Meanwhile, hours after India summoned Pakistan's envoy, Islamabad responded in a similar manner.
The Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal in Islamabad was summoned by Pakistn to deny India's charges, Geo TV reported.
In New Delhi, Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik was "informed that the recent terrorist attack on Mumbai was carried out by elements from Pakistan,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement Monday evening.
“The government expects that strong action would be taken against those elements, whosoever they may be, responsible for this outrage,” the ministry underlined.
“It was conveyed to the Pakistan high commissioner that Pakistan's actions needed to match the sentiments expressed by its leadership that it wishes to have a qualitatively new relationship with India,” the ministry said.
Vivek Katju, Special Secretary (Political and International Organizations) in the external affairs ministry, served the demarche to the Pakistani envoy when he met him at his office in South Block.
India asked Pakistan to take urgent action on the ground to dismantle terrorist infrastructure on its territory, official sources said.
New Delhi also demanded the extradition of known terror masterminds like underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, Maulana Masood Azhar, and LeT chief Hafez Mohammed Sayeed, who are suspected to have a hand in major terror strikes against India, sources added.
A day after the Nov 26 Mumbai terror strikes that left at least 183 people dead, including Canadians Dr. Michael Moss and companion Elizabeth Russel, both of Montreal, India had indicated the involvement of “elements in Pakistan” in this meticulously choreographed attacks at 10 landmarks in India"s financial capital.
Civilians (Indians): 141
· Killed: 22
(Three each from Israel and Germany; two from Canada and one each from US, Italy, China, Thailand, Mauritius, Singapore, Britain, Japan and Australia. Five are yet to be identified)
Indians: 216
Foreigners: 23
· In operation: 477
· Killed: 2
· Injured: 8
· Total: 10
· Killed: 9
· Arrested: 1
Terrorists came to Mumbai via the sea route from Karachi along the Gujarat coast, according to preliminary findings.
Subsequent investigations have yielded more damning evidence of the complicity of Pakistan-based militants in the Mumbai attacks that now threaten to derail the peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The interrogation of the lone surviving terrorist, who was caught alive during an attack at Chowpatty, has also disclosed that the Mumbai terror plot was hatched in Pakistan, according to intelligence agencies.
The arrested militant, Ajmal Qasab, has confessed that he was trained at a camp in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned militant outfit which was created by Pakistan"s ISI to foment insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pakistani government has vehemently denied any link to the Mumbai blasts, but has not ruled out the possibility of the involvement of “non-state actors” in the brazen terror strikes.
'Such a tragic incident must bring opportunity rather than the defeat of a nation,' Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday in an interview with a Pakistani news channel. 'We don't think the world"s great nations and countries can be held hostage by non-state actors.'
Zardari has demanded evidence linking elements in Pakistan to the Mumbai terror strikes and assured India of strictest action against them.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has called for a meeting of all political parties' leaders Tuesday to evolve a consensus on Pakistan's policy towards India in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.
Pakistan's prime minister, president and foreign minister have also launched a diplomatic offensive and are calling up Western capitals to convince them that the Pakistani state did not have a hand in the terror strikes in Mumbai.
With the India-Pakistan peace process coming under strain, US President George W. Bush has asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to travel to India to underline solidarity with India in the fight against terrorism.
At least 20 foreigners, including six Americans and nine Israelis, have been killed in the mayhem in Mumbai unleashed by terrorists.
US President-elect Barack Obama is also closely monitoring the situation in the aftermath of the terror attacks which is set to affect his plan to end the Taliban-led violence in Afghanistan as any confrontation between India and Pakistan will lead to a diversion of Pakistani troops from its Afghan border to the India border.
The US needs the crucial assistance of the Pakistan Army to defeat a resurgent Taliban that has found shelter in tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
Rice will be on a day-long visit to India Wednesday. She will be meeting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss counter-terrorism cooperation in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.
Rice has made it clear that she expects Pakistan to cooperate fully with any probe.
'What we are emphasizing to the Pakistani government is the need to follow the evidence wherever it leads,' Rice told reporters in London.
'I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation and that's what we expect."
---EARLIER REPORT
At least six Canadians are unaccounted for at one of the two hotels in Mumbai that were targeted in a series of attacks across India's financial capital that left dozens dead, a government source told CBC News.
The toll - from Wednesday night when armed men had sneaked into Mumbai on boat till Thursday evening - was 124 killed, including three of Mumbai's best known police officers and six foreigners, and 320 injured.
Terrorists had begun their siege of the city around 9.30 p.m. Wednesday when they fanned out to 10 places in a meticulously planned operation -- nine in south Mumbai including the busy Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and one in the suburb of Vile Parle.
