December 08, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 9, 1429

WASHINGTON, Dec 7: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday there was evidence to suggest that people living in Pakistan were involved in the recent attacks in Mumbai.

“There is evidence of involvement somehow on Pakistani soil,” said Ms Rice. But she added quickly that US officials did not think the Pakistani government was involved in the incident.

“The investigation is still ongoing,” Ms Rice added. “Pakistan needs to cooperate transparently. They’ve said that they will. Clearly there are organisations that operate with longstanding involvement in this kind of activity (in Pakistan).”

She noted that “Americans also died in the attack and that the United States expected the full and complete cooperation of Pakistan and Pakistani action” in finding and punishing anyone linked to the Mumbai incident.

“I made very clear to the Pakistanis that we are a friend of Pakistan, we are an ally of Pakistan, but when something like this happens, the United States expects Pakistan to act,” she said.

Ms Rice downplayed chances of a military conflict between India and Pakistan over the incident, saying the “relationship is better” between the two countries than it has been in the past.

She cautioned against “unilateral action” by India over the Mumbai attacks, but said she “didn’t hear a lot of bellicose talk by Indian leaders or the Pakistani leaders. This is a relationship between India and Pakistan that has improved, and they’re trying to build on that.”

She denied setting a 48-hour deadline for Pakistan to arrest three suspects wanted in India for their alleged involvement in the attacks.

“I think the important thing is that Pakistan has to act and these people are brought to justice, and that any information that they may have be put to use in making sure follow-on attacks don’t happen,” Ms Rice told Fox News.

“There’s not a timetable involved here.”

The report that the United States has proposed — and Pakistan accepted — a 48-hour deadline for handing over the suspects to India was front-page news in the Indian newspapers on Sunday. It was borrowed from a Washington Post report on Saturday, which focussed on investigations conducted in India but the ninth paragraph included a quote from an unnamed Pakistani official that Pakistan had accepted a deadline imposed by the United States and India.

“Obviously, this is counter-terrorism work. It’s hard work. And it’s not as if these people are sitting on the surface,” Ms Rice said, adding that Pakistani leaders “understood their responsibilities and now we’re waiting”.

The top US diplomat, who returned home on Friday after an unscheduled visit to India and Pakistan to defuse tensions between the two nuclear neighbours, however, refused to comment when asked if the United States backed India’s demand that Pakistan should hand over the three suspects to Indian authorities.

Her silence strengthened speculation that the United States was quietly urging Pakistan to hand over the suspects to India named on a list New Delhi sent to Islamabad last week. The suspects include two Indian nationals — Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon — and a Pakistani, Maulana Masood Azhar.