After being in denial mode for more than a month, Pakistan today finally gave in to the reality of evidence and admitted that Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only gunman in Mumbai to have been captured alive by Indian police, is indeed a Pak national. But hours later, in a disturbing reminder of the deep divisions within the Pakistani power structure — divisions that reinforce New Delhi’s mounting concerns — Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked his National Security Advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani for having made a similar suggestion in a television interview earlier in the day.

Durrani, a supporter of peace initiatives between India and Pakistan, told CNN that the evidence presented by India had showed that the terrorists had “Pakistani connections”.

“I think it probably would be true now that for example (Ajmal Kasab) had Pakistani connections. So one cannot deny there was zero link with Pakistan. How much, who all was involved, that we have to investigate,” Durrani had said, a few hours before Pakistan officially accepted that Kasab is its national.

While he said that New Delhi’s dossier “is not something solid,” he admitted: “But I would also say, some of the leads we got from India through other countries, that has been very helpful to our investigation...When the investigators get some leads, they work on it. We are going to work on it. We will need more things. We will need connectivity between Bombay and people here.”

A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s House said Yousuf Raza Gilani had sacked Durrani “for his irresponsible behaviour (of) not taking Prime Minister and other stakeholders into confidence and lack of coordination on matters of national security”.

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