'Pakistan says something & does just the opposite'

Angry at Islamabad's rejection of evidence on Mumbai attacks within 24 hours, India on Wednesday said the Pakistani contention is not 'credible' and that it has resorted to the 'previous patterns of denial of facts, evidence and reality'.

"They (Pakistan) say something and they do just the opposite. They constantly from day one have been in a denial mode," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

Commenting on Pakistan's rejection of the evidence given by India, he had a poser for authorities in the neighbouring country: "Have you studied it? Have you examined it?"

Mukherjee said India expected Pakistan to hand over 'this information' to their investigating agencies to conduct probe. 'Whose job is to conduct investigations? It is the job of investigating agencies to probe about the information, which we have handed over to political authorities in Pakistan,' he told Times Now.

'They will judge and thereafter they will take follow up action from the lead they will get from these evidences,' he said.

'It is not unexpected of Pakistan because from day one they are in denial mode. Otherwise, how one can come to conclusion within 24 hours,' he asked.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash noted that Pakistan had been asking for evidence and when India gave, they chose to reject it in less than 24 hours.

'How can this rejection be credible or be based on a real examination and investigation of the evidence? This is a political rejection without any basis,' he said.

The spokesman said it was 'unfortunate' that Pakistan had chosen to 'regress into its previous patterns of denial of facts, evidence and reality'.

The External Affairs Ministry spokesman also rejected Pakistan's proposal of forming a new mechanism and a high-level visit to India, wondering what purpose it would serve when Islamabad continues to maintain its attitude of deniability.

'There are existing bilateral mechanisms set up at the highest levels, such as Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism, which Pakistan's evasion and denial have made infructuous,' Prakash said.

'It is, therefore, unclear what purpose would be served by yet another mechanism, or by a high-level visit, especially if Pakistan continues to maintain the attitude revealed by the Foreign Office press release,' he said.

'The issue is not words or statements or the situation in South Asia. The issue is what Pakistan does about terrorist attacks on India from Pakistan,' the spokesman said.

Making it clear that India does not have faith in the investigation system of Pakistan, he referred to the assassination case of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistan has itself sought a probe into it by UN, he pointed out and said 'when they did not have faith in their own agencies how do they expect us to have confidence in their agencies.'