In the capital New Delhi, a grim Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the nation and said: "It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, based outside the country, had come with a single-minded determination to create havoc in the commercial capital of the country."
"We will take up strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them."
Over 200 Indian commandos from the elite National Security Guard, the army and the navy as well as the riot police took position outside the three key buildings under attack in south Mumbai -- the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the Oberoi Trident and the Nariman Bhavan in Nariman Point.
As they prepared for the final onslaught, fire broke out in a fourth floor room at the Taj and more than nine gunshots were heard in a quick succession. At least three more grenade explosions rocked the Taj hotel, one of Mumbai's most identifiable landmarks whose 105-year-old heritage building was extensively damaged.
At the Oberoi, people could be seen waving desperately from the picture windows as tongues of orange flame burst forth.
Giving an idea of the numbers involved, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said 20-22 terrorists had struck Wednesday night. Of them, seven had been killed but the rest remained holed up inside. One of them was caught alive and was being interrogated by security and intelligence officials.
He said there had been "no negotiations" with the terrorists.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Ghafoor said AK-47 and AK-56 and semi-automatic rifles besides grenades were used in the "coordinated terrorist acts".
TV grabs showed that some of the terrorists were young, trendily dressed in jeans and T shirts and carrying rucksacks.
One of them, calling himself Shahadullah, telephoned India TV channel to say he was from Hyderabad and belonged to a previously unheard of group called the Deccan Mujahideen.
Speaking in Hindustani with an accent, the man said the attack had been carried out to avenge the 1992 destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and the "repression" of Muslims in India. He said the hostages would be freed only in exchange for the "mujahideen" in Indian prisons.
"It's a motivated, well planned terrorist attack and they are out to cause damage," added Major General R.K. Hooda of the Indian Army.
The well-planned terrorist onslaught, which caught the authorities unawares although Home Minister Shivraj Patil had warned of a possible sea strike two years ago.
A stunned international community condemned the wanton killings. US president-elect Barack Obama asked Washington to work with India to root out and destroy terrorist networks worldwide. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Such violence is totally unacceptable." The European Union also denounced the terrorists.
But in Chandigarh, Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi denounced the killings as "barbaric". He said Islamabad had faced similar situations and it would be immature to link the attack to his country.
With naval commandos joining the anti-terrorist operation, Vice Admiral J.S. Bedi said in Mumbai: "There are four to five terrorists in the Oberoi hotel area and 40-50 hostages. However, we can't confirm that the hostages are all guests at the hotel."
The comments came as the security forces managed to nab one of the terrorists and the Coast Guard chased a mysterious vessel in the sea near Mumbai.
The survivor stories were plenty.
Indian Communist MP N.N. Krishnadas said after being rescued by commandos Thursday: "I was having dinner with some colleagues when two masked militants barged into the restaurant. They fired indiscriminately. I saw three people being shot. The terrorists left the room soon after."
The authorities ordered a holiday in Mumbai, but the otherwise bustling city remained on the edge as terror reigned. The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange were also closed.
On Thursday, a five-kilometre radius in south Mumbai, including the business districts of Cuffe Parade and Nariman Point, was cordoned off.
Train services resumed but there were few passengers.
The Virginia-based mediation group Synchronicity Foundation, which organised the mediation tour of India, said in a statement: "In response to the many inquiries about our program currently being held in India, 25 participants (comprising 16 Americans, four Canadians and five Australians) were participating in a spiritual program being held at the Oberoi hotel in Mumbai.
"We have confirmed that two of our American and two Canadian participants received gunshot wounds. One remains in intensive care with three bullet wounds but is conscious and believed to be out of danger.
"Two others are recovering after surgery and the fourth has been released having been treated for a flesh wound," the statement said, adding two members (both Americans) of the party are currently unaccounted for.
Several eyewitness accounts reported the two being shot in the restaurant and they are feared dead, it said.
"While many of the other participants are still being held in their rooms by authorities at the hotel, we believe them to be in parts of the hotel that have been secured by the police/military", the statement said.
According to local media reports, Helen Connolly, who teaches yoga at the Ah Yogahh studio foundation in Markham on the outskirts of Toronto, also suffered bullet injuries in the terror attack.
She is staying with a local host family after being released from the hospital, and "is doing exceptionally well," the Toronto Star quoted foundation vice president Bobbie Garvey as saying from Mumbai.
When this correspondent called Connolly's phone number, her voicemail message said: "I am away at the moment and will return December 4, so please leave a message or try calling after that date."
-Indo-Asian News Service
