DGMOs contact helps tone down war hysteria

“No one in Pakistan trusts the Americans and their moves....they behaved like friends of the enemy and they put their weight behind Delhi only to test our nerves,” said a senior official. Pakistanis questioned the role of the Americans and leaders of the outgoing Bush administration, as many of them used their influence in favour of the Indians.

Can the information provided by Condi Rice to Pakistan be treated as permissable evidence in any civil or millitary court?

The News daily today quoted Pakistani intelligence sources as saying that the intelligence shared by the Western powers was not evidence that would "stand up in court".

They claimed Iman's (KASAB) confession could have been "obtained under duress" and is "not admissible in a trial". Thus the confession could not be the "basis of any proceedings against (Iman) or others from Pakistan".

The shared intelligence formed the basis of actions taken so far by Pakistan but it could not "be described as evidence", the sources claimed.

"If Islamabad is to put any Pakistani citizen on trial for the Mumbai attacks, it will require a list of Indian witnesses and their statements as well as all technical material, such as computer drives and mobile phones recovered from the alleged terrorists from Pakistan," the report said.

The report further claimed that "India's problem" is that it could not share evidence with Pakistan because of "inconsistencies in Indian public accounts" of the attacks and "the fact that some of the attackers and their local support network could have come from within India".