistani court of law."

India has blamed the three-day siege on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group based in Pakistan, where authorities have arrested at least two men accused of planning the attacks and launched a nationwide crackdown on a charity believed to be a front for the LeT.

India has called on Pakistan to hand over the suspects and dismantle the terror network they say is based across the border. Pakistani leaders say they will try any suspects in the attacks in their own courts.

Among the militant suspects Pakistani authorities have detained are Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, a commander of the LeT, and Abrar Shah, a senior LeT figure believed by Indian officials to have planned the attacks, reported Bokhari.

The LeT is officially banned in Pakistan, but Indian and Western officials say its representatives have worked freely under the banner of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), an Islamic charity. In December, Pakistan also banned JuD and ordered the freezing of its bank accounts.

Western diplomat have recently told CBS News that a failure to resolve the dispute could push India to carry out a small-scale attack targeting specific suspected militant locations in Pakistan. The danger is that Pakistan might retaliate and provoke a wider conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

In the wake of the Mumbai siege, tensions between the rivals have been high, with Pakistan redeploying troops toward India and away from the Afghan border, where authorities are battling militants.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars against each other since they gained independence in 1947, but Indian leaders have made clear they do not want to fight a fourth war. India has been careful not to blame the attacks on the Pakistani government, and Monday's statement again accused "elements in Pakistan," an apparent reference to militant groups.

Pakistan's leaders have recently sought a conciliatory stance. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Sunday the country wanted "good relations with its neighbors. Good relations with India is in the interest of Pakistan. Stability in the region will benefit Pakistan."

Much of India's evidence against the militants comes from interrogations of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only gunmen to survive the attacks. He has reportedly told authorities that he and nine others were Pakistani, and that he was trained in Pakistan and that his handlers are still there.

Pakistan has said it has no record of Kasab as a Pakistani citizen.

The Mumbai attacks began Nov. 26 and lasted for nearly three days. The 10 gunmen attacked 10 sites across India's financial capital, including two five-star hotels, the main train station, popular restaurants and a Jewish center.

The U.S. has sent a string of envoys to the region in recent weeks to help defuse tensions. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher arrived in Islamabad on Monday to meet with top Pakistani government officials, the American Embassy in the Pakistani capital confirmed. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor declined to give specifics of Boucher's meetings but said "regional issues" would be discussed.