New Delhi: India said on Thursday the FBI had presented strong evidence to Islamabad of Pakistani links to the Mumbai terror attacks that killed over 180 people.
India has blamed the Mumbai terror attack on the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which was set up by Pakistani security agencies in the 1980s to fight Indian security forces in the disputed Kashmir region, but was officially banned in 2002.
Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks and denied any state role, blaming "non-state actors".
"We have been told that there is some strong evidence available with FBI and they have shared it with Pakistan," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in an interview to a national TV channel.
He added that US pressure on Pakistan to act on that evidence had not yielded "tangible results" so far. India's accusation of a Pakistani link to the attack has revived old hostilities between the nuclear-armed countries and raised fears of conflict.
Mukherjee's comments came a day after the Wall Street Journal said a LeT leader, captured last month in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, had confessed to being a main planner of the attack on India's financial hub.
The WSJ, citing a Pakistani security official, said his admission was backed by US intercepts of a telephone call he had with one of the attackers during the assault. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari told US President George W Bush that anyone found involved in the attack would be dealt with.
Mukherjee repeated India's calls for Pakistan to hand over the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, saying Pakistan was obliged to do so under various international arrangements.
"(An) extradition treaty is not required to take action on these issues," he added. Pakistan launched raids on militants on its soil in the aftermath of the attack. But, it says India has yet to provide evidence and has ruled out sending Pakistanis to India for trial.
Bush made separate calls to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's Zardari on Wednesday, urging cooperation in the investigation.
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