Pakistan arrests new suspect

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

PAKISTAN has detained a second alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the prime minister said yesterday, apparently making good on pledges to pursue the perpetrators.

The announcement of the arrest of Zarrar Shah ?? following Sunday's detention of another alleged Mumbai plotter, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and other alleged militants ?? could deflect intense United States and Indian pressure on Pakistan following the attack.

But much will now depend on whether Pakistan's young civilian government keeps up the pressure on the militant groups that are believed to have been fostered by the country's powerful security agencies.

Pakistan has targeted militants in the past, detaining some leaders only to quietly release them later, bolstering critics who claim Islamabad is not serious about fighting extremists.

Pakistani officials insist Islamabad's old foe, New Delhi, has not shared any evidence with them that links the suspects to the attacks, raising questions as to how the country can bring them to trial. Islamabad has already said it will not hand them over to India.

Last month's attacks on Mumbai, India's financial center, killed 171 people and sharply raised tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought three wars since 1947. India says all the attackers were Pakistani citizens.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani gave no details on Shah's arrest except that he and Lakhvi "were in (Pakistani) custody and were being investigated." Both men are alleged to be members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Pakistani militant group.