India and Pakistan talking tough

MUMBAI, INDIA, AND ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN —  Both Pakistan and India made pointed references to the right of self-defense Tuesday, the eve of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s arrival in India to try to calm tensions in the wake of the Mumbai terrorism attacks.

The visit comes as Pakistan finds itself under growing pressure to come clean on what it knows about those behind last week’s 60-hour attack on Mumbai that left more than 170 dead. The devastating rampage has created a huge challenge for the government of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who must appear cooperative internationally without looking domestically like he’s bowing to longtime rival India.

A series of leaks and disclosures from India since the attack suggest a central role by Pakistan-based militant groups. A satellite phone reportedly found aboard a trawler that brought the attackers to the shores of India’s financial capital was used to communicate several times with senior members of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Much of the evidence seems to come from India’s trump card, the sole suspected attacker captured, identified as a Pakistani. He reportedly told investigators he was trained by Lashkar, which has long worked to loosen India’s grip on the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Indian commandos killed the arrested suspect’s nine fellow assailants, and a senior Indian police official Tuesday declined to disclose their nationalities.

In particular, phone records reportedly lead back to the participation of Pakistan-based Yusuf Muzammil, head of Lashkar’s terrorism operation, amid reports that he masterminded the well-planned attack in which the small band of fighters kept thousands of police officers at bay for more than two days.

His name appears on a list of 20 suspected terrorists that India gave to Pakistan this week, calling for their extradition.

Mumbai Police Chief Hassan Gafoor said Tuesday that the 10 heavily armed men were trained by former army officers. Although he declined to say which army, it probably was a reference to Pakistan.

Indian investigators have also identified links between the attackers and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, identified as No. 3 in the Lashkar-e-Taiba hierarchy, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Pakistan faces further pressure with Rice’s arrival in the region today after she cut short a Europe trip to focus on growing tension between the South Asian neighbors and rivals. Also arriving today is Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen was to visit both Pakistan and India, though details of his schedule were not released for security reasons.

Lashkar was blamed for the attack in public remarks Tuesday by U.S. Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell. McConnell did not name the organization, but said the attackers were from the same group responsible for Mumbai train bombings in 2006 that killed more than 200. Indian authorities have blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba for those attacks.

“This same group that we believe is responsible for Mumbai had a similar attack in 2006 on a train that killed a similar number of people,” McConnell said in an address at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. “If you examine the groups that we think are responsible, the philosophical underpinnings are very similar to what Al Qaeda puts out in their view of how the world should be. “

Late Tuesday, Zardari appeared on U.S. television to emphasize that Pakistan was “in no way responsible” for the attacks. Asked about Lashkar on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” he said that it is “a banned organization” that operates “outside the system” and that Pakistan has offered to cooperate with India in investigating the terrorist rampage.

The attacks, he said, were conducted by “stateless actors.”

So far, both India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars in the last 60 years, have refrained from large-scale troop movements along their heavily militarized border. Perhaps mindful of domestic political considerations, however, each side chose to make statements Tuesday referring to its military strength.

“I . . . want to tell the nation not to worry,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in a televised address from the nation’s capital, Islamabad. “The government of Pakistan, the armed forces of Pakistan, are united and are fully capable of defending the frontiers of Pakistan.”

Qureshi’s Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, told the Indian channel NDTV that although he did not want to discuss military options, “every sovereign country has its right to protect its territorial integrity and take appropriate action as and when it feels necessary.”

Mukherjee also suggested that it would be “difficult” to move ahead with a 5-year-old peace process, which has yielded only incremental progress, unless Pakistan moved decisively against those behind the attacks.

At his news conference Tuesday, Gafoor said the attacks were carried out by five two-man teams. The statement appeared aimed at damping speculation that more than 10 militants were involved.

Azam Amir Kasav, the lone suspected attacker arrested, said during interrogation that he is a Pakistani citizen from Punjab, Gafoor said.

Gafoor also denied there was evidence that the attackers -- each of whom carried a pistol, several grenades and an AK-47 assault weapon with 300 rounds of ammunition -- received any direct support locally or that any employees at the two upscale hotels, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Oberoi, played a role.

The official also denied that India received any “specific intelligence” that an attack was planned. But a senior official in Washington told the Associated Press that the Bush administration had warned New Delhi before the attack that terrorists appeared to be planning a waterborne attack on its financial capital.

Pakistan has vehemently denied any government involvement in the attacks, but has been slow to address the allegations that the Mumbai plot involved Pakistani “elements,” as Indian politicians, news media and the public loudly contend. The new government says it has not yet been provided with hard evidence that a Pakistani-based group was involved.

--

Laura King

reporting from islamabad, pakistan

Mark Magnier

reporting from mumbai, india

--

[email protected]

[email protected]

Josh Meyer and Greg Miller in our Washington bureau contributed to this report.