Mumbai bombings cloud India's talks with US and rival Pakistan

India is searching for clues to culprits in attack that killed 17, but not pointing fingers at Pakistan, saying 'all groups hostile to India are on the radar'.

NEW DELHI // Triple blasts in Mumbai last week have cast a shadow over the imminent visit of the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to New Delhi and a new round of India-Pakistan peace talks later this month.

In pictures: Triple blasts in Mumbai casts shadow over peace talks

Blasts in Mumbai last week have cast a shadow over the imminent visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to New Delhi and a new round of India-Pakistan peace talks later this month.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombs on Wednesday evening that killed 19 and injured more than 100, and the initial police investigation has failed to unearth any clear leads.

The Indian home minister, P Chidambaram, briefing reporters on Thursday about the investigation, cast the net of suspicion as wide as it would go but avoided pointing the finger at Pakistan.

"All groups hostile to India are on the radar," he said.

The involvement of a Pakistan-based group would instantly thrust relations between New Delhi and Islamabad back into the deep freeze, just as the nuclear-armed neighbours are about to restart a faltering peace process.

India accuses Pakistan's army and intelligence services of aiding militant groups that carry out attacks on Indian soil. Terror strikes have brought the estranged neighbours to the brink of war in the past.

Brahma Chellaney of the New Delhi-based Centre of Policy Research think-tank, said: "It is too early to know because the investigations can go in any direction. If the investigations throw up cross-border links then that will queer the pitch for the talks."

For Mrs Clinton, any Pakistani involvement would again see her under pressure to drop US military support for Islamabad during her talks with the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, tomorrow.

Last week, the Indian foreign minister, SM Krishna, welcomed Washington's decision to suspend aid to Pakistan worth $800 million (Dh2,93bn).

An Indian foreign ministry official said: "Counter-terrorism has always been part of our strategic dialogue. The July 13 attacks will be part of the exchange."

Mrs Clinton said last week that it was "more important than ever that we stand with India" and she affirmed her "commitment to the shared struggle against terrorism."

Robert Hathaway, the director of the Asia programme at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington, said the latest attacks in Mumbai "will inevitably colour secretary Clinton's visit".

He said the latest bloodshed in India's commercial capital had the potential to upset the delicate balance in the US relationships in the region with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"If it becomes clear that the Pakistanis at some levels were involved in these attacks, then it would certainly give greater force to Indian complaints that the United States has coddled Pakistan and is not being stern enough," he said.

India broke off its peace process with Pakistan after the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-i-Taiba.

Ten gunmen went on a 60-hour rampage, killing 166 people.

Suspicions for last week's explosions have fallen on the Indian Mujahideen, a group with links to Lashkar-i-Taiba, but they have climed responsibility for other incidents.

Mr Krishna, the foreign minister, would face tremendous public pressure to call off his planned meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar if any new Pakistan links are unearthed. That meeting is scheduled for the last week of this month.

Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan, said: "If it is established the Indian Mujahideen (IM) was involved in the Mumbai blasts then that will vitiate the climate of the talks because the link between IM and the Lashkar-i-Taiba is very well established."

The policy of engaging the Pakistani government, pushed by Mr Singh, has faced fierce criticism.