(NSI News Source Info) 
January 14, 2009: Pakistan's prime minister downplayed the significance of an Indian dossier on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, saying it is not evidence - and drawing an angry response from New Delhi on Wednesday.
India says the dossier shows that Pakistani militants staged the November slaughter of 164 people. India specifically blames Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group believed to have links to Pakistani intelligence.
Pakistan only recently acknowledged that the only surviving Mumbai gunman was Pakistani, but it insists none of its state agencies played a role in the attacks. Under international pressure, Pakistan has detained some suspects allegedly linked to the attacks, while repeatedly calling on India to provide evidence to allow legal prosecutions.
"All that has been received from India is some information. I say information because these are not evidence," Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
The dossier, handed over on Jan. 5, included transcripts of phone calls allegedly made during the siege by the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan. Previously, India had given Pakistan a letter from the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, that reportedly said he and the nine other gunmen were Pakistani.
In his statement, Gilani said Pakistan was continuing to examine the dossier and urged "pragmatic cooperation" between the sides.
Speaking in New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called Gilani's comments part of a "continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial" over the attacks.
"These reinforce the already strong doubts which exist on Pakistan's stance on terrorism from Pakistan and on its capacity and willingness to cooperate with other countries against terrorism," Mukherjee said.
The Mumbai attacks are the latest crisis to roil ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, who have already fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
In particular, Pakistani observers have warned that the incident could set back tentative steps toward resolving issues such as the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Islamabad has handled the crisis clumsily, and typical "tit-for-tat" responses by the two sides will produce no constructive result, said Asad Durrani, a former head Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's main spy agency. 
Pakistani trucks carrying supplies for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, drive through Kozak Pass near the Pakistani border town of Chaman, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009. Pakistan reopened a supply route for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Wednesday after tribesmen ended a three-day blockade.
Violence continued elsewhere in Pakistan on Wednesday, when gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed four police officers near the city of Quetta in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, said Mohammed Ishtiaq, an area police chief. Police were still investigating the motive for the shooting.
Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency, with militant groups seeking greater regional autonomy and a larger share of revenue from its natural resources.
In a separate incident there Wednesday, a roadside bomb critically wounded seven paramilitary troops in Dera Bugti district, some 310 miles (500 kilometers) east of Quetta, said Muhammad Ashfaq, a senior police official.
Sarbaz Baluch, a purported spokesman for the Baluch Republican Army, one of the main militant groups in the province, said the group staged the attack out of revenge after a large portrait of a slain nationalist Baluchi leader was removed from the area.
He claimed four troops were killed and six wounded.
January 14, 2009: Pakistan's prime minister downplayed the significance of an Indian dossier on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, saying it is not evidence - and drawing an angry response from New Delhi on Wednesday.
India says the dossier shows that Pakistani militants staged the November slaughter of 164 people. India specifically blames Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group believed to have links to Pakistani intelligence.
Pakistan only recently acknowledged that the only surviving Mumbai gunman was Pakistani, but it insists none of its state agencies played a role in the attacks. Under international pressure, Pakistan has detained some suspects allegedly linked to the attacks, while repeatedly calling on India to provide evidence to allow legal prosecutions.
"All that has been received from India is some information. I say information because these are not evidence," Yousuf Raza Gilani told Parliament late Tuesday, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
The dossier, handed over on Jan. 5, included transcripts of phone calls allegedly made during the siege by the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan. Previously, India had given Pakistan a letter from the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, that reportedly said he and the nine other gunmen were Pakistani.
In his statement, Gilani said Pakistan was continuing to examine the dossier and urged "pragmatic cooperation" between the sides.
Speaking in New Delhi, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called Gilani's comments part of a "continuing pattern of evasiveness and denial" over the attacks.
"These reinforce the already strong doubts which exist on Pakistan's stance on terrorism from Pakistan and on its capacity and willingness to cooperate with other countries against terrorism," Mukherjee said.
The Mumbai attacks are the latest crisis to roil ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, who have already fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
In particular, Pakistani observers have warned that the incident could set back tentative steps toward resolving issues such as the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Islamabad has handled the crisis clumsily, and typical "tit-for-tat" responses by the two sides will produce no constructive result, said Asad Durrani, a former head Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's main spy agency. Pakistani trucks carrying supplies for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, drive through Kozak Pass near the Pakistani border town of Chaman, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009. Pakistan reopened a supply route for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Wednesday after tribesmen ended a three-day blockade.
Violence continued elsewhere in Pakistan on Wednesday, when gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed four police officers near the city of Quetta in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, said Mohammed Ishtiaq, an area police chief. Police were still investigating the motive for the shooting.
Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency, with militant groups seeking greater regional autonomy and a larger share of revenue from its natural resources.
In a separate incident there Wednesday, a roadside bomb critically wounded seven paramilitary troops in Dera Bugti district, some 310 miles (500 kilometers) east of Quetta, said Muhammad Ashfaq, a senior police official.
Sarbaz Baluch, a purported spokesman for the Baluch Republican Army, one of the main militant groups in the province, said the group staged the attack out of revenge after a large portrait of a slain nationalist Baluchi leader was removed from the area.
He claimed four troops were killed and six wounded.
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