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ISLAMABAD — India must "come clean" about those on its own soil involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Pakistan said Friday, a day after it said that the assailants set out from Pakistan.
Pakistan on Thursday filed criminal cases against eight suspects in the November attack and said six of them, including three alleged ringleaders, were already in its custody. It was the first time Pakistan had acknowledged that the Mumbai attacks were planned at least in part on its soil.
The announcement eased fear that the assault, which killed 164 people in India's commercial hub, could push the nuclear-armed neighbors toward war and distract Pakistan from fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida.
But the two sides plunged back into a war of words on Friday, raising doubts about their ability to revive a painstaking peace process frozen since the Mumbai carnage.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee welcomed the progress of Pakistan's investigation.
But he told Parliament that the gains from the peace process between the two countries that began in 2004 remained "at grave risk," and that the "infrastructure of terrorism which exists in Pakistan" must be dismantled to prevent future attacks.
"It is imperative that (Pakistan) act with sincerity and act effectively against the license that terrorist groups enjoy in its territory," he said.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Mukherjee's remarks were "a rehash of the standard Indian line against Pakistan."
"Pakistan expects India to come clean on the multiple facets of the Mumbai tragedy and expose the names of persons and entities in India who were also responsible for acts of commission and omission," it said.
On Thursday, Pakistani Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the gunmen had traveled by boat from near the Pakistani city of Karachi and that clues supplied by India had helped authorities make arrests.
Several of the detainees are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned extremist group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, the divided region over which Pakistan and India have twice gone to war.
India is demanding that Islamabad dismantle several such groups, which analysts say have enjoyed the support of Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies.
Malik appealed on Thursday for India to clear up questions including who helped refuel the terrorists' boat in Indian waters and how they were able to disembark unchallenged in Mumbai.
Mukherjee said India would consider Islamabad's request for more information to help its investigation.
