Author: IANS
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 11, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/195134/Pak-denies-accepting-bodies-of-four-26/11-attackers.html
Pakistan has denied it had agreed to accept
the bodies of four of the nine terrorists killed in the 26/11 Mumbai carnage
as has been claimed by the home minister of India's Maharashtra state.
Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit told
Online news agency in Islamabad that reports on this in the Indian media were
baseless and fabricated.
"He strongly condemned this attitude
of the Indian media and said that it was not a suitable time to publish such
kind of baseless news items when only very recently the prime ministers of
Pakistan and India had held a very important meeting in Sharm El Sheikh while
the next course of secretary level dialogue was going to be held in New York
on the (sidelines) of the UN General Assembly session," Online said.
Basit said Pakistan's high commission in New
Delhi had never made any request to India on handing over the dead bodies
of four of the 26/11 attackers.
He also wanted the Indian media to avoid carrying
stories that might derail the Pakistan-India dialogue.
Maharashtra Home Minister Jayant Patil said
in Mumbai Monday that Pakistan had owned up to four of the nine terrorists
who were gunned down during the Nov 26-29, 2008 attacks.
"Now, we shall pursue with the centre
that Pakistan should accept the bodies of all the nine (terrorists) gunned
down by security forces. We hope this matter will be sorted out in the next
10 days," Patil told reporters.
Patil said he was informed that the Pakistan
government had accepted as its nationals four of the nine who carried out
the 26/11 terror operation in Mumbai.
The bodies of nine terrorists are lying in
the morgue of the Sir J.J. Hospital for the past nine months and their condition
is not very good, Patil said.
When asked what the authorities would do about
disposing of the bodies if Pakistan refused to accept them, Patil said that
would be decided at the appropriate time.
Nine of the 10 terrorists, who attacked the
city were killed in fierce gun battles with security forces during the 60-hour
long operation last year at various places in the western metropolis.
Only one - Ajmal Amir Kasab - was captured
alive and he is currently being tried in a Mumbai court.
