PAKISTANI PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari yesterday promised US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice his government would take "strong action" against anyone operating from its territory who may be implicated in last week's terrorist strikes on Mumbai that claimed more than 180 lives.
"The government will not only assist in investigating the attack but also take strong action against any Pakistani elements found involved in it," Mr Zardari said after meeting Ms Rice. She arrived in the region on Wednesday to help lower growing tension between the two nuclear rivals.
Neighbours Pakistan and India have been at war three times since independence in 1947 and fought an 11-week border skirmish in 1999.
They came close to war in 2002 after both sides massed their armies along their frontier following the terrorist attack on the Indian parliament that Delhi blamed, as it did the Mumbai strike, on Pakistan-based gunmen.
"Pakistan is determined to ensure that its territory is not used for any act of terrorism," Mr Zardari said the day after Ms Rice stopped over in India.
She assured the leadership that Washington had told Islamabad to act with resolve, urgency and transparency in apprehending those responsible for the Mumbai attacks which India says emanated from Pakistan.
India maintains the Lashkar-i-Taiba (Army of the Pure), a militant group based at Muridke near the Pakistani border city of Lahore, sent the 10 gunmen who went on a shooting spree through Mumbai's crowded streets before besieging two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre and holding scores of people hostage.
Its claims were based on the interrogation of the only surviving terrorist who was captured after attacking Mumbai's crowded Victoria terminus.
India also holds the Lashkar responsible for the December 2001 strike on its parliament.
The US, meanwhile, is concerned that a military stand-off with Delhi might lead Pakistan to redeploy its army from its western border with Afghanistan. That is where it is fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to the eastern frontier with India.
Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee told Ms Rice on Wednesday that Delhi was considering "all options" in response to the attacks.
"Everybody wants to prevent further attacks," Ms Rice said. She said she had discussed the importance of Pakistan taking responsibility for those who might use its territory to initiate terror strikes even if they were "non-state actors".
The Pakistani president, however, gave no indication to Ms Rice that India's demand for the extradition of 20 suspects would be met. One of the 20 includes Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed.
Ms Rice's Islamabad visit coincided with an edgy India putting all its major airports on high alert and its combat aircraft on standby. This follows federal intelligence agency warnings of possible attacks by terrorists using hijacked airliners.
"This is based on a warning which has been received by the government and we are prepared as usual," said Indian Air Chief Marshal Fali Major.
Armed police guarded entrances to airports in Delhi, the information technology hub at Bangalore and the southern industrial city of Chennai (formerly Madras).
The countrywide airport alert followed consultations between defence minister AK Antony and army, navy and air force chiefs to review the country's preparedness for aerial terrorist threats.
This was prompted by intelligence reports indicating the possibility of terrorists using abandoned airstrips or those belonging to remote flying clubs. They might use them to launch suicide attacks with small micro-light aircraft similar to the ones used effectively by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas.