ISLAMABAD: Pakistani investigators are
looking into a list of six individuals, including three former army officers,
named by India for acting as controllers and handlers of the terrorists who
carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The names of several of these
six individuals had cropped up during investigations by Indian and American law
enforcement agencies but they have so far not officially been made part of
Pakistan's probe into the Mumbai incident, diplomatic and other sources
said.
During his recent meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman
Malik, home minister P Chidambaram sought action against the six individuals,
identified as Sajid Mir, Major Abdur Rehman, Brigadier Riaz, Abu Qafa, Abu
Al-Qama and Abu Hamza, the sources said.
The Indian side provided
detailed information on these individuals, including photos, physical
descriptions and intelligence reports on locations at which they were earlier
based.
In some instances, this information included details provided
to Indian interrogators by Pakistani-American national David Headley alias
Dawood Gilani, the sources said.
Action against these individuals
would be seen as an indicator of Pakistan's resolve to bring to justice all
those who were behind the Mumbai attacks, including financiers, handlers and
controllers, the sources said.
The Indian side also told its
Pakistani counterparts that investigators could obtain voice samples of the
individuals and match them with recordings of conversations between the Mumbai
attackers and their Pakistan-based handlers.
The Pakistani side
claimed the suspects could refuse to provide voice samples on the ground that
these would be "self-incriminatory" but the Indian side said investigators could
get a court order to obtain voice samples.
Besides, the Indian side
also pointed out that obtaining voice samples were part of modern investigation
techniques akin to obtaining fingerprints and DNA samples.
Pakistani
official sources acknowledged that India had expressed its dissatisfaction at
the investigation into the Mumbai attacks and the slow pace of the trial of
seven suspects, including Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi,
arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency.
The Indian side also
informed the Pakistanis that except for Lakhvi and LeT communications expert
Zarar Shah, the other five men arrested by the FIA were minor players in the
Mumbai carnage, the sources said.
One of the seven suspects currently
on trial in Pakistan - Mazhar Iqbal - uses the alias Abu al-Qama but the Abu
Al-Qama named in the new list of six individuals is believed to be a different
person who acted as a handler.
Sajid Mir, a former army official and
LeT's head of international operations, was David Headley's
handler.
Mir is wanted by authorities in the US and Australia. Major
Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed alias Pasha retired from the army in
2007.
He too was in touch with Headley. Abdur Rehman was detained by
the Pakistan army in September 2009 but released later.
Abu Qafa, Abu
Al-Qama and Abu Hamza are considered to be aliases of persons who controlled and
handled the Mumbai attackers, the sources said.
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