Pakistan repeats Mumbai 'promise'

Mr Boucher (left) has made a number of recent trips to South Asia

Pakistan has repeated that it will punish any of its citizens if "credible" evidence is found of their involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani made the promise in talks with US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher.

Mr Boucher is in Islamabad seeking to reduce India-Pakistan tensions.

The US is worried that worsening ties with India may harm Islamabad's military operations against Islamic militants in the country's north-west.

Relations between India and Pakistan have plummeted since the November attacks which left 173 dead.

India has blamed the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the attacks. LeT and the Pakistani government have denied any involvement.

'State actors'

Mr Boucher arrived in Islamabad as Pakistan received India's dossier of what it says is evidence that the Mumbai assault was launched by people with links to "elements" in Pakistan.

His visit comes amid increasing demands by the Indian government that Pakistan dismantle the militant infrastructure in the country and extradite militant leaders who it says masterminded the Mumbai attacks.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Islamabad says it is almost inconceivable that Islamabad will hand over any suspect into Indian jurisdiction.

Our correspondent says such a move would have barely any support among the many shades of opinion in Pakistan.

But he says there are some in Pakistan who believe the country will benefit by arresting anyone clearly linked to the assault in India - the question will be whether the new document from Delhi convinces Islamabad that further people must be arrested, and that there must be prosecutions.

Since Mumbai, Pakistan has already detained top LeT leaders. It has also outlawed a charity widely seen as a front for it.

So far, Pakistan has denied that the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks were its nationals.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has said that even if the attackers were Pakistani, they were "non-state" actors and that Pakistan was trying hard to control them.

On Sunday Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said the Mumbai attacks, due to their sophistication, could not have been carried out by "non-state" actors, as Pakistan has been insisting.

"I presume they are state actors or state-assisted actors, unless the contrary is proved," Mr Chidambaram told an Indian television channel.

Pakistan's foreign minister called the remarks "speculation".