New Delhi (The Statesman/ANN) - Pakistan yesterday strongly denied suggestions of any state involvement in the Mumbai 26/11 attacks even as the evidence mounts to the contrary in the face of revelations made by 26/11 operative Abu Jundal (in photo) after his recent arrest.
To proclaim its innocence further, Pakistan even offered a joint probe into the investigations today. This was announced by Pakistan¿s Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani at a joint press interaction with Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai at the conclusion of the two-day talks.
¿I strongly reject any insinuation of any involvement of state agencies in any act of terrorism in India," Jilani replied when asked about Jundal¿s disclosures. ¿I assured him (Mathai) that whatever evidence India has, the entire evidence should be shared. We are even willing for a joint investigation into the matter," he added.
India, meanwhile, seemed to push ahead clearly on its demand that terrorism is the biggest menace in the region and that it has to be dealt with before taking the relationship any further. ¿Terrorism is the biggest threat to peace and security in the region, and bringing the guilty to justice in the Mumbai terror attacks would be the biggest confidence building measure of all," said Mathai.
¿The arrest of Abu Jundal has added an urgency to the matter. We will continue to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion," he said.
Both sides, however, tried to downplay these differences and both foreign secretaries took pains to emphasise the "positives" in the relationship. In an effort to keep the dialogue going, the external affairs minister, S M Krishna, announced that he would be travelling to Pakistan in the first week of September.
However, the much speculated visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan later this year seems off as of now since the revelations of Abu Jundal might make it difficult for the government to explain the extra warmth.
Meanwhile, India and Pakistan has agreed to prevent cross-border firing along the international border in Jammu and Kashmir and promised to take steps to ¿nip in the bud¿ such instances. The four- day talks between Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Forces ended yesterday.