ISLAMABAD, Oct 1: Islamabad has not received any formal communication from Delhi, verbal or written, through any channel regarding Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the July 11 Mumbai blasts.
“Nothing has been officially or otherwise communicated to us in this regard,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told Dawn on Sunday.
When her attention was drawn to Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon’s reported statement on Sunday that India was ready to present the evidence to prove its claim of Pakistan’s hand in the Mumbai blasts, she said: “We have already been saying if India has any information or evidence to share with Pakistan it should come forward with it.”
Pakistan had condemned the Mumbai train blasts as an act of terrorism and President Gen Pervez Musharraf had offered to help with investigations into the blasts on the basis of evidence, solid information or leads. However, Islamabad received nothing from New Delhi.
When Indian Charge D’ Affairs T. C. A. Raghavan was asked by this correspondent on Sunday why India was holding back information if it had the evidence, his initial response was that he had not seen Mr Menon’s statement. But when he was told that Mr Menon had reportedly said evidence would be presented but at the right time and the right place, Mr Raghavan snapped back: “That’s clear enough.” He refused to respond to any further queries.
According to NDTV, the Indian foreign secretary would put the evidence on the table when he meets his Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi next month.
His statement comes a day after Pakistan vehemently rejected as “baseless” Mumbai police commissioner’s claim that the ISI had hand in the serial blasts on Mumbai’s train network.
The Mumbai police commissioner had levelled the allegation at a press conference a day after Pakistan announced appointment of Shahid Malik as its new high commissioner to India.
