Pakistan cracks down on Lashkar-e-Taiba

After Islamabad's announcement, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee retreated from his earlier indication that India would accept a Pakistani trial for the suspected Mumbai attackers, reports Reuters.

"We have never given up the demand that the perpetrators of the terror act should be handed over to India," Mukherjee said.

"There is no question of that [giving up the extradition demand] or climb down."

The minister was reported to have said this week in an interview with the India Today media group that those accused in the Mumbai attacks could be tried and punished in Pakistan, a comment Indian newspapers interpreted as a climbdown in New Delhi's demand for extradition of militants.

Mukherjee's India Today interview came after Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the Pakistani state was not linked to the Mumbai attacks and he showed no support for India's demand for extradition of the accused.

The BBC notes that Mr. Miliband is currently visiting Pakistan in an effort to ease tensions between the two nations. He said Thursday there is no evidence that the Pakistani government was involved in the Mumbai attacks, and he has not supported Indian demands for extradition of the suspects.

The US is working to increase the cooperation between India and Pakistan, indicates The Wall Street Journal. The Journal writes that the CIA has been serving as a go-between for the two countries in order to better resolve the consequences of the Mumbai attacks.

A senior Pakistani official said significant progress has been made in the investigation of the attacks. A report on Pakistan's findings was sent to India through the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency last week, the official said.

New Delhi and Islamabad have mainly been communicating through the CIA, the official said. The chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Shuja Ahmed Pasha, met with a top CIA official this month in connection with Pakistan's investigation, the official said.

CIA Director Michael Hayden on Thursday confirmed the CIA's efforts. "We've had some success in that regard," he said. "We've had a long, and frankly in many ways very profitable, relationship with ISI, and we've tried to use our friendship with the service to help this move in the right direction."

The "right" direction is what is in the U.S. government's interest, he said, describing that as: "Who did this? Why? Don't let it happen again. And bring justice to those who have done it."

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