Mumbai Attacks

[dr.umer]

India’s Suspicion of Pakistan Clouds U.S. Strategy in Region ​

November 27, 2008

NY Times

By JANE PERLEZ

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The terrorist attacks in Mumbai occurred as India and Pakistan, two big, hostile and nuclear-armed nations, were delicately moving toward improved relations with the encouragement of the United States and in particular the incoming Obama administration.

Those steps could quickly be derailed, with deep consequences for the United States, if India finds Pakistani fingerprints on the well-planned operation. India has raised suspicions. Pakistan has vehemently denied them.

But no matter who turns out to be responsible for the Mumbai attacks, their scale and the choice of international targets will make the agenda of the new American administration harder.

Reconciliation between India and Pakistan has emerged as a basic tenet in the approaches to foreign policy of President-elect Barack Obama, and the new leader of Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus. The point is to persuade Pakistan to focus less of its military effort on India, and more on the militants in its lawless tribal regions who are ripping at the soul of Pakistan.

A strategic pivot by Pakistan’s military away from a focus on India to an all-out effort against the Taliban and their associates in Al Qaeda, the thinking goes, would serve to weaken the militants who are fiercely battling American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

But attacks as devastating as those that unfolded in Mumbai — whether ultimately traced to homegrown Indian militants or to others from abroad, or a combination — seem likely to sour relations, fuel distrust and hamper, at least for now, America’s ambitions for reconciliation in the region.

The early signs were that India, where state elections are scheduled next week, would take a tough stand and blame its neighbor. In his statement to the nation, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who in the past has been relatively moderate in his approach to Pakistan, sounded a harsh tone.

He said the attacks probably had “external linkages,” and were carried out by a group “based outside the country.” There would be a “cost” to “our neighbors,” he said, if their territory was found to have been used as a launching pad.

The prime minister did not name Pakistan. But everyone — certainly on Pakistani television news programs Thursday night — knew that is what he meant, and that the long history of Pakistani-Indian finger-pointing had returned.

The Hindustan Times, an influential Indian newspaper, reported Thursday that India’s security agencies believed that the multiple attacks in Mumbai were by an Islamic militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, operating out of Pakistan.

According to the newspaper, the special secretary at the Home Affairs Ministry, M. L. Kumawat, said that Lashkar-e-Taiba was a “distinct possibility.” The newspaper stopped short of saying that Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, had helped Lashkar-e-Taiba plan and execute the Mumbai operation, a role that the Indian government has ascribed to the Pakistani intelligence agency in past terrorist attacks.

But if India discovers that the intelligence agency is connected to the Mumbai attacks — even rogue elements of the agency — the slightly warmer relationship that has been fostered between the neighbors would no doubt return to a deep freeze. And that may have partly been the motivation of whoever carried out the attacks.

“If the Indians believe this was Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al Qaeda, as they are suggesting, we could see a crisis like 2002 with enormous pressure to do something,” an American official said on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. “The key will be if the Indians see an ISI hand.”

After a dozen people died in an assault on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi in December 2001, India blamed a jihadist group, Jaish-e-Muhammad, and said Inter-Services Intelligence had backed the operation. For the next year the neighbors remained on the brink of war with forces massed along their 1,800-mile border.

According to a new book, “The Search for Al Qaeda,” by Bruce Riedel, an adviser on South Asia to Mr. Obama, Osama bin Laden worked with the Pakistani intelligence agency in the late 1980s to create Lashkar-e-Taiba as a jihadist group intended to challenge Indian rule in Kashmir.

But the new president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, appears to be acting according to America’s playbook for better relations with India.

A businessman at heart, Mr. Zardari understands the benefit of strong trade between India and Pakistan. Now on life support from the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan would profit immensely from the normalization of relations.

Mr. Zardari has called for visa-free travel, a huge step from a situation in which there are not even scheduled flights between the nation’s capitals. Speaking to an Indian audience over a video link from Islamabad last weekend, Mr. Zardari proposed a “no first nuclear strike” policy with India. The idea came as a shock to the Pakistani Army, which has always refused to commit to a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons.

Going further, Mr. Zardari said South Asia should be a nuclear-weapon-free zone, which could be achieved by a “nonnuclear treaty.”

“I can get around my Parliament to this view, but can you get around the Indian Parliament to this view?” he asked.

Pakistani officials said the president’s sentiments did not reflect the policies of the powerful Pakistani security establishment, whose existence has been predicated since partition of the subcontinent 61 years ago on viewing India as the enemy.

It will take more than off-the-cuff remarks intended to please a dinner audience to change these longstanding policies, Pakistani newspaper editorials said.

