'Pakistan completes Mumbai bombings probe'

Pakistan has completed its probe into the Mumbai terror attacks that India has blamed on elements operating from this country, a media report Thursday said.

"Pakistan has completed the initial investigation report in connection with the Mumbai attacks," The News said in a one line dispatch on its website, quoting sources.

President Asif Ali Zardari was Tuesday quoted as saying that India would be informed later this week about the outcome of the probe.

Zardari made the commitment at a dinner here for the envoys of France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Russia. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Interior Ministry Adviser Rehman Malik and Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin were among those who attended the dinner.

Zardari said Pakistan was "seriously conducting the probe" and urged the diplomats to play their role in defusing tensions for the sake of peace in the region.

Ten heavily armed terrorists that India says came from Pakistan sneaked into Mumbai Nov 26 via the sea route and attacked various installations in the city, holding it to ransom for over 60 hours before they were neutralised. More than 170 people, including 26 foreigners, lost their lives in the carnage, while over 300 were injured.

India had earlier this month submitted a detailed dossier on the involvement of elements from Pakistan in the Mumbai carnage. The interior ministry had asked a three-member panel to examine the document and submit a report by Tuesday. The deadline was then extended by two days.

India has also demanded the extradition of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, two key operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group that New Delhi says planned the Mumbai attacks. The two were held last month during a crackdown on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa that the LeT has morphed into and are being held incommunicado at an undisclosed location.

"We will try to transform the information provided by India into solid evidences so that cases could be registered against perpetrators and they could be brought to justice inside Pakistan," Dawn newspaper quoted Rehman as saying during the dinner.

In setting up the three-member panel, Rehman had Jan 17 also assured India and the international community that if any Pakistani was found to be involved in the Mumbai attacks, he would be tried in Pakistan in accordance with the country's law and would not be handed over to India.

Dawn quoted government sources as saying that the trial would be in camera and the media would be briefed on the proceedings through proper channels.

"They (the sources) said Pakistan wanted to try the people found involved in the Mumbai carnage because it believed that these non-state actors had embarrassed the country and tarnished its image in the world," Dawn added.

Meanwhile, the law ministry is examining the country's anti-terror laws to see how best these can be amended to apply them to those who have been arrested here for the Mumbai carnage.

Pakistan's laws currently do not have any provisions for dealing with its nationals who commit crimes outside the country.

Last updated on Jan 29^th, 2009 at 14:16 pm IST--IANS