India wants Pakistani sign of faith over Mumbai

India demanded Pakistan hand over 20 of its most-wanted fugitives as a sign of good faith, while both sides yesterday tried to cool tensions over the Mumbai attacks before a visit by Washington's top diplomat.

India's Foreign Minister said military action was not being considered but later warned a peace process between the two, begun in 2004, was at risk if Pakistan did not act decisively.

His Pakistani counterpart offered a joint probe to find the militants responsible for a three-day rampage that killed 183 in India's financial capital last week.

Indian accusations that Pakistan had again let militants stage attacks from its soil have stirred longstanding tensions and threatened to reverse improving ties between the nuclear-armed rivals.

India renewed its years-old demand for about 20 fugitives it believes are hiding in Pakistan, via a protest note given to Pakistan's High Commissioner Shahid Malik in New Delhi on Monday, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.

Officials said the Indian list included Dawood Ibrahim, a Mumbai underworld leader, and Maulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani Muslim cleric freed from jail in India in exchange for passengers on a hijacked plane.

While India was not considering any military response, it reserved the right to take measures to protect its territorial integrity, he told India's NDTV.

"We have no intention of not carrying out the peace process," Mr Mukherjee told NDTV.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in India today to try to lower tensions after the attacks in Mumbai, which could threaten a US-led effort to battle militants along Pakistan's Afghan border.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, speaking in a televised address, said Pakistan wanted good relations with India and that now was not the time for a "blame game, taunts (and) finger-pointing".

"The government of Pakistan has offered a joint investigating mechanism and a joint commission to India. We are ready to jointly go into the depth of this issue and we are ready to compose a team that could help you," Mr Qureshi said.

Mumbai's police chief Hasan Gafoor yesterday said the attackers had trained for a year or more in commando tactics.

"There have been no arrests so far except the one terrorist we have detained. We are interrogating many suspects," Mr Gafoor told a news conference, the first since the attacks.

Azam Amir Kasav, the only gunmen of the 10 not killed by commandos, told investigators he is a Pakistani citizen from Punjab, Mr Gafoor said. Mr Gafoor declined to comment about the nationalities of the nine dead militants.

Investigators have said a former Pakistani army officer led the training, organised by the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba group blamed for a 2001 attack on India's parliament. Ibrahim is said to be one of its financial backers.