“He wants improved relations with India,” said Sajjan M.Gohel, director for international security of the Asia-Pacific Foundation in London. “But Zardari needs the full support of the Pakistani security apparatus, and he doesn’t have it.”

Some of the moves toward improving the atmosphere between India and Pakistan were under way on the night of the Mumbai attacks. The Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on a four-day trip to India, had just finished discussions with the Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, on terrorism, trade and the loosening of visa restrictions when the terrorists struck.

Visibly moved by the attacks, Mr. Qureshi appeared on Indian television on Thursday, calling the attacks “barbaric.” He urged both sides not to resort to “knee-jerk” reactions and to drop the usual “blame game.” Across the board, senior Pakistani officials condemned the attacks.

But there was also immediate anxiety among Pakistanis about the Indian prime minister’s unequivocal tone. “It is unfair to blame Pakistan or Pakistanis for these acts of terrorism even before an investigation is undertaken,” said the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani. “Instead of scoring political points at the expense of a neighboring country that is itself a victim of terrorism, it is time for India’s leaders to work together with Pakistan’s elected leaders in putting up a joint front against terrorism.”

Unless care is exercised, one of the apparent goals of the Mumbai attack will be achieved, said Moonis Ahmar, a lecturer in international relations at Karachi University. And the new American agenda of reconciliation between India and Pakistan will be sacrificed. “It’s a well-thought-out conspiracy to destabilize relations between the two countries,” Mr. Ahmar said.

 

[Munir]

Indian sources... I have my reservations. It is arrogantly written that he is summoned... Maybe the beg him to come. We will see...

 

[anand]

^ i hope they have National Bank of Pakistan credit cards also,they were part tourist also

Terrorists also need money, id cards which may be fake, to enter get accommodation (remember they don't sleep on footpaths, instead they booked luxury hotels). They also need phones to contact. All these things may be fake, stolen from others, acquired on false name etc. but fact is, security agencies found mobile phone (from a terrorist who was shot dead), Credit cards (which is very much required to survive in mumbai).
Last but not least, no one form Indian government has accused involvement of Pakistani Govt in this.

 

[Vinod2070]

Pakistan is ready to cooperate and assist where ever she can. We have more experience with AQ than India, I'm sure any asistance would be helpful.

If that can happen in this instance, it would be a new beginning in our relations and a new dawn for the region.

Amen to that.

 

[Halaku Khan]

Well he has a lot to explain & share.

I hope India doesn't let the Pakistanis off the hook this time.

 

[Munir]

The timing, the way it is done... It is indeed not a simple something. It can be lined in the same bloack as 911... If you look at the complexity then the Mariot was pathetic and amaturistic. I think it is wise for both India and Pakistan to form a secret military group to avoid this in the future. If the both continue blaiming or defending then it will be a win for those that acted...

 

[shchinese]

India is still using the 1895 Lee-Enfield rifle?

I was thinking they are using some WWII weapon, now I think I was wrong. they are using this shitty rifle designed in 1895!



this is the typical things you have in those backwater state where the rich stay in 5 star hotels while the poor are protecting those rich people using rifles designed 110+ years ago.

now this is a very good news.

Lee-Enfield rifle:
Lee-Enfield - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[x_man]

....Dr Mannmohan Singh on Friday asked his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raja Gillani to send the intelligence chief for information sharing.

According to reports, Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will also accompany Pasha to India.....

Unprecedented, an action never seen before……

Pakistan would have never accepted sending her Army Chief along with ISI head if they had anything to do with the terrorist attacks….Its as simple...

It’s a tragedy what happened in Mumbai and I am certain that Pakistan will do anything in her capacity to help India in getting to the culprits ….I am sure that our Indian forum members will appreciate this without any further doubt….

 

[Imran Khan]

Not because they are clueless, but because they have clues to show that pakistani elements not necessarily GoP are involved in this attack. Sooner or later it will be shown to public what evidence is gathered.

i hope its not like this drama


Monday's Samjhauta Express train fire bombing in India:

Sketches of bomb suspects released:

".... the sketches were based on eyewitness accounts of two men who jumped off the train before a pair of explosions hit passenger cars, killing at least 68 people.One man was in his mid-20s and the other was in his mid-30s, police said. Police said the two boarded the train in New Delhi and rode it for a while before they started an argument with railroad police on the train. They told the officers they got on the wrong train and persuaded them to let them jump off. Fifteen minutes after they jumped, the blasts occurred."




were is indian army colonel in these Sketches ??????????

 

[Neo]

If that can happen in this instance, it would be a new beginning in our relations and a new dawn for the region.

Amen to that.

Vinod,

We have acknowledged AQ to be a bigger threat to national sucurity than India, its time you guys did the same and broke with age old tradition to blame Pakistan or ISI for every single crime commited on your soil. Every day you ignore AQ is another precious day lost and you become more vulnerable and exposed to AQ.

