World | Pakistan
Islamabad proposes joint team to investigate Mumbai massacre
Pakistan on Tuesday offered a joint investigation team to India to help probe the Mumbai terror attacks.
- By Fasihur Rehman Khan and Shahid Hussain, Correspondents
- Published: 23:25 December 2, 2008
Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday offered a joint investigation team to India to help probe the Mumbai terror attacks.
"Terrorism is a common enemy and we need to devise a joint strategy to deal with the situation," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi said in his televised policy statement.
Qureshi said the entire world was engulfed by the menace of terrorism and Pakistan and India were also its victims. "We want better relations with India and it is in the interest of both the countries to continue with the composite dialogue process," he emphasised.
The Foreign Minister said the government had invited country's political leadership to devise a national policy on the situation. He said the region was passing through a critical phase and both the countries had to show "tolerance, seriousness and patience" and avoid the blame game.
Army readied
Qureshi vowed that the nation, the armed forces and the government "stand united to defend the ideological and geographical frontiers of Pakistan."
"Pakistan Army is fully capable to defend country's borders," Qureshi reiterated in his message.
Qureshi's statement coincided with that of the Indian Foreign Minister who ruled out the option of military action against Pakistan in response to the Mumbai terror attacks.
India is blaming Pakistan based elements, especially jihadi organisation Lashkar e Toiba, for massacre. Pakistan in turn has demanded evidence against the country.
The Pakistani Foreign Minister yesterday briefed 36 ambassadors and diplomats based in Islamabad on Pakistan's standpoint regarding the escalation of tensions with India.
The country's Information Minister Sherry Rehman told media that Pakistan will "frame a response" to the Indian request to hand over 20 fugitives they believe reside in Pakistan.
The list includes the names of Dawood Ebrahim, wanted in relation to the Mumbai bomb attacks and Maulana Masood Azhar, who escaped from an Indian jail and landed in Afghanistan after a deal between the Indian airliner hijackers and Indian authorities in 1999.
Diplomacy
Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Satyabrata Pal, met PML-N Chief and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad to discuss the current tension between India and Pakistan. "We strongly condemn every kind of terrorism activity," Sharif was quoted as telling the Indian High Commissioner.
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