Pakistan extends crackdown on Mumbai suspects, arrests 20 people

Pakistan has intensified its crackdown on a militant group suspected in the Mumbai terror attacks by arresting 20 more people but will not hand any of its citizens over to India, officials said Tuesday.

The United States is pressing Pakistan to help catch those behind the attack, which killed 171 people in India’s business capital last month, and avert a crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors that would harm efforts against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

A senior Pakistani security official said troops raided at least five more offices of militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan’s portion of the disputed region of Kashmir in the past 24 hours.

Security forces were acting on information gleaned from Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, an alleged mastermind of the attacks who was picked up in the same region on Sunday.
The official said none of the latest 20 people detained were among those named by India in connection with the Mumbai carnage.

A Lashkar-e-Taiba official confirmed that there had been more raids on their offices, but declined to elaborate.

Both sources asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Pakistani authorities have not publicly confirmed the names of those arrested since the raids got under way on Sunday. However, government and intelligence officials have confirmed that they include Lakhvi and several other members of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

President Asif Ali Zardari said the raids were a sign of Pakistan’s resolve to help in the investigation.

Peace talks that have eased tension with India in recent years must move forward to “foil the designs of the terrorists” who struck in Mumbai, he wrote in an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Tuesday.

“Pakistan is committed to the pursuit, arrest, trial and punishment of anyone involved in these heinous attacks,” he wrote.

Indian officials have named Lakhvi and another Lashkar-e-Taiba commander as orchestrators of the attack. India also presented Pakistan with a list of other terror suspects and demanded their extradition.

However, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday that none of those detained so far would face justice in India.

“They are Pakistani citizens and will be dealt with according to the law of the land,” Qureshi told reporters in his home city of Multan. “No arrested Pakistani would be handed over to India.”