Pakistan rejects charge of state role in Mumbai attacks

New Dehli:Pakistan has rejected Thursday renewed Indian charges that Pakistani “state actors” were involved in planning and coordinating the 2008 Mumbai attacks and offered a joint probe.

“I would very strongly reject any insinuation of any involvement of any state agency in acts of terrorism in India,” Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters after talks with his Indian counterpart Ranjan Mathai.

The two top civil servants in their respective ministries held two days of talks in New Delhi to bolster a peace dialogue. The two sides also discussed way to promote relations in the fields of sports particularly cricket. Jalil Abbas Jilani said he has brought a message of peace and prosperity to the people of India. He said Pakistani leadership is sincere in resolving all disputes with India peacefully.

Speaking after his talks with Jilani, which focused on ways of reducing mutual distrust between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, Mathai stressed that bringing those guilty for the Mumbai carnage to justice “would be the biggest confidence-building measure of all”. He said India has handed over information to Pakistan side about Abu Jandal. He said the two sides discussed ways to strengthen peace and stability in the region. The Indian Foreign Secretary said he also agreed to continue talks on resolving Kashmir issue. In Thursday’s joint-statement, the diplomats said that a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan was now scheduled for September.