Pakistan fires national security adviser as India tensions rise

Islamabad: Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani fired his national security adviser amid an escalation of tensions with India, which accuses Pakistani nationals of carrying out the terrorist attacks on Mumbai.

Retired General Mahmud Ali Durrani was removed late on Wednesday for his “irresponsible behavior for not taking the prime minister and other stakeholders into confidence, and a lack of coordination on matters of national security,'' the prime minister's office said in a statement, according to state-run media.

Pakistan's private Geo Television said Durrani was fired for making unauthorized comments to the Indian media about the surviving Mumbai gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab. The government in Islamabad confirmed Kasab is a Pakistani national and that investigations into the attacks are continuing.

India maintains all 10 gunmen involved in the Nov 26-29 assault on Mumbai came from Pakistan and says they must have had the support of some “official agencies'' there. It has blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group, for the attacks that killed 164 people, and is trying to build international pressure on its neighbor to act against militant networks.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said two days ago Pakistan has been using terrorism as an “instrument of state policy.'' His government presented Pakistan and other nations with a dossier of evidence Jan. 5, saying it proved the involvement of Pakistani nationals.

Increase tensions

Singh's comments are “most unfortunate'' and could unnecessarily increase tensions, Gilani said in a statement, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

Authorities are continuing their own investigation to ensure the “perpetrators of this heinous crime, whosoever they may be,'' are brought to justice, Gilani said.

Pakistan is seriously examining the Indian dossier and regrets the “propaganda campaign'' unleashed by its neighbor, APP cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.

The government in Islamabad is resorting to its “previous patterns of denial of facts, evidence and reality,'' Vishnu Prakash, a spokesman for the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi, said Wednesday, according to Indian state-run broadcaster Doordarshan.

The Mumbai attacks have strained ties between the nuclear- armed neighbors and interrupted a five-year peace process. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.

While it has arrested several Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders, Pakistan has rejected Indian demands to extradite suspects.