US Warning India About Blaming Pakistan

The US has apparently cautioned India to be sure they have hard evidence implicating Pakistan before laying blame there the Times of India reports.

WASHINGTON: A key Bush administration official on Monday advised India to rely on hard evidence before drawing conclusions in the Mumbai terror attacks, while obliquely criticizing New Delhi for implicating Islamabad in the blasts and calling off talks.
 
"I know there's a lot of speculation out there now. That happens in these cases. But I think we need to be led by the evidence before we start trying to draw conclusions and make policy pronouncements on it," US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told foreign correspondents at a news conference on Monday.
 
"So that will be our attitude, and I think that should be the attitude of others as well," Boucher, a mid-level functionary of the Bush administration recommended, even as the G8 summit of leaders issued a statement condemning state sponsorship of terrorism in reference to the Mumbai blasts.
 
Boucher hoped that progress in India-Pakistan relations is not lost because of developments relating to the blasts, "and that they find opportunities to cooperate… against terrorist groups, to cooperate in stabilizing the region."
 
"It's up to them to decide how to proceed. We realize that they felt it wasn't possible to have the foreign secretaries meetings this week," Boucher conceded, before launching into more homilies that disregarded New Delhi's strong diplomatic response to a terror attack that killed nearly 200 people and the international community's support for such response.
 
"But I think our outlook remains that India-Pakistan cooperation is important for the region, and we hope they will find ways to continue it in the future," Boucher said. 

I've maintained that the Indian government has to be very careful about pointing fingers in this. The evidence they have said they have so far is pretty weak and wouldn't stand up in court. I'd like to see both India and Pakistan take a step back and resume talking. Hopefully the Bush administration has it's various carrots and sticks ready to calm the situation. The world does not need these two countries at each other's throats right now.