Pakistan derides Indian allegations against ISI

ISLAMABAD, July 14 (Reuters) Pakistan today said it regarded Indian allegations that its military spy agency was involved in this week's Mumbai bomb blasts as little more than propaganda or speculation unless New Delhi came up with evidence.

''In the past two days, India has not given us anything in writing or talked of any evidence,'' said Tasnim Aslam, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokeswoman.

''In the absence of that, we take these accusations against the ISI as propaganda or frivolous speculation.'' A senior Indian Home Ministry official, who requested anonymity, accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of planning Tuesday's attacks, using activists from the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India to carry out the bombings.

''The accusation that the ISI masterminded the attack is baseless,'' Aslam said.

President Pervez Musharraf yesterday offered Pakistan's full cooperation into any investigation by India, wherever it should lead.

''Whoever is doing this, we condemn it, and we are with the Indian government to investigate anything,'' Musharraf told a Pakistani news channel.

''It is an act which cannot be pardoned at all, whoever has done it,'' he told Business Plus.

A peace process begun more than 2 years ago between India and Pakistan has improved relations from 2002 when the nuclear-armed rivals almost went to war for a fourth time, but the process has been losing momentum recently.

With accusations flying in the aftermath of the Mumbai bombings, a meeting of foreign secretaries that New Delhi is due to host on July 20 could be postponed, analysts said.

President Musharraf also offered Pakistan's full cooperation after bomb attacks on markets in New Delhi in October that killed more than 60 people, but Ms Aslam said India never responded with requests for information, or shared the findings of its investigations.

Suspicions over the bombings in Mumbai and New Delhi, as well as one in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi in March that killed 15 people, have focused on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani group that has long operated in Kashmir.

While Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002, a charity called Jamaat-ud-Dawa linked to it and headed by Lashkar's founder and former head is still operating openly.

Security analysts suspect Lashkar may have enjoyed a degree of protection from within the Pakistani security apparatus, which may account for India's reluctance to take up Musharraf's offer of help.

''This is the second time we have made this offer,'' Ms Aslam said. ''We're saying at least please give it a try.'' REUTERS SK HT1520