India links Pakistan to blasts

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told Pakistan that weekend bomb blasts in Delhi were probably linked to foreign elements, while Indian officials said Pakistan could have been involved.

Pakistani officials responded by urging New Delhi to provide evidence of the involvement of Pakistani militant groups in the blasts which killed 59 people, and promising to cooperate with the investigations.

Singh made the comments when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called him to offer condolences after Saturday's blasts at two crowded markets, an Indian foreign ministry statement said.

The blasts came as residents of the Indian capital shopped for sweets and gifts ahead of Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival, on Tuesday, and Eid-al-Fitr, the most important festival on the Muslim calendar later this week.

"The prime minister told the president of Pakistan that the country was outraged at these heinous acts of terrorism," the statement said.

"The prime minister again drew the president's attention to Pakistan's commitment to ending cross-border terrorism and said that we continue to be disturbed and dismayed at indications of the external linkages of terrorist groups with the October 29 bombing, and said India expects Pakistan to act against terrorism directed at India."

Although Singh did not name Pakistan, Indian foreign ministry officials said he was referring to anti-Indian militant groups based in Pakistan.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said Islamabad was ready to extend full cooperation in the investigation.

"The president has said we are ready to cooperate in the investigations," spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said. "But evidence has to be shared with us.

"In the absence of that it will be just a claim. While pointing fingers on any Pakistan entity, they should also share evidence with us."

An obscure Kashmiri militant group, Islami Inqilabi Mahaz (Islamic Revolutionary Group), claimed responsibility on Sunday for the attacks.

CHARRED BODIES

Indian security officials and analysts said the group was probably a front for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (Force of the Pure), which is among several Islamist militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.

A Lashkar spokesman told Reuters on Monday the group was not involved in the attacks and had no links to the Mahaz.

Analysts, speaking before the Indian prime minister's comments, said the Delhi blasts would damage a two-year peace process between India and Pakistan but were unlikely to lead to a breakdown.

In Delhi police said they were pursuing several leads.

Many people were still trying to trace dead or missing relatives and friends. In one morgue, three anguished families fought over the charred bodies of two children - a girl of about eight and a boy of about three.

One family claimed the boy was theirs, another claimed the girl and the third said the bodies were their missing son and daughter.

"Why are they doing this to me? Can't a father recognise his own child?" sobbed one of the men. They finally agreed to cremate the bodies jointly, and wait for DNA testing.

While the city was slowly getting back on its feet, India's robust financial markets shrugged off the blasts, the main Bombay stock index closing about 2.7 per cent higher after a downward correction last week.

"Such security measures crop up from time to time, and by and large the government has been able to contain it," said Parthasarathi Mukherjee, head of treasury at UTI Bank, Mumbai.

- REUTERS