India has strong evidence on Mumbai blasts : Narayanan

New Delhi, July 29 (UNI) National Security Advisor M K Narayanan today said India had "strong" evidence about the involvement of Pakistan in cross-border terrorism, and said the government had proof of how terrorism was being controlled from the neighbouring country.

Having a dig at US Assistant Secretary of State Richar Boucher for his post-Mumbai blast statement that India had no proof to blame Pakistan in the July 11 incident, Mr Naryanan said, "We have stronger evidence than what the US had after the 9/11 terror attack (by Taliban), which led to US war on Afghanistan.'' "Mumbai incident is not a single incident.... it is not as if 7/11 is a stand alone incident....it is not an isolated incident...the people who are responsible belong to international fanatic group and their objectives are not clear but final goal is obvious," he said.

"You cannot see an incident of this kind (Mumbai blasts) unless you have a module," he said, adding that "We have information that in Mumbai and Aurangabad in Maharashtra, in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and in other places some modules are operating..some are known and many are not known," Mr Narayanan said.

Participating in Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate'programme on CNN-IBN, to be telecast tomorrow, he said the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had international influence and was part of the "al-Queda" and was sometimes bigger by virtue of its contacts.

He said Pakistan should understand the ramifications of the international influence of the LeT.

Referring to Mr Boucher's statement, Mr Narayanan said, "he did not talk to anyone of us. If he wished to have information, we are willing to talk to anybody who is wanting to know the facts and Mr Boucher has not fallen into that category as of now." To a question if the government would provide proof about Pakistani connections to terrorism in India, Mr Narayanan said : "as and when we are ready with all facts and evidence, we will do it." Underlining that the LeT had linkages in Europe and Asia, he said it was an "integral" part of al Qaeda, and in "some parts even bigger." "Its threat is far greater than al Qaeda because of its greater reach and contacts. They are very active," he noted.

"LeT has many connections.... So the US has to pay special attention and not treat it as India-only issue," he said, while expressing the hope that India would succeed in convincing the US in this regard.

UNI SH KD RS2042