Pak demands 26/11 survivor's account: Report

Pakistan has asked India to provide the eye-witness account of police constable Arun Jadhav, who was the lone survivor of the attack on the car carrying Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte during the terror siege on Mumbai in November last year, saying its investigators probing the terror strike needed to examine it, the Dawn website reported.

The report stated that this demand was made in the 30 plus 2 questions handed over to India in the 9-page reply to its dossier on the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

As the investigations progress, the investigators in Pakistan say that they intend to closely study the possible linkage of the Mumbai incident to the Samjhauta Express blast and the Malegaon blast, the website stated.

The report also noted that the post-26/11 investigations by India have so far focussed on piling pressure on Pakistan, overlooking serious internal problems.

Analysts in Pakistan are of the opinion that the "arrested extremist Hindus in the Malegaon blasts warranty broadening of the investigations", the report said.

In such a scenario, Jadhav's eye witness account, investigators in Pakistan believe, could become crucial in the coming days.

"The constable gave a number of media interviews, however, he was silenced by India's political and security establishment that barred him from speaking to the media," the report added.

Furthermore, clarification has been sought from India about the contacts between a diamond merchant firm in Surat and some Hindus in Pakistan. The diamond firm is alleged to be the sponsor of the Malegaon blast through Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, the report added.

The information regarding Jadhav's statement and the Surat diamond firm has been asked separately and has been placed in Annexure B in Pakistan's response, the report said.

The Pakistan reply also contains some other queries pertaining to the picture identified by Kasab as that of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and the voice recording identified by Kasab as that of Abu Hamza and Kahfa, who were allegedly the handlers, the report said.