Pakistan acknowledges surviving Mumbai gunman is a Pakistani
Caught between international and nationalistic pressures, the Islamabad government has been reluctant to confirm Pakistani ties to the shooting rampage in India.
Reporting from Islamabad — Breaking weeks of silence on a highly sensitive subject, Pakistani authorities acknowledged for the first time today that the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks is a Pakistani national.
Authorities here have been extremely reluctant to formally acknowledge Pakistani links to the shooting rampage in India's commercial and entertainment hub, even though Indian officials had almost immediately identified the captured gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab, as a Pakistani.
Pakistan has been under heavy U.S. pressure to move against militants based on its soil who are suspected of having planned and aided the Mumbai attacks, which took place six weeks ago and left more than 160 people dead.
However, India's swift finger-pointing in the wake of the onslaught angered and offended many Pakistanis. Many people here do not accept the Indian contention, backed up by U.S. intelligence, that the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the shootings.
Mindful of pervasive nationalistic sentiment at home, Pakistan's weak civilian government has tried to strike a balance between meeting international expectations that it will carry out a thorough investigation of its own while avoiding the appearance it is knuckling under to the demands of its archrival, India.
So strong is the taboo surrounding any acknowledgment of Pakistani ties to the case that Kasab's nationality was at first confirmed here only by Pakistani officials speaking on condition of anonymity. Hours later, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said in a terse text message: "We are confirming Kasab is Pakistani, but investigations are ongoing."
Pakistani media generally shied away from attempting to confirm the gunman's identity, but a month ago, a British newspaper, the Observer, reported that it had ascertained his origins using national identity cards and voter registration rolls in Faridkot, the village in Punjab province that Indian authorities identified as Kasab's hometown.
The other nine known gunmen were killed in the attacks.
India this week presented Pakistan with a 100-page dossier of evidence, including what it said were transcripts of intercepted calls between the gunmen and their handlers in Pakistan during the assault on targets including luxury hotels, a train station and a Jewish center.
