News Service from House Harris

ASIA: Pakistan denies Mumbai involvement, pledges cooperation

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28 AFP - Pakistan struck a conciliatory tone on Friday and denied accusations of involvement in the Mumbai attacks, while Pakistani press warned India to stop pointing the finger of blame across the border.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pledged in a telephone call on Friday to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh that he would send the chief of the country's powerful intelligence service to India to help investigate the attacks.

Gilani also reminded Singh his country has been a victim of terrorism, while his defence minister told AFP he was "positive" that Pakistan had no involvement in Wednesday's attacks, which have killed more than 140 people.

"Initially, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a request to our prime minister that he should send the ISI chief to India to help in ongoing investigations and further intelligence sharing," said the Pakistani premier's spokesman, Zahid Bashir.

"The prime minister of Pakistan responded positively and said both governments need to work out modalities for the early arrival of the ISI chief in India."

The pledge to send the ISI lieutenant general Ahmed Shuja Pasha is a significant gesture by Pakistan's government, which was elected to power in February ending the eight-year military rule of General Pervez Musharraf.

It is also notable because India has in the past accused the ISI of helping attacks on Indian targets by militants, including last July's bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Gilani's call came a day after the Indian premier said in a television address that planners of the atrocity were based "outside the country" and warned against "neighbours" providing a haven to anti-India militants.

Although he did not specifically say Pakistan, his statement was widely interpreted to be a veiled accusation.

"In previous cases they have acted like this, but later it all proved wrong," defence minister Ahmed Mukhtar told AFP, referring to previous claims from India of Pakistani involvement in terrorist attacks.

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari made a separate telephone call to Singh on Friday and pledged his government would cooperate with India "in exposing and apprehending the culprits and the masterminds behind the attacks", official news agency the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Officials throughout Pakistan's government have deplored the Mumbai attacks and denied any role in the plot, which could unhinge recent efforts to reach a peace agreement between the two countries over the disputed area of Kashmir.

Pakistani press on Friday also urged India to stop blaming its neighbour as it gave prominent coverage of the coordinated terrorist attacks.

Local English-language daily The News led with the headline: "India gives Pakistan a dirty look."

"Indian intelligence, under fire for failing to pick up on the threat, is anxious to lay blame elsewhere," the newspaper said.

An editorial in the Daily Times newspaper said the televised remarks by India's premier seemed "to be an attempt by Dr Singh to pre-empt criticism from the Hindu right wing".

"Ongoing investigations into some (past) terrorist attacks that were alternately blamed on Indian Muslims and Pakistan have shown that they were actually carried out by a Hindu terrorist network," the editorial said.

Pakistani newspapers universally condemned the violence in Mumbai, and urged Pakistan and India to work together to combat terrorism.

"Although one can understand the anger and concern which is widely felt, one would still advise the exercise of constraint in this hour of crisis," Pakistan's influential English-language daily Dawn newspaper said.

"There is need for confidence-building between the two countries."