By Rina Chandran
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has appealed to India not to punish his country for last week's attacks in Mumbai, saying militants have the power to precipitate a war in the region, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Zardari, whose wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated by Islamist militants last year, warned that provocation by rogue "non-state actors" posed the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
"Even if the militants are linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think we are fighting?" asked Zardari in an interview with the Financial Times.
Analysts say the Mumbai assaults by Islamist militants, which killed 183 people, bore the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based group blamed for previous attacks in India.
"We live in troubled times where non-state actors have taken us to war before, whether it is the case of those who perpetrated (the) 9/11 (attacks on the United States) or contributed to the escalation of the situation in Iraq," said Zardari.
"Now, events in Mumbai tell us that there are ongoing efforts to carry out copycat attacks by militants. We must all stand together to fight out this menace."
Indian officials have said most, perhaps all, of the 10 attackers who held Mumbai hostage with frenzied attacks using assault rifles and grenades came from Pakistan, a Muslim nation carved out of Hindu-majority India in 1947.
The fallout from the three-day rampage in Mumbai, India's commercial centre, has threatened to unravel India's improving ties with Pakistan and prompted the resignation of India's security minister at the weekend.
CANDLELIGHT VIGILS
Mumbai residents returned to schools and offices on Monday for the first time since the attacks. India's main share index rose around 1 percent, with sentiment helped by a reshuffle of key posts.
Candlelight vigils were held in New Delhi and at various spots in Mumbai on Sunday, with people holding hands, singing songs and holding posters, some in remembrance of victims, others protesting over what they saw as government inaction.
Candles, flowers and pictures were also strewn at the bullet-scarred Cafe Leopold and at the barricades in front of the Taj and Trident hotels, where the gunmen holed themselves up during a 60-hour siege.
More vigils and remembrances were planned in the city, with messages going out as mass texts, e-mails and Facebook messages.
The White House said that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to India on Wednesday.
"Secretary Rice's visit to India is a further demonstration of the United States' commitment to stand in solidarity with the people of India as we all work together to hold these extremists accountable," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.
Rice has been in contact with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in recent days to ease tensions between the states, and this is expected to be a dominant theme in her meetings with Indian officials.
Analysts say the United States could get ensnared in tension between New Delhi and Islamabad, and it may prove to be a setback in the war on Islamic radicals on the Pakistan's western border with Afghanistan.
New Delhi said on Sunday it was raising security to a "war level" and had no doubt of a Pakistani link. There was anger that warnings of an attack appear to have been missed, and the response on the night was slow.
Officials in Islamabad have warned any escalation would force it to divert troops to the Indian border and away from a U.S.-led anti-militant campaign on the Afghan frontier.
"The architects of this calamity in Mumbai have managed to raise a threat on our other (Indian) border. As we have these people on the run along our western border (with Afghanistan), our attention is being diverted at this critical time," Zardari told the Financial Times.
Zardari has vowed to crack down if given proof.
Some Indian security experts rejected the threat.
"It's part of the usual blackmail of the United States that Pakistan does to take more interest in India-Pakistan issues," said B. Raman, a former head of Indian intelligence agency RAW.
"They think this kind of argument will make the United States sit up and take notice of their sensitivities and do something about it," he added, referring to warming ties between Washington and New Delhi, including a nuclear accord.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday he would boost and overhaul the nation's counter-terrorism capabilities, an announcement which came after Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned over the attacks.
(Reporting by New Delhi, Mumbai and Islamabad bureaux; Writing by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Bryson Hull)
