Interpol 'not given Mumbai data' Nariman House siege, 28 Nov
More than 170 people died in the three days of attacks in Mumbai
The global police agency Interpol says India has not shared any information with it about last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai (Bombay).
Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble, who is in Islamabad, said its only knowledge of what happened had come from the media.
Pakistan also says it has had no firm information from Delhi.
India says Pakistani militants carried out the attacks, which left more than 170 people dead.
Only one of the 10 gunmen, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, survived and he is in Indian custody.
On Monday India handed a letter to Pakistan it says was written by Mr Qasab, confirming he is Pakistani and asking for Islamabad's help.
The attacks have severely strained relations between the two countries.
Police in Indian-administered Kashmir said on Tuesday they had arrested three militants from Pakistan who were planning to launch suicide bomb attacks in the city of Jammu.
According to the police, one of those detained was a Pakistani army soldier and all were members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group, which is violently opposed to India's presence in Kashmir.
There was no immediate response from the Pakistani army to the Indian allegation.
'Sovereign choice'
Mr Noble has been in Islamabad for talks with Rehman Malik, the adviser to the prime minister on interior affairs.
At the weekend he had met India's Minister of Home Affairs Palaniappan Chidambaram in Delhi.
Mr Noble said in the Pakistani capital: "To date, India's government has not authorised India's police agencies to enter any data relating to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai into Interpol's databases.
"The information Interpol has about what happened in Mumbai is the same information that you have - it's information that was read in journals, that was read on the internet or that was seen on TV."
Mr Noble has said Interpol is willing to pass on DNA profiles, photos and fingerprints of the suspects worldwide.
He said it was Delhi's "sovereign choice" on whether to pass on evidence, but was confident more would be forthcoming.
"We are hopeful that it will happen very quickly. We've deployed a team there for that reason."
Mr Malik reiterated Pakistan's line that it is willing to take part in an investigation but has had no data from India.
"We want to bring the culprits to justice... We are prepared to co-operate with India but they have to bring us evidence."
India says militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group carried out the attack, citing evidence provided by Mr Qasab.
Mumbai police have listed in full the names and apparent aliases of the men it said carried out the attack, along with photographs, and says all were from Pakistan.
India's foreign ministry said Mr Qasab's letter to the Pakistan High Commission "stated that he and the other terrorists killed in the attack were from Pakistan and [he] has sought a meeting with the Pakistan High Commission".
Islamabad says it is examining the letter but has made no official response.
'Regrettable'
Meanwhile, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, has urged Pakistan to work with India to combat extremism, a US embassy statement has said.
Adm Mullen has been in Islamabad to meet the Pakistani army chief and head of the intelligence service.
The embassy said Adm Mullen urged Pakistan to "use this tragic event as an opportunity to forge more productive ties with India and to seek ways in which both nations can combat the common threat of extremism together".
Separately, Mr Chidambaram said comments by a minister that suggested there was another agenda to the killing of senior policemen in the Mumbai attacks were "wrong and deeply regrettable".
Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay had questioned who sent anti-terrorism chief Hemant Karkare - who had been investigating suspected Hindu radical attacks - and others to their deaths at the scene of the attacks.
Mr Antulay said Mr Chidambaram had "clarified all doubts" and "the matter is settled".
Prachanda has only served as PM since elections in 2008
The Maoist Prime Minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has dramatically announced his resignation in a television address to the nation.
"I have resigned from the post of prime minister," Mr Dahal - who is best know as Prachanda - said in his address.
The move follows his efforts - opposed by the president - to sack the army head who has refused to integrate ex-Maoist rebel fighters into the force.
The president said Gen Rookmangud Katawal's sacking was unconstitutional.
Correspondents say that Prachanda's resignation has pushed Nepal into a fresh political crisis following an election win by the Maoists last year.
Into opposition
In his TV address, Prachanda said he was stepping down "for the protection of democracy and peace" in Nepal.
