Pakistan to send intelligence chief to India on Mumbai attacks

Pakistan to send intelligence chief to India on Mumbai attacks
www.chinaview.cn 2008-11-28 19:40:12 Print

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has accepted a request from his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh to send the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief to India for sharing of information related to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that left some 130 people dead, according to local press reports.

PM spokesman Zahid Bashir said that Singh had made a request to Gilani, asking him to send the ISI chief to India to "cooperatein the investigation of the Mumbai attacks and for sharing certain information".

Bashir said: "The Pakistani prime minister accepted this offer. The two sides will work out modalities for the visit of the Inter Services Intelligence chief which is expected to take place soon."

Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha was recently appointed chief of the ISI by Pakistan army chief General Parvez Kayani.

This would be the first instance of a chief of Pakistan's spy agency visiting India in connection with the investigation of a terror attack.

Early Friday, Gilani talked with Singh by phone and expressed profound grief over loss of lives in the wake Mumbai terror attacks.

Gilani strongly denounced the acts of terrorism in Mumbai and assured Singh his full cooperation, said the state-run APP news agency.

He added that the Pakistani government and people are with the Indian people in the hours of grief. He said that Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism, and extended his government's full support to jointly combat extremism and terrorism.

The private Geo TV said that Singh told Gilani that India got evidence that all the arms and ammunition were sent by boat to these terrorists from the southern Pakistani port of Karachi.

The Geo TV said that Singh requested Gilani to send the Pakistani intelligence chief to India so that India could exchange some evidence with him.

In his separate talks with Singh by phone, Pakistani President Asia Ali Zardari also condemned the Mumbai attacks.

Zardari offered cooperation in investigation of the terrorist act to India. He said that terrorists were not the followers of any religion and should be eliminated altogether.