India has accused Pakistan's powerful spy agency of planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in the strongest and most specific allegation of Islamabad's involvement in the assault from a senior official.
The remark comes a day before the foreign ministers of the rival nations are set to meet in Islamabad to attempt to rebuild a fragile dialogue that was shattered by the attacks, which killed 166 people. It appeared to be an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Pakistan to prosecute people whom India says were deeply involved in the assault.
In an interview published today, indian home secretary GK Pillai accused Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence of playing a key role in the attacks.
"It was not just a peripheral role. They (the agency) were literally controlling and coordinating it from the beginning till the end," Mr Pillai told the Indian Express newspaper.
Mr Pillai told the newspaper that new information about the role of the agency had emerged from the interrogation of David Coleman Headley, an American who pleaded guilty in the US in March to being in on the planning of the attacks. He was subsequently questioned by Indian investigators.
Mr Pillai also pointed the finger at Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, a founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Pakistani militant group blamed in the three-day siege of India's financial capital. He now heads a charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, that is alleged to be a front for Lashkar. India wants him to be put on trial. "The same goes for Hafiz Saeed. He was also not a peripheral player," Mr Pillai said.
Pakistani authorities did not immediately respond to the accusations, but the spy agency has previously denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
AP