Rice visits Pak, Zardari vows to crack on terror

IT'S A DEAL: Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani with US Secretary of State Rice in Islamabad.

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Related Stories

• Ratan Tata visits devastated Taj Hotel

• 60 hours of ordeal comes to an end in Mumbai

• Standing tall: Mumbai's pride Taj hotel reopens

Top Headlines

Top Videos

Most Popular

• Satyam off Nifty from Jan 12 | Off NYSE too 

• Bleak future: What next for Satyam? 

• Satyam stunner: Highs and lows of Raju's career 

• Satyam's crack team | Directors shocked | Timeline  

• Pak sacks NSA | | He spoke too soon | What Pak says 

• Terror dossier: India uncovers 26/11 money trail 

• BJP avoids Advani vs Shekhawat battle before polls 

• Mumbai terrorists had British link: MI5 chief 

• One more Noida gangrape accused arrested 

• England cricket in turmoil; Pietersen, Moores quit 

• Satyam boss Raju admits accounting fraud, quits 

• Pak denies, India cries and the band plays on 

• Pak can't decide if India's dossier is proof enough 

• PM joins the diplomatic offensive against Pakistan 

• Choking Delhi: MCD to convert parks into parking lots 

• Trained to kill: How Kasab held Mumbai to ransom 

• Casualties mount, medical aid a far cry in Gaza  

• Day 7: Poonch gunbattle still on, 10 terrorists hiding 

• Non-UPA CMs divided over new anti-terror law 

• Slumdog... crew celebrates A R Rahman's birthday 

• Satyam stunner: Highs and lows of Raju's career 

• Satyam off Nifty from Jan 12 | Off NYSE too 

• How Satyam shocker hits investors, employees 

• Beleaguered Satyam forms crack team for fire-fighting 

• Taking stock: Nilekani on lessons from Satyam fiasco 

• Bleak future: What next for Satyam? 

• Pak sacks NSA | He admitted Kasab's a Pakistani 

• Satyam Timeline: How the scam unfolded 

• One more Noida gangrape accused arrested 

• Satyam's crack team | Directors shocked | Timeline  

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

Islamabad: Pakistan's president has said he will take "strong action" against elements in his country that were involved in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Asif Ali Zardari's office said he made the pledge during talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Islamabad on Thursday.

A presidential statement said Zardari also repeated a promise to help investigate the attacks and said Pakistan was determined to ensure its territory is not used for any act of terrorism.

Rice said she is satisfied with Pakistan's commitment to fight terrorism and its readiness to pursue any lead in the attacks in India.

Pakistan's government, she said, is very committed to the war on terror and does not want to be associated with terrorist elements.

She said that in her meetings with officials "I have found a Pakistani government that is focused on the threat and understands its responsibilities to respond to terrorism and extremism" wherever it is found.

She talked about the importance of Pakistan dealing with those "who may use Pakistani territory even if they are not state actors. And I found a Pakistani leadership that is very focused and I think very committed for its own reasons."

She said Pakistan would investigate what may have happened to support in any way the attacks in Mumbai "because the Pakistani government, I was told and I fully believe, is very commmitted to this war on terror, does not in any way want to be associated with terrorist elements and is indeed fighting to root them out wherever they find them. She said her talks in Pakistan have been "quite satisfactory."

India's demands

India suspects two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group orchestrated the three-day siege of the country's financial capital that killed at least 171 people, Indian officials said Thursday.

Evidence collected in the investigation pointed to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Yusuf Muzammil as masterminds behind last week's bloody rampage in Mumbai, according to two government officials familiar with the matter.

Lakhvi and Muzammil belong to outlawed Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba—which India blames in the attack—and are believed to be living in Pakistan, the officials said. Lakhvi was identified as the group's operations chief and Muzammil as its operations chief in Kashmir and other parts of India.

The lone surviving gunman in the assault told police Lakhvi recruited him for the operation, and the assailants called Muzammil on a satellite phone after hijacking an Indian vessel en route to Mumbai. During the attacks, the gunmen used mobile phones taken from hotel guests to place calls to the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Top US military official praises India's restraint

The top US military official who visited India as part of a US-led effort to cool tensions between India and Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks praised New Delhi's restraint on Thursday.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen "thanked Indian officials for their restraint and their desire to cooperate with Pakistani officials in the pursuit of those responsible for the attacks," a US embassy statement said.