Pakistan today is caught up in the middle of WoT, we're facing threats from inside aswell as outside only because we ignored the interior element for so long and paid a heavy price for our ignorance...as a matter of fact we're still paying it. Learn from our mistakes and join hands to fight the phenom together.

 

[dr.umer]

India cannot pin all the blame on outsiders​

28 Nov 2008

Times UK

Images of that great Bombay monument, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, engulfed in flames and thick billowing smoke cannot help but recall the collapsing twin towers of 9/11. The attack seems to bear all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda operation.

The terrorists chose Bombay (Mumbai), the New York of India; they targeted iconic buildings - the Taj and the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station, the flamboyant mini-St Pancras that is redolent of the Raj-era glory days. The terrorists are reported to have been daring in their approach - they arrived by sea not far from the Raj's 1911 monument to itself, the basalt Gateway of India.

The Bombay outrage is a reminder of how crucial South Asia is in the creation of radical Islamist terrorism. Although the US often points the finger at Europe as its main incubator, it is in the sub-continent and the surrounding arc of states, simmering with ethnic and religious rivalries, that Islamist extremism thrives.

India has been plagued by more run-of-the-mill domestic terrorism in recent years, but this was the first full-scale anti-Western attack and Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, was quick to assert that it was the work of outsiders.

There is evidence to support his claim. The targeting of British and US citizens as hostages in the two hotels is a novel development. So too is the use of AK47s and commando tactics. In style and execution it was closest to attacks in the Saudi city of Khobar in May, 2004, when oil installations were targeted by apparently well-trained, Sten-gun-wielding paramilitaries who seized Western workers as hostages.

The timing of the attack, likely to derail efforts by the incoming Obama Administration to pursue a more constructive approach to the War on Terror, also seems too convenient to be mere coincidence.

But unlike 9/11 there is evidence of an entirely domestic element at play. In recent months there has been a spate of bombings in Indian cities.

Responsibility has been claimed by the Indian Mujahadin - one of several fronts for the Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi). It is through Simi, Indian officials fear, that international terrorist networks have begun to penetrate more deeply into India - often through links with the Gulf.

Founded in the late 1970s as a study group, Simi became involved in violence after the Hindu nationalist destruction of the Ayodhya mosque in 1992 and the Bombay riots of 1993. Banned after 9/11, it developed an underground network throughout India and Bangladesh. In the past 18 months there have been signs of a new international element in its activities. After the Jaipur bombings this summer, the Indian Mujahadin threatened foreign tourists. There is speculation of links with Gulf-based jihadist organisations.

However, terrorism in India is by no means an exclusively Muslim practice. Terrorist violence is, sadly, endemic. In the past four years India has suffered the highest rate of civilian death by political violence after Iraq. It is at present experiencing a form of politics more akin to Italy's violent “Years of Lead” in the 1970s than Gandhi's Golden Age of Ahimsa (non-violence).

In its interiors, far-left Naxalites have waged an intermittent guerrilla war for more than 30 years; in the 1980s the Khalistan-Punjab crisis claimed 40,000 lives, and the insurgency in Kashmir another 90,000. And in the late 1980s and early 1990s Hindu nationalist extremists used terrorism as an electoral strategy - and appear to be doing so again in this election year with attacks on Indian Christians in eastern and southern India.

But despite the multi-religious and multi-ethnic origins of terrorist violence the Indian authorities have, until recently, tended to treat only Muslims as terrorists. So while Muslim “terrorists” have been subject to extraordinary laws of detention and trial in special courts, Hindu nationalist “rioters” have been tried in regular courts, or, more usually, not been punished at all.

One of the principal complaints of Indian Muslim groups is the failure to bring to trial any of the Hindu ringleaders responsible for pogroms in Bombay in 1993 and Gujarat in 2002 in which more than 4,000 Muslims died.

While the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, and international jihadist groups have undoubtedly trained and funded Indian Muslim terrorists, the chief recruiting officer is often the Indian State.

This is especially true at regional and state level where the police and judiciary are often “captured” by Hindu political interests that have used anti-terrorist laws to pursue political vendettas. The extreme poverty of many Muslims in India, whose status, according to a recent report, was below that of the “Untouchable” caste of Hindus, has increased frustration.

While “Untouchable” and other low-caste groups are actively promoted into universities and prestigious state jobs, India's 150 million Muslims, who make up 13 per cent of the population, hold only 3 per cent of state posts. They are even less well represented in the police.

There are signs that the present Congress-led coalition recognises these problems. On taking office in 2004, Dr Singh's Government abolished the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota), which, the Prime Minister argued, was propagating rather than preventing terrorism.

