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Pakistan confirms Mumbai arrests
By KHALID TANVEER,Associated Press Writer AP - 2 hours 33 minutes ago
MULTAN, Pakistan - Pakistan has detained a second alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, the prime minister said Wednesday, apparently making good on pledges to pursue the perpetrators.
The announcement of the arrest of Zarrar Shah could deflect intense U.S. and Indian pressure on Pakistan following the attack, but much will now depend on the country's next steps, analysts say.
Pakistan has targeted militants in the past, detaining some only to quietly let them go later _ bolstering critics who claim Pakistan is not serious about fighting extremists.
Pakistani officials insist their old foe, New Delhi, has not shared any evidence with them linking the suspects to the attacks, raising questions as to how the country can bring them to trial. Islamabad has already said it will not hand them to India.
Last month's attacks on the financial center killed 171 people and has sharply raised tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought three wars since 1947.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani gave no details on Shar's arrest except to say that he and another alleged Mumbai plotter _ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi _ "were in (Pakistani) custody and were being investigated."
Both men are alleged to be members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Pakistani militant group blamed for other attacks on Indian soil and with historical ties to the country's shadowy intelligence agencies.
Indian media reports citing intelligence officials have identified Zarar Shah as Lashkar's communications chief, and said he created the communications system that allowed Lashkar leaders in Pakistan to stay in touch with the gunmen during the siege.
The New York Times has reported the attackers and their handlers used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services for communication to make it more difficult for investigators to trace their calls.
The paper has also quoted American and Indian officials as saying that Zarrar Shah was one of Lashkar's primary liaisons with Pakistani intelligence. It did not elaborate, but U.S. officials have said there is no evidence linking the attacks to any Pakistani state agencies.
Unnamed Pakistani officials have previously said Lakhvi was detained Sunday in a raid on a Lashkar camp close to the Indian border that netted several other extremists.
Indian investigators say the sole Mumbai attacker captured alive has told them that Lakhvi recruited him for the assaults. They also have said the assailants called another senior leader, Yusuf Muzammil, on a satellite phone before the attacks. His whereabouts are not known.
Gilani said India had shared no evidence or information with Pakistan about their suspicions surrounding the men.
"We are investigating on our own about the people they have identified (through the media)," he said in the central Pakistani town of Multan. "That is a good message to our neighbors and rest of the world that Pakistan is a responsible nation."
India has so far not commented on the arrests in Pakistan.
Pakistan's intelligence agencies and military have long used militants as proxy armies, both in Afghanistan and against Indian troops in the disputed region of Kashmir, the trigger for two of their wars.
Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistani defense analyst, described the two arrests as "a minor first step which the government has taken as a gesture."
After a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament by alleged Pakistani militants, Islamabad arrested the two leaders of the country's main pro-Kashmir militant groups. They were released without charge less than a year later.
Siddiqa said the civilian government may be not be able to crack down on the militants entirely because of pressure from the military, elements of which still regard India _ not the militants fighting it _ as the country's main enemy.
"It may not be completely in control of things," she said.
___
Nahal Toosi and Zarar Khan contributed to this report from Islamabad.
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