NEW DELHI (AFP) — India on Monday handed to Pakistan what it said was evidence linking the country to the Islamic militants who attacked Mumbai in November, India's foreign minister announced.
The government also said it was launching a major diplomatic offensive to maintain international pressure on Islamabad, which has so far rejected New Delhi's demands to extradite a list of terror suspects.
"We have today handed over to Pakistan evidence of the links with elements in Pakistan of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26th November," Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.
"What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime. As far as the government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India, and practises her international obligations," he added.
Mukherjee's deputy, Shivshankar Menon, passed the evidence to Pakistan's high commissioner (ambassador) in New Delhi and later pointed a finger of blame at the country's "establishment."
"It's hard to believe that something of this scale that took so long in preparation... could occur without anybody anywhere in the (Pakistan) establishment knowing," he told reporters.
Islamabad confirmed that it had received the dossier, and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani again said he would take action if "credible evidence" was provided.
The material includes details of the interrogation of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman -- also known as Mohammed Ajmal Kasab -- who was the lone surviving gunman and who India says is a Pakistani national.
It also details the militants' communications with "elements" in Pakistan during the attack, recovered weapons and other equipment, retrieved global positioning system data and satellite phones.
"It is our expectation that the government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice," Mukherjee said.
New Delhi would share the evidence with foreign ministers around the world and would brief foreign ambassadors in New Delhi, the minister said.
The November 26-29 assault on India's financial capital left 172 dead, including nine attackers.
Indian officials say the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba trained and equipped the 10 militants who stormed Mumbai.
In Islamabad, a foreign ministry spokesman said Pakistan's high commissioner to India received the file on Monday and had sent it to authorities back home.
"The material has been received in Pakistan now and is being examined by concerned authorities," the spokesman added.
Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram is expected to travel to Washington this week to present the evidence to the United States.
The US ambassador to India, David C. Mulford, told reporters in New Delhi that his country had helped India gather evidence and that the US "will pursue this matter to its conclusion."
As tensions simmer between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, Richard Boucher, the top US diplomat for South Asia, arrived in Pakistan for talks on ties between the two countries.
Ahead of Boucher's visit, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that Islamabad would not hand over any Pakistani nationals to India, noting the two sides did not have an extradition treaty.
"But the problem is still there. After all an incident has taken place and we have to get to the bottom of it," Qureshi said.
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