'Acceptance is good but we knew it': General Rawat on Imran Khan's 26/11 attack statement

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday responded to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement, saying India knew Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba's (LeT) involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and it doesn’t not need anyone endorsing the complicity of Islamabad. On Thursday, Imran Khan, in an interview to The Washington Post, his first to a foreign publication, had acknowledged that the terror attack was perpetrated by Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Speaking to news agency ANI, General Rawat said: "We know who did it (the 2008 Mumbai terror attack). I don't think we have to get anymore statement from anybody. The international community knows who did it."

The Army Chief, however, praised Khan's statement saying that "acceptance is good."

In the interview, the Pakistan Prime Minister said his country wants "something done about the bombers of Mumbai," while tacitly acknowledging that the attack of November 2008 originated from the Pakistani soil.

"I have asked our government to find out the status of the case. Resolving that the case is in our interest because it was an act of terrorism," he said.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists sneaked into Mumbai through sea route and opened fire indiscriminately, killing 166 people.

Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and hanged after handed down death sentence by an Indian court.

Perpetrators of the 26/11 attack, including its mastermind and banned Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, continue to roam freely in Pakistan, indicating that Islamabad is not serious in bringing them to justice. The JuD is believed to be the front group for the LeT. The US has offered a USD 10 million bounty for Saeed.

After taking charge as prime minister in August this year, Khan said he was ready for peace talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Pakistan sent a proposal in September to hold foreign ministers' level talks in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

India, however, accepted and then rejected the proposal, blaming Pakistan for killing a security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir and accusing it of glorifying terrorism.

(With inputs from agencies)