Pakistan raids aimed to deflect pressure - Indian experts

By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Pakistan's crackdown on militants blamed by India for the Mumbai attacks may just be an attempt to deflect international pressure, Indian officials and diplomats said on Wednesday, calling for more decisive action.

Pakistan is under more pressure than ever before to act swiftly because the United States sees cooperation in the Mumbai attacks investigation as part of Islamabad's commitment to the global war on terror, the experts said.

"Now is the time when they have to establish this is not just business as usual," a senior Indian government official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters. "This is an eyewash. We want action that meets our concern."

New Delhi wants Islamabad to hand over 20 men it blames for militant attacks, including the one on Mumbai, and has urged the U.N. Security Council to proscribe a Pakistani charity group it says is a front for a banned militant organisation.

Pakistan has ruled out handing over the men India wants.

"There is no modicum of doubt about the complicity of elements of Pakistan, including the ISI," the official said, using an abbreviation for Pakistan's feared spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence.

India has not reacted formally to the arrest of Pakistan-based militants, including two members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadi group named by India as suspects in the conspiracy behind last month's attack on Mumbai which killed 179 people, including 26 foreigners.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah were being held for questioning after the Pakistani military raided a Lashkar camp.