ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Pakistan said on Friday it had shared with India the progress made in investigations into the Mumbai terror attack conducted by its agencies.

“High Commissioner Shahid Malik yesterday met Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram and updated him on the progress Pakistan has made so far in the investigations,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters.

He said the findings of the preliminary investigation done by the Federal Investigation Agency would be formally shared with India in a few days after an internal process that included a vetting by the law ministry.

The report is understood to be with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik who will forward it to the law ministry for review.

After completion of the review the report would be handed over to the Foreign Office for sharing it with India and other countries.

The government, it may be mentioned, had assigned the investigations into the Mumbai incident to a three-member committee of the country’s premier investigation agency, FIA, and asked it to submit its preliminary findings within 10 days.

Mr Qureshi said: “Pakistan has assured India and the world community that it is making progress in the process of investigating the Mumbai attacks and wants to bring the culprits to justice.”

He emphasised that Pakistan wanted to move forward with the ‘right intentions’.

Pakistan, he said, denounced terrorism no matter where it took place because it was a peaceful nation and wanted to focus its efforts on meeting the various challenges that if confronted.

“We have a lot of economic challenges, we are a nascent democracy, we want to strengthen democracy, our civilian institutions are weak, we want to strengthen them and that’s why we can’t indulge in extremism, war …,” the foreign minister said. “We just want to develop the country and see it prosper,” he added.

Syed Irfan Raza adds: The Federal Investigation Agency presented to the interior ministry on Friday its preliminary report prepared on the basis of a nine-page Indian dossier about the Mumbai attacks.

“I have seen the report and forwarded it to Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah for further examining it in consultation with the ministry of law,” Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik told reporters after a meeting with FIA officials.

“I must reassure the international community that perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks would be brought to justice,” the adviser said.

A handout issued by the interior ministry said: “On the basis of information provided by India about the Mumbai incident, the FIA team has submitted its report to Mr Rehman Malik.”

The ministry said the response of the law ministry would soon be shared with the government of India through diplomatic channels after due legal process.

The government has requested the media not to speculate on the outcome of the investigation till the report is made public.

President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan seriously conducted the probe on information provided by India.

Pakistan had on Jan 17 assured India and the international community that the preliminary probe would be completed in 10 days and if any Pakistani was found involved in the Mumbai attacks he would be tried in Pakistan in accordance with the country’s laws and he would not be handed over to India.

Sources in government said the trial would be held in camera and the media would be briefed on the proceedings through proper channel. They said Pakistan wanted to try the people found involved in the carnage because the non-state actors had embarrassed the country and tarnished its image in the world.

Mr Malik said: “We will try to transform the information provided by India into solid evidences so that cases could be registered against perpetrators and they could be brought to justice inside Pakistan.”