India Hands Mumbai Terror Attack Evidence to Pakistan

India handed to ­Islamabad today a dossier of evidence of Pakistani "links" to the gunmen who led a bloody rampage through Mumbai in November that left more than 170 dead, in an attempt to mobilize world opinion against its neighbor.

New Delhi's foreign affairs ministry said the terrorists who attacked Mumbai were linked to "elements" in Pakistan, a charge Islamabad has said is without proof.

The evidence handed to the Pakistani high commissioner in New Delhi rests largely on the interrogation of the lone surviving gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman – also known as Mohammed Ajmal Kasab – who hails from the Pakistani Punjab.

He has reportedly told authorities that he and nine other gunmen were Pakistani, that he was trained in Pakistan and that the people behind the attack are still there.

Pakistan has said it has no record of Kasab as a Pakistani citizen.

Other evidence included: conversations between the alleged handlers in Pakistan and the gunmen during the attack; recovered weapons; and data retrieved from global positioning system data and satellite phones. Islamabad says there is no proof the attacks were launched from across the border.

New Delhi blamed the three-day November assault on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which it says trained and equipped the 10 militants. The gunmen chose high-profile targets such as two five-star hotels, the main railway station, restaurants popular with foreign tourists and a Jewish center.

"This material is linked to elements in Pakistan," a statement from the Indian foreign ministry said. "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."

Pakistan's foreign ministry declined to comment while it reviewed the evidence. The Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Islamabad would not hand over any Pakistani nationals to India, noting that 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.

At the weekend, the Indian home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, said the Mumbai attack could only have come from "state or state-assisted actors", hinting at a role by Pakistan's controversial military spy agency, the ISI.

In his first interview after the attack, Chidambaram said: "Somebody who is familiar with intelligence and who is familiar with commando operations has directed this operation. And that cannot be a non-state actor."

The new moves are part of an Indian diplomatic offensive to maintain international pressure on Pakistan, and coincides with the arrival in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, of Richard Boucher, the top US diplomat for South Asia, who is expected to have tough words with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Boucher's trip comes a few days before the US vice-president-elect, Joe Biden, lands in Islamabad with a congressional committee intent on securing the incoming Obama administration's role in the war on terror.

Pakistan redeployed some troops on its Indian border in December – away from its border with Afghanistan – in effect reducing efforts to gain control of the lawless tribal region that is a hotbed of al-Qaida activity. Pakistan also closed off the Khyber Pass, a key supply route for western troops in Afghanistan, saying it was launching search-and-destroy missions on the Pakistani border.

On Monday, police found three bullet-riddled bodies in the North Waziristan tribal region and said they were victims of the Taliban. One was a Pakistani construction contractor and two others were Afghan men that the Taliban accused of spying for the US, said local police.

"I don't think Pakistan needs added pressure from India," said Shaukat Qadir, a retired Pakistani brigadier general turned analyst. "We are already under pressure and facing terrorism."