Lashkar-e-Tayiba has been banned in Pakistan to stop it operating from Pakistani territory, Pakistan High Commissioner to Great Britain Abdul Kader Jaffer claimed in an interview on Wednesday morning.

But Jaffer stopped short of accepting Indian charges that Lashkar was responsible for Monday's Mumbai blasts. "They have got to investigate, it happened in Bombay. Our government  has condemned it strongly. We condole with the families," he told rediff.com 

"These incidents of terrorism must be eradicated not only in Pakistan and India, but all over the world. You saw what happened in Indonesia, look at Bali. So many of these incidents are happening, we must stop it, we must work together."

Asked if Pakistan would hand over suspects implicated in the Mumbai atrocities, he responded, "Yes, Pakistan will certainly hand over suspects if India shares information. We have not received any information from them describing details of their investigation that we could investigate ourselves," the high commissioner said.

"If there are those that are involved in acts of terrorism (like those) we handed over to the US when we found they were responsible we would do likewise. If we have information we will definitely investigate. If we find those responsible we will definitely hand them over. I don't think there is any difference of opinion on that," Jaffer added.

Asked why Islamabad had not acted on the list of India's 20 most wanted, Jaffer said, "We were not satisfied with that information. We need more information. We even suggested that if they don't want us to get involved, the Americans could get involved, and they refused. There has to be more trust among both our countries to solve any problems. We have investigated the information they gave and we found that it did not stand."

"I don't think it is proper for India to blame Pakistan for every incident which occurs on its soil," he said. "We are willing to help them. We are willing to share with them information they need to share with us so that we can both investigate and stop this from happening in our countries."

"Pakistan's policy on terrorism is identical to the world at large," he claimed. "We want terrorism to be eradicated. We do not encourage terrorism from our land or on anyone else's territory. So we condemn this act of terrorism. Pakistan regretfully has also been inflicted with acts of terrorism on its soil, in Karachi and Islamabad, Lahore and Sialkot."