Any Pakistani national found to be involved in the Mumbai [Images] terrorist attacks will be dealt "with an iron hand" and tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act in the country's special anti-terror courts, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik has said.
A three-member commission, headed by Additional Director General Javed Iqbal of the Federal Investigation Agency, had been formed to probe the Mumbai attacks, Malik said.
The team has the power to take into custody any person suspected of having "direct or indirect links" to the Mumbai incident or of having helped the Mumbai attackers "through the internet or other means".
The team had also been authorised to "share information directly with Indian investigation organisations so that this process could be completed at the earliest", Geo News said.
The Pakistan government has already ruled out the possibility of handing over any terror suspects linked to the Mumbai suspects to India.
A total of 124 members of the outlawed Lashker-e-Taiba and its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah have been detained by Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist strike in India's financial hub that killed over 180 people.
Malik told Geo News channel the government had decided that any Pakistani national found to be involved in the Mumbai attacks would be dealt with "with an iron hand" and tried under the "Anti-Terrorism Act in special anti-terror courts".
"If the commission feels the need for visiting carnage sites in Mumbai, then Indian officials would be contacted... and the commission would be sent to India," the report said.
Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah said the commission would soon present its report to the interior ministry and it would be forwarded to the Prime Minister.
© Copyright 2009 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|