Pakistan vows to investigate groups' possible role in Mumbai attacks
The government, though noting the lack of proof of any link, says it will investigate any evidence of involvement by Pakistani 'non-state actors.' The death toll rises to 195, including six Americans.
Uriel Sinai / Getty Images
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Islamabad, Pakistan -- The Pakistani government said today that it would investigate any evidence of involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks by Pakistani "non-state actors" -- a phrase generally used to mean militant groups.
But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said no such proof had yet been presented by Indian authorities investigating the rampage by groups of gunmen in India's commercial capital.
Estimates of the death toll rose to 195 after Indian authorities said the final three gunmen inside the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel had been killed. Among the dead were 20 soldiers and police, as well as 18 foreigners, including six Americans. About 300 people were wounded.
Some observers have said the highly sophisticated, tightly synchronized attacks bore the hallmarks of now-banned Kashmiri militant groups that in the past have received logistical, technical and financial support from Pakistani intelligence. But India, though suggesting that evidence supports a Pakistani link to the attacks, has not yet accused a particular group.
Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, acknowledged at least a philosophical kinship between the Mumbai attackers and Islamic militants who are battling Pakistani government forces and for more than a year have waged a concerted campaign of suicide bombings in Pakistani cities.
"They may not be the same individuals, but they are definitely the same forces, with the same mind-set," Zardari told Indian TV. "I am trying to save my own nation, my own country and the future of my children. So therefore, I am as committed as can be."
However, the Pakistani leader stopped short of tying the Mumbai assailants to any Pakistani organization. He said credible allegations of such a link would be studied very seriously.
"If any evidence comes of any individual or group in any part of my country, I shall take the swiftest of action, in light of evidence and in front of the world," Zardari said.
Qureshi, speaking at a news conference in the Pakistani capital, specifically denied any connection between the Mumbai attackers and the Kashmir issue.
Amid Pakistan's pledges of full cooperation with Indian authorities, there were signs of some internal disarray.
Early today, the government hastily reversed an hours-old promise to send the chief of its premier spy agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, to aid in the probe. It said a lower-ranking intelligence official would be dispatched instead.
