26/11: Pak investigators need more time

The preliminary report on Pakistan's probe into the information dossier on the Mumbai attacks provided by India will be made public in "two to three days", interior ministry chief Rehman Malik said on Thursday.

Without giving details of the initial findings of a three-member investigation team that examined the Indian dossier, Malik told Dawn News channel that the preliminary report will also be shared with India when it is made public in two to three days.

Malik said there was no "specific deadline" for making the report public and the investigators needed more time to complete their work. Malik had on January 17 given the investigation team 10 days to submit its preliminary findings.

Dawn News channel had on Wednesday quoted its sources as saying that Pakistani investigators had completed the initial investigation into the dossier provided by India on January 5 and found that the Mumbai attacks were not planned in Pakistan.

The sources also said the investigators had examined every aspect of the dossier and found that the information in it had "no connections anywhere in Pakistan".

The initial report submitted to the interior ministry also did not state where the attacks were planned, the channel reported.

The initial report was reviewed at a high-level meeting in the interior ministry on Thursday. There was no official word on this meeting.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have both said in recent public comments that Pakistan will share the findings of its probe into the Mumbai attacks with India and the rest of the world.

India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including leaders of the banned Lashker-e-Tayiba terror group, for masterminding and coordinating the attacks on the financial hub that killed over 180 people in November last year.

Pakistan has denied the charge and called on India to share information and conduct a joint probe to trace the perpetrators of the attacks.