An indication of this came from National Security Adviser M K Narayanan who told 'The Indian Express' that India would reply the 30 queries from Pakistan on the investigations shortly after the chargesheet was filed.

“We intend to reply to their questions shortly after the chargesheet has been filed in Mumbai,” Narayanan said. “For the present, we have to concentrate on the chargesheet and packing the case with evidence for the case to stand up to legal scrutiny.”

Home Minister P Chidambaram also said on Monday that the chargesheet would be filed in a couple of days and made it clear that India was willing to be friends with Pakistan if it acts against terror.

“Pakistan is an epicentre of terrorism and that must stop,” Chidambaram said in Khatkar Kalan, where he had gone to attend a public function. The Pakistan Government should not allow its land to be used for terrorism against India, he asserted.

“We expect from Pakistan to complete its investigation regarding the Mumbai terror attack and punish all the guilty ¿we want to be friendly with Pakistan but then friendship is a mutual relation,” he said.

On the 30 questions handed over to the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad, National Security Adviser Narayanan said in his assessment they were “seriously and very carefully drafted”. “The queries mostly pertain to the technical and forensic evidence which India has such as the DNA samples of the main accused,” he added. “They have requested for information which any investigation agency would like to have in a case of this nature.”

The NSA’s response makes it evident that India would like to keep the lines of communication on the parallel probe open with Islamabad, especially in view of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s recent comments that Islamabad would move forward on its probe after the reply to the 30 questions arrived from New Delhi.