Pakistan denies any role in Mumbai terror attacks

With suspicion growing stronger about the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in the
Mumbai attacks, Islamabad on Thursday night said that it had no role in the strikes and there should be no knee-jerk reaction by India.

"Pakistan played no role in the Mumbai attacks," Defence Minister Chaudhry Mukhtar Ahmad said as investigators in Maharashtra suggested that Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba could be involved in the unprecedented strike.

"Earlier too, India had acted like this but later it was proved wrong," he said.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is in India on a four-day visit, said New Delhi should refrain from any knee-jerk reaction and the two countries should jointly combat the scourge.

"Let us not jump to conclusions, let us not go in for knee-jerk reactions. The Samjhauta incident very clearly indicates that we have to be cautious in our expressions," he said in Chandigarh.

The February 2007 Samjhauta Express blast in Panipat was earlier believed to have been carried out by Pakistan-based elements but investigators lately have suggested the involvement of Hindu outfits.

As investigations into the Mumbai attacks gained momentum, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that the outfit responsible for the terror strike was based outside the country and warned the neighbours against allowing their territories to be used for launching attacks in India.