Pakistan gives Mumbai 'feedback'
As Biden arrived, the prime minister said a response on the attacks had been sent to India.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan said yesterday that it had sent "feedback" to India about the Mumbai attacks as Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived here to underscore how seriously the incoming Obama administration takes the threat of terror from South Asia.
India recently said it had given Islamabad a dossier of evidence linking the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan, but it was unclear whether Pakistan's feedback related directly to that dossier.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters that the CIA had played an intermediary role and that Pakistan's premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, had reviewed the information from India. He gave few other details.
India gave 52 pages of information to the CIA that was passed to the ISI, and the Pakistani agency gave "feedback and information" that was handed to India in return, Gilani said.
India has said Pakistani extremists were behind the November attacks that killed 164 people in its financial hub.
It specifically blamed the group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which formally has been banned by Pakistan but is believed to have links to the country's intelligence agency.
Pakistan acknowledged this week that the one surviving gunman of the 10 involved in the Mumbai attacks was a Pakistani citizen. It denied that any of its state agencies were involved.
President-elect Barack Obama's administration plans to increase the focus on the battle against al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists operating along the Pakistani-Afghan border.
U.S. officials worry that a conflict with India could distract Pakistan from eliminating extremist sanctuaries along the Afghan frontier, and they have urged India and Pakistan to cooperate.
Biden was the latest in a string of envoys to visit Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks.
He came in his capacity as a senator - a position the Delaware Democrat will resign Thursday, according to a Senate announcement yesterday. He was accompanied by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.).
Biden is to be sworn in as vice president Jan. 20, making his visit of keen interest to Pakistani leaders eager to influence the next administration.
Media access to Biden was severely limited when he met with Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, among other top Pakistani officials.
In a statement, Gilani said he had pressed upon Biden the importance of greater U.S. military aid.
Biden has supported legislation that would increase humanitarian spending in Pakistan but link military aid to Islamabad's performance in the fight against extremists.
Gilani also said the two countries should share more intelligence so Pakistan could go after extremist targets on its own, removing the need for U.S. missile strikes on its territory. Pakistan routinely condemns such strikes.
In a separate statement, Zardari assured Biden of Pakistan's commitment to "the war against militancy, extremism and terrorism."
Later yesterday, a series of small bombs exploded outside a theater in the eastern city of Lahore. Senior police official Haider Ashraf said there were no casualties, and no one immediately claimed responsibility.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said Zardari had bestowed the "Hilal-i-Pakistan" award on Biden to recognize his "consistent support for democracy and socioeconomic development in Pakistan."