US expects Pakistan to bring Mumbai attackers to justice

WASHINGTON - The United States has said it fully expects Pakistan to carry out its pledges of cooperation in bringing the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks to justice.

“Well, these are allegations we’ve heard before,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters when asked to comment on reports that some members of Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are working with terrorist groups like Al Qaeda or the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

“We believe the Government of Pakistan has pledged its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice,” he said referring to the November 26, 2008 attack orchestrated by Pakistan based LeT.

“And we fully expect that these pledges of cooperation are going to be carried out. Pakistan has said it’s committed to fighting terrorism and it understands the urgency and its promised strong action against those responsible.”

Noting that “Pakistan itself has been, obviously, greatly touched by extremist violence. And it is also in an existential struggle with these groups,” he said: “So we believe Pakistan understands the threat and is committed to working cooperatively.”

Asked if the State Department was involved in any investigation into early warnings about the Mumbai attack from the wives of Pakistan American David Coleman Hedley, convicted of helping the attackers, Toner said he was not aware.

“Whether there’s some kind of a review going on .I’m not aware of it,” he said. “And I’m not aware if there’s a State Department-specific review underway.”