'Evidence against ISI not clinching' says Indian National Security Adviser

October 26, 2006

The Indian National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has said that India doesn't have "clinching" evidence of the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI in the Mumbai train blasts of July 11, which killed 207 people and injured several hundred more.

"I would hesitate to say we have clinching evidence but we have pretty good evidence," he was quoted as saying on CNN-IBN.

This statement from a high-ranking Indian official goes against the assertion of the Anti-Terror Squad chief KP Raghuvanshi on October 1 that there was enough evidence "to nail ISI" in the blasts.

Following Narayanan's remarks, the Union Home Secretary V.K. Duggal on Monday characterised the evidence as "very good [...] it is fairly solid evidence."

According to Narayanan, India has information related to connectivity, linkages, confessions and arrests, but there are pieces of puzzle that are not available.

The statement from the security advisor to the Prime Minister reveals that India is yet to complete the investigation, although the Mumbai police had given the impression otherwise.