Pak agrees to 48-hour timetable for action against LeT: Report

WASHINGTON / NEW DELHI: Pakistan has agreed to a 48-hour timetable set by India and the United States to formulate a plan to take action againstLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and to arrest at least three Pakistanis who Indian authorities say are linked to the multiple attacks in Mumbai, a top US daily reported, citing a top Pakistani official. ( Watch ) The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said India had also asked Pakistan to arrest and hand over LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi and former chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Hamid Gul, in connection with the probe into the Mumbai carnage, which killed nearly 200 people, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. This development comes in the wake of reports in the Indian media that some top Pakistan military and intelligence officials had admitted that the perpetrators of Mumbai were Pakistani terrorists owing allegiance to the Lashkar. According to the reports, Pakistan officials admitted this in Islamabad before Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff, who conveyed it to government officials in India. The agency report from Washington, quoting the newspaper, said that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to consult his nation's top military and intelligence officials on how to follow through on India's demands. "The next 48 hours are critical," the official was quoted as saying by the influential US daily. A week after the terrorist assault in the Indian financial capital, Indian officials have stepped up their efforts to make a clear case of link between the carnage and Pakistani elements. According to the Post, a high-level source in the Indian government, speaking on condition of anonymity, said India has "clear and incontrovertible proof" that LeT had carried out the attacks and that the group's leaders were trained and supported by Pakistan's ISI. "We have the names of the handlers. And we know that there is a close relationship between the Lashkar and the ISI," the source said. Indian and US investigators have identified Yusuf Muzammil, an LeT leader, as the mastermind behind the attacks. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has already asked Pakistan to turn in Muzammil and other suspects, the report said. Mullen visited India on Thursday when he is said to have conveyed this to officials in India. He had visited Islamabad before that. In India, he met NSA M K Narayanan, defence minister A K Antony and navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta. "It's possible that in the face of international pressure some of them admitted in a private conversation what we believe is a fact. Even if it is true, we don't think it is enough," said an Indian official. According to Indian officials, US is convinced about the involvement of Pakistani nationals because it has been able to establish the identity of lone terrorist survivor Ajmal Amir Kasab and his family members living in Pakistan. The US also has access to evidence to prove where some of the perpetrators trained in Pakistan. Earlier, Mullen had asked Pakistan's top leadership to "investigate aggressively any and all possible ties to groups based in Pakistan", the US embassy had said in a statement. While taking note of the recent success of Pakistani security forces in operations against militants on the Afghan border, Mullen "also encouraged Pakistani leaders to take more and more concerted action against militant extremists elsewhere in the country", the statement said.