Pakistan shifting blame on Mumbai attacks - India

India has today accused Pakistan of trying to shift blame for last month's Mumbai attacks and demanded it do more to dismantle…

India has today accused Pakistan of trying to shift blame for last month's Mumbai attacks and demanded it do more to dismantle militant networks.

India and the United States have blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the attacks, which killed 179 people, leading to a sharp rise in angry rhetoric between the nuclear-armed countries, which have fought three wars.

Pakistan denies any links to the 60-hour assault on India's financial heart, blaming "non-state actors", and has promised to co-operate in investigations. However, Pakistan says India has provided no evidence for it to investigate.

"Pakistan's response so far has demonstrated their earlier tendency to resort to a policy of denial and to seek to deflect and shift the blame and responsibility," India Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

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Mr Mukherjee reiterated that India was keeping all its options open after the Mumbai attacks, comments the Indian media have widely interpreted to mean that a military response was still possible. But Mr Mukherjee said that was not his intent.

On Sunday, Mr Mukherjee said India had given Pakistan specific evidence about who was behind the attack, including intercepted satellite telephone conversations and an account given by the lone surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab.

"We have highlighted that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan has to be dismantled permanently," Mr Mukherjee told a meeting of Indian envoys from 120 countries on Monday.

"Much more needs to be done," he said, referring to Pakistan's promises to crack down on militant groups such as the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

A Pakistani spokesman said India had provided no evidence and the only information it was getting was through the media.

Reuters