Date:07/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010755730100.htm

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We want credible evidence, says Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Tuesday the information given to it by India on the Mumbai attacks did not constitute evidence, and responding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech in New Delhi, warned that allegations against the Pakistani state could end “all prospects of serious and objective investigations” into the incident.

In the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Adam Khan and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told the Committee on Foreign Relations that the material handed over by India was not “proof.”

“India did not give any proof; it has given some documents containing their investigations [into the Mumbai attacks]. Pakistan wants credible, and according to the law, evidence from the Indian government,” Mr. Bashir told the parliamentarians in response to their questions.

This was the committee’s first meeting to which members were called for a briefing on foreign policy as a whole, but relations with India dominated the proceedings.

The official said Pakistan was evaluating the material that India had provided.

Mr. Khan told the committee that the information provided by India was “not sufficient.” The Minister said “any military adventure” by India would get a “fitting” response from Pakistan.