Click to play videoNew Delhi; The United States of America's Ambassador to India David Mulford does not agree with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh statement that Pakistani state agencies were involved in planning and executing the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Mulford, however, says the 26/11 evidence dossier that India has prepared is credible
"When you say official sources of Government of Pakistan... that is a very blanket approach and I think one needs to be very careful about making these kinds of allegations unless you have concrete evidence to that degree of specificity. The US tends not to get into that kind of specificity unless there is justification for it," said Mulford while speaking to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate.
"It involves a great deal of material, which is very credible material. It has been derived by the Indian Government, but also to some extent by the FBI cooperating in Mumbai with the authorities there and the package is I think very credible," he said.
"Well, I don't think you can judge them on their first reaction, or the statement of one particular individual in the government. I think it takes a little time. And you have after all a situation where there is a civilian government, a very strong military, a very strong intelligence agency, and a media and other players, and I think you have to take the view that it is going to take a little time to percolate to see what really is the outcome of these efforts," he added.
Mulford also says that while US does not think that joint investigation is feasible, but India must cooperate with Pakistan.
"Let's face it, total no cooperation isn't a very good alternative as an indefinite proposition, is it? So you do have to sort of take the view that if you are going to make progress, you have to have some element of cooperation, and that means looking for ways to accomplish some minimal level." he said.
Karan Thapar: So what Mr Hadley is saying is that find ways to cooperate, but he is not necessarily endorsing the Pakistani view of joint investigation?
David Mulford: No I don't think so. Because there's already been a Joint Mechanism set up in September of 2006 between Mr Musharraf and the Prime Minister, and people here regard that as not having been successful
David Mulford: Well, I think a lot of people in the US for example would like to think that if somebody commits a crime in some other country against the Americans, then we would like to extradite them - it doesn't happen very often but that doesn't change the fact that you seek to extradite or that you seek to convince the country under its law to prosecute
Karan Thapar: What would happen if there's another terrorist strike - linked back like the last one to sources and people in Pakistan?
David Mulford: I think that would be very serious
Karan Thapar: Would it lead to war?
David Mulford:I don't know, but it would be a very serious matter
Watch the full interview with David Mulford in Devil's Advocate on Sunday night at 2030 hrs IST.
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