(AKI) -By Syed Saleem Shahzad - As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Pakistani leaders on Thursday, it was still unclear whether Islamabad would succumb to American pressure and detain leaders of a banned militant group linked to last week's terrorist attacks in India.The sole gunman to survive the violent siege in which 188 people died in the Mumbai attacks (Photo) told Indian police interrogators that he was from Pakistan. He said that he and his fellow gunmen were trained at a camp there run by outlawed Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Lashkar-e-Toiba have denied any involvement in the attacks, while a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahadeen claimed responsibility.
Pakistan has so far shown no intention of grilling alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba leaders, whom the Indians claim have renamed the group, Jamaat ud-Dawa. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Zakiur Rahman are two of the names said to be linked to the attacks.
Informed sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that training camps in Muzzafarabad, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir were immediately evacuated soon after Indian forces were placed on high alert after the Mumbai attacks last week.
Rice and Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, both visited the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, this week for meetings with top officials aimed at pressuring Pakistan to cooperate in probing the attacks.
Mullen and Rice separately met President Asif Ali Zardari and the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on Wednesday and Thursday and discussed Pakistan's crucial role in fighting terrorism.
While Pakistan has so far shown no intention of questioning the two Lashkar-e-Toiba leaders, Zardari gave assurances on Thursday that Pakistan would do everything possible to aid the investigations . However, AKI's sources maintained that the next 24 hours following Rice and Mullen's visit would be crucial.
Gillani's advisor on the interior, Rahman Malik, dismissed as "rumours" reports that India has submitted a list to Pakistan of 20 'most wanted' terrorists or that Pakistan has handed over any of these individuals.
Malik also denied that two underworld bosses wanted in connection with the devastating 1993 bombings in Mumbai that killed 250 people are hiding the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi.
"Neither Dawood Ibrahim nor Tiger Memon are in Pakistan, he said.
Indian police have accused Lashkar-e-Toiba of carrying out a previous attack in Mumbai in August 2003 that killed 55 people and injured 180.