"The move by the president is an attack on this infant democracy and the peace process."
"The interim constitution does not give any right to the president to act as a parallel power," he said.
Prachanda accused President Ram Baran Yadav of taking an "unconstitutional and undemocratic decision" by overturning his efforts to get rid of Gen Katawal.
His resignation follows months of worsening tensions between the ex-rebels and their former foes in the military.
Correspondents say that the expectation now is that the Maoists will sit in opposition in parliament. There is no suggestion that the Maoists will abandon constitutional politics, they add.
The Maoists want their fighters, who are currently restricted to United Nations-supervised camps, to be integrated into the regular Nepali army.
But the army has refused to take on about 19,000 hardened guerrillas, arguing that they are politically indoctrinated.
Pakistan Says India’s Spy Agency Accusation Is ‘Uncalled For’ July 16, 2010, 2:06 AM EDT
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Indian claims its spy agency plotted the 2008 attacks on Mumbai were “uncalled for” and undermined efforts to restore the peace process.
Qureshi and Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna yesterday held seven hours of talks in Islamabad and agreed to meet again, without setting a date. The session was extended in a sign of warming ties, delaying a planned press briefing.
Indian mistrust of its neighbor intensified after the Mumbai assault in which Pakistani gunmen killed 166 people. Improved ties are key to U.S.-led efforts to fight militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and foster peace in the region.
“As expected there was no breakthrough,” said D. Suba Chandran, deputy director of the New Delhi-based Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies. “Both sides are really not sincere to take the peace process forward at this stage. They are holding talks because of U.S. pressure.”
Krishna said he would return to India in the hope that the Pakistani government would follow up leads provided by David Coleman Headley, a suspect in the Mumbai attacks who is in U.S. custody. Krishna is the most senior Indian politician to visit Pakistan since the Mumbai assault, which set back five years of peace negotiations.
Pillai Accusation
Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai was quoted in the Indian Express newspaper before the talks as saying that the Headley interrogation showed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency had played a more significant role in the siege than previously thought. Its officers “were literally controlling and coordinating it from the beginning till the end,” the paper quoted Pillai as saying.
“On the eve of this dialogue tell me to what extent” Pillai’s remarks help, Qureshi said.
Headley in March pleaded guilty in the U.S. to charges arising from terrorism training and spying missions that he said helped Pakistani militants linked to al-Qaeda plan attacks abroad, including the one in Mumbai.
India’s Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram visited Pakistan last month as the nations sought to rekindle the peace process. The U.S. wants better relations between the two countries to support its strategy to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, where India and Pakistan compete for influence.
“Pakistan would take the leads provided by the home minister very seriously because we want to move on,” Qureshi said.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
India has maintained that no return to full-fledged talks is possible until Pakistan fully dismantles terrorist groups on its soil, especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit that India blames for the Mumbai attacks.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani agreed to step up dialogue during a meeting in April in the Bhutanese capital.
Economic development in South Asia has suffered because of rivalry between India and Pakistan, which account for four- fifths of the region’s economy. India accuses Pakistan of supporting armed extremists in Jammu and Kashmir, its only Muslim-dominated state. Pakistan denies the charges and says it offers only moral support to separatists.
Kashmir and the threat posed by militants remain the biggest flashpoints. The five-year peace process restored diplomatic, sporting and transport links, improving prospects for progress on contentious issues such as the sharing of water from major rivers.
Pakistan says it has begun a closed trial of some members of Lashkar, formed to fight Indian rule in the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir, which is claimed in full by both countries. India wants Pakistan to target the militant outfit’s chief, Hafiz Saeed.
“There are important issues including terrorism and they should be addressed and we have to discuss them,” Qureshi said. “We have agreed on the need to discuss important issues to make the process meaningful.”
--Editors: Mark Williams, Bill Austin
To contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net; Khaleeq Ahmed in Islamabad at paknews@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Hari Govind at hgovind@bloomberg.net
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