ISLAMABAD (AFP) — A senior US diplomat on Monday urged India and Pakistan to work together to investigate the Mumbai attacks, saying those behind the carnage will only be found if the South Asian rivals cooperate.
Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, arrived here early Monday for talks with Pakistani leaders in a bid to defuse tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad sparked by the attacks.
"Each side has pieces of the puzzle and they need to be known to each other," Boucher told a press conference at the US embassy.
"The two sides need to exchange information. People have to work with each other."
India on Monday handed over what it said was evidence linking the Islamic militants who attacked Mumbai in November to "elements in Pakistan" -- which Boucher described as a positive step.
New Delhi has blamed the attacks -- which left 172 people dead including nine of the gunmen -- on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which is fighting Indian rule in divided Kashmir.
Boucher refused to reveal any details of the evidence he had seen, but said it was "clear that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil."
He however said Pakistan's crackdown on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity with links to LeT, showed the country's "commitment to eliminate sources of terrorism on Pakistani soil".
"There is determination here to follow up and find the groups that are responsible so they never do it again," he said.
Boucher was to head to India from Pakistan for meetings with leaders in New Delhi.
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