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India gives Pak info on Kabul embassy attack

Source: PTI
October 24, 2008 19:58 IST
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India on Friday presented evidence to Pakistan regarding involvement of ISI in the July 7 Kabul embassy bombing as the members of the Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism (JATM) met in New Delhi. 

"Information on issues of mutual concern, including the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, was exchanged," said a joint press statement issued after the special meeting of the JATM.

During the day-long meeting, the Indian side provided phone intercepts and other information to prove that ISI and other elements based in Pakistan were involved in the massive attack at the embassy, sources said.

Besides India, Afghanistan and the US have asserted that there was clinching evidence to prove that ISI was behind the suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul in which a Brigadier-rank Defence Attache and a senior IFS officer were among the four Indians killed.

Afghan authorities have held some people who have reportedly talked about ISI's link to the attack in which the Embassy complex suffered severe damage.

The Indian side was led by Vivek Katju, Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Pakistani delegation was headed by Aizaz Ahmed Choudhry, Additional Secretary in Foreign Ministry.

 India, which has maintained that an atmosphere free of violence is a must for the dialogue process to continue, is understood to have pressed for concrete cooperation from Pakistan in tackling terrorism emanating from that country.

The Kabul embassy attack had angered India, prompting it to say that the future of dialogue had been "affected" by it.

The JATM meeting was held as a consequence of discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in New York on September 24 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Pakistan has insisted that ISI was not involved in the attack on the embassy.

However, when the Prime Minister took up the issue with his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Colombo on the sidelines of SAARC in August, the latter promised to hold an "independent investigation" in this regard.

At the JATM meet, the Indian side is believed to have inquired about that investigation.

American intelligence agencies have directly linked the suicide attack on the Indian embassy to ISI and indicated that it might have been authorised by the top officials as those involved in assisting militants were "not renegades".

 The conclusion was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack on July 7. The US has already shared this information with India.

American officials believe that the embassy attack was probably carried out by members of a network led by Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose alliance with al Qaeda and its affiliates has allowed the terrorist network to rebuild in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Afghan authorities have already asserted that there was convincing evidence about ISI's involvement in the Kabul.

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