‘Pakistan to prosecute 125 for Mumbai attacks’

* ABC News reports suspects will be charged under Pakistan's cyber crime laws

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: The government is planning to prosecute a group of as many as 125 terorists, who according to investigators, might be connected to the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in November last year, ABC News reported on Monday.

According to the channel, the group, which includes "anyone who made any suspicious contacts inside India as the attacks began", would be charged under Pakistan's cyber crimes laws because suspects used Internet phones to communicate, ABC News quoted an unidentified senior intelligence official.

"But few if any of the major terrorist leaders India is asking Pakistan to prosecute are included on this list," the official was quoted as saying.

The report said that that reflected the delicate balance Pakistan was trying to achieve: "appeasing international pressure to crack down on terrorists who have operated from its soil, and at the same time not completely dismantling groups that the intelligence agencies still see as assets".

India has blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and its "charity arm" Jamaatud Dawa for planning the attacks. ABC News said despite promises of a crackdown on terrorists, the government had still not indicated any plans to prosecute anyone related to the November attacks, as it was required to by a United Nations Security Council resolution passed in early December.

"We assure India if somebody is found guilty, we'll proceed according to our own laws of Pakistan," the channel quoted Prime Minsiter Yousuf Raza Gilani as saying on Sunday.

Asked if plans to prosecute were evidence of Pakistani leaders' suspecting the Obama administration would be tougher on them than was the Bush administration, ABC News quoted an Obama administration official as saying, "I see this as evidence that Pakistan recognises these extremists threaten Pakistan as well as the US. We need an alliance against the extremists, and I believe that is what you will see us work to build." The 125 men who were arrested around the country following the attacks, will appear in a court "as early as tomorrow", ABC News quoted the Interior Ministry.

It said the arrests were made after the Indian and United States pressure, as well as a United Nations Security Council resolution that required Pakistan to "bring proceedings against persons and entities within their jurisdiction." India was reported as saying that it was waiting for Pakistan to act.

The channel said in India and in the West, it had become clear in the last few weeks that only successful prosecutions by Pakistan would lessen the international community's pressure.