Pakistan’s foreign ministry Monday pledged to take action if rival India produced any evidence to show that Pakistan’s spy agency was involved in the Mumbai train bombings in July. But Pakistan again denied claims by Mumbai police that the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic militant group helped launch the attacks that killed 186 people. “If India feels that it has some information that suggests links with some people here or some kind of connection, then yes we will take action and will help India in its investigations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told a weekly briefing.| “The Indian allegations, first made on Saturday, were an attempt to 'divert attention from indigenous elements' engaged in terrorism in India, the spokeswoman said, adding that Mumbai police were 'propagandists'.” |
“This is all internal and this is yet another effort to externalise internal malaise,” she said. Pakistan at the weekend strongly rejected the claims, which come at a time when the ISI is also under scrutiny from Islamabad’s increasingly disaffected allies in the “war on terror”. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted on US television on Sunday that rogue retired ISI officers may be supporting the Taleban in Afghanistan. Musharraf also had to be placated by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a visit to London after a British defence ministry think-tank report said Pakistan’s spy agency backed Islamic extremism.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has also denied involvement in the bombings. The group is fighting against Indian rule in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir and has been blamed for previous attacks in India.