----- Original Message -----
From: Mahmudul Hasan
FBI Finds no Pakistan Link to Mumbai
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
Indian claims the Mumbai attackers were Pakistanis and had
some links to Pakistani security agencies. (Mumbai)
ISLAMABAD — America's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have
found no link between attacks on India's financial hub of Mumbai and Pakistani
intelligence agencies, US and Pakistan officials have confirmed.
"The FBI team thinks, on the basis of evidence and meetings with
Pakistani intelligence officials, that neither is Ajmal Kasab a Pakistani
citizen nor have Pakistani agencies any involvement in the Mumbai attacks," a
US embassy official told IslamOnlne.net.
The confirmation came after an FBI team visited Faridkot, a small
village some 200 kilometers south of Lahore, said to be of Kasab, the only
surviving gunman.
"A five-member FBI team, headed by William Robert, the agency's
director for South Asia, visited Faridkot two days back," according to a US
embassy source.
At least 172 people were killed when ten gunmen attacked two
five-star hotels, a hospital, a popular cafe, a railway station, and a Jewish
center in Mumbai last month.
India claims Kasab and the other nine attackers are all Pakistanis
and blame the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT), an outlawed Pakistani group
fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has denied that FBI agents have
visited Faridkot.
"No such visit is in my knowledge."
But the report was confirmed by a senior Pakistani interior
ministry official.
"The FBI has established this fact after visiting Faridkot, which
is being reported by Indian media as the ancestral town of Ajmal Kasab, and
meeting various officials of Pakistani intelligence agencies," he told IOL on
condition of anonymity.
Indian "Proofs"
US embassy sources said the FBI team has been trying to verify
Indian "proofs" about Pakistani involvement in the attacks.
The agents visited India before coming to Pakistan and questioned
Kasab for more than nine hours.
Indian media reports said the FBI sleuths sought minor details
about Kasab’s native village and about his alleged links to the Pakistani
intelligence.
The team also took DNA samples of the nine slain gunmen to
ascertain it matched with anyone in their data bank or had any relations with
persons killed by US troops in Afghanistan.
Despite concluding that Kasab was no Pakistani, the FBI team did
not ruled out possible links between the Mumbai attackers and militants groups
in Pakistan.
"He might have connections with Pakistan-based militant groups,"
said the US embassy official, referring to the LeT.
Pakistan has recently banned the Jammat-ul-Dawa (JD), one of the
country's latest charity organizations, over alleged links to LeT.
Founded by Hafiz Saeed, a former professor of Islamic studies at
University of Engineering Lahore, JD operates hospitals, schools and relief
centers across Pakistan.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1230650222380&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
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