Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said he would travel to Washington this week with evidence linking Pakistan to the deadly Mumbai attacks in which 163 people were killed, reports said Sunday. Chidambaram told newspapers in New Delhi he would take “overwhelming” and “unanswerable” proof to the United States for discussions with officials there. “The evidence leads to the conclusion that the plot was hatched in Pakistan and as the operation in Mumbai was on, it was masterminded and controlled from Pakistan,” the Indian Express quoted Chidambaram as saying. He said the “detailed dossier” included telephone transcripts, communication intercepts and interrogation reports. The minister also challenged Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's claim that the 10 Mumbai gunmen were “stateless actors.” “I presume they are state actors or state-assisted actors unless the contrary is proved,” he said. Chidambaram, who took charge of the interior ministry after his predecessor resigned in the wake of the attacks, said the assaults were too well-planned to have been carried out without state assistance. “Somebody who is familiar with intelligence and commando operation has directed this operation. And that cannot entirely be a non-state actor,” he said. Chidambaram warned those behind the attacks that the “price they will pay if this is repeated will be an enormous price.” India has previously blamed “elements” in Pakistan for the assaults in late November, saying that the Islamist group Laskhar-e-Taiba trained and equipped the militants who stormed India's financial capital. But the Pakistan government says that New Delhi has provided no proof of this involvement in the strikes. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi reiterated Sunday that Islamabad would not hand over any Pakistani nationals, noting the two sides did not have an extradition treaty. He added that he believed cross-border relations had recently improved, in part due to the intervention of the United States, Russia and China. “But the problem is still there. After all an incident has taken place and we have to get to the bottom of it,” Qureshi told reporters in the central city of Multan. Qureshi said US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher would be visiting and they would meet on Monday. “Richard Boucher is visiting Pakistan. I have a meeting set with him on Monday,” Qureshi said, without disclosing details about the agenda for the meeting.
