India responds to Pakistan’s 26/11 dossiers

NEW DELHI - Ahead of foreign secretary-level talks June 24, India Friday handed over its formal response to queries raised in the six dossiers given by Pakistan nearly two months ago relating to the 26/1 Mumbai attack.

Y.K. Sinha, joint secretary in charge of Pakistan in the external affairs ministry, handed over “a set of responses” to six dossiers given by Pakistan April 25 to Deputy High Commissioner Riffat Masood, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here.

“It contains some documents relating to Mumbai,” Masood told IANS.

Pakistan had handed over six dossiers to India regarding developments in the Mumbai attack probe and sought the extradition of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman, and Fahim Ansari, an Indian accused of conducting recce of places targeted by terrorists. A Mumbai court has sentenced Kasab to death and acquitted Ansari.

The progress in the trial in Pakistan of seven Laskhasr-e-Taiba operatives charged with planning the 26/11 attack will figure prominently in discussions between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad.

The meeting will set the stage for the July 15 meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

India had handed three dossiers linking Pakistani nationals, including Hafiz Saeed, the suspected mastermind of the Mumbai carnage, during the Feb 25 foreign secretary-level talks in New Delhi. Prior to this, India had given seven dosiers to Pakistan.