Another positive sign was the recent arrest of Hindu nationalist terrorist cells in Maharashtra. After the Delhi bombs in September the Government announced the creation of a central intelligence agency to monitor Islamist terror. Given the intelligence failures emerging in the wake of the Bombay catastrophe, this can only be welcomed

The immediate effect of the Bombay attacks will probably be to fuel the recovery of the Hindu nationalist BJP and its supporters, who are demanding the reimposition of the Pota laws. We can only hope that better counsel prevails and India does not lapse into a new cycle of violence and revenge.

Maria Misra is the author of Vishnu's Crowded Temple: India and the Great Rebellion (Penguin) and a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford

 

[Neo]

India cannot pin all the blame on outsiders​

28 Nov 2008

Times UK

Excellent!
More and more western media is looking into the possibility of other elements than Pakistan or ISI alone.

 

[fatman17]

DAWN-TV reporting that on the request of Indian PM, the Pak-PM has agreed to send the Head of ISI to India to support the indian investigation.

This is a major breakthrough in relations. now how India and Pak use this to solve this tradegy will require a lot of "out-of-the-box" co-operation between both intelligence communities.

some reports are suggesting that Army chief Gen.Kiyani will also accompany the ISI chief.

 

[Pk_Thunder]

ISI chief to visit India: PM's office​

Updated at: 1543 PST, Friday, November 28, 2008

ISI chief to visit India: PM ISLAMABAD: The chief of Pakistan's military intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), will soon go to India to help investigate the Mumbai attacks, the premier's spokesman told foreign news agency.
ISI lieutenant general Ahmed Shuja Pasha will leave shortly to share intelligence with Indian security officials, said premier Yousuf Raza Gilani's spokesman, Zahid Bashir.

"Initially, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a request to our prime minister that he should send the ISI Chief to India to help in ongoing investigations and further intelligence sharing," he said.

"The prime minister of Pakistan responded positively and said both governments need to work out modalities for the early arrival of the

 

[dr.umer]

Elite commandos battle Mumbai militants as India and Pakistan square up​

BRIAN FERGUSON

Scotsman UK

TENSIONS between India and Pakistan were mounting last night as elite commandos continued to battle terrorists in Mumbai.

As the death toll reached 119, with at least 315 wounded, a war of words flared between the two countries.

Reports emerged last night that three militants involved in Wednesday's attacks had confessed to membership of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which had earlier denied any involvement.

The authorities last night admitted the situation in Mumbai was still not under control, more than 24 hours after the attacks began.

Dozens of people were still thought to be being held hostage at two luxury hotels and a nearby Jewish centre. Up to 12 gunmen were believed to be holed up in the three sites last night.

Throughout yesterday, commandos brought hostages, trapped guests and corpses out of the five-star Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels, from which frequent gunfire and explosions could be heard.

It is thought more than 50 people are still being held hostage in the Oberoi, with a handful more still awaiting rescue in the Taj Mahal, where three gunmen were killed in a bid to bring an end to the siege.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, said: "The situation is still not under control, and we are trying to flush out any more terrorists hiding inside the two hotels."

Officers from Scotland Yard flew to Mumbai last night to help the authorities restore order.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, yesterday triggered anger in Pakistan by declaring it was "evident" that the group which carried out the attacks "was based outside the country" and warned its neighbours "the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated".

The Indian navy had earlier stoked fears of Pakistan's involvement in the attacks by revealing that officers had boarded a cargo vessel which had recently arrived in Mumbai from Karachi.

Pictures were shown of black and yellow rubber dinghies found by the shore. However, the navy later admitted nothing suspicious had been found on the vessel and it had been released.

Mr Singh did not name Pakistan in his address to the Indian nation, but his remarks drew a swift response from Pakistan's defence minister, Ahmed Mukhtar, who said: "Nobody should blame anyone without any evidence and verification.

"We have nothing to do with these attacks. We condemn these attacks. We should not be blamed like in the past. This will destroy all the goodwill we created together after years of bitterness.

"I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents."

Eyewitnesses said the attackers had specifically targeted Britons and Americans inside the hotels, where dozens of guests were still reported to be hiding last night until given the all-clear by the authorities.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, described the atrocities as "an attack on all of us".

He said the attacks bore some of the marks of al-Qaeda, but stressed it was too early to know if groups linked to the Islamist terrorist network were involved.

"It is very premature to start talking about links to al-Qaeda. The fact that these were co-ordinated attacks, that they were attacks on travel centres as well as on hotels, bears some hallmarks of al-Qaeda, but, equally, that doesn't mean this was an al-Qaeda attack."

At least six foreigners, including a Briton, an Australian, an Italian and a Japanese national, were killed. The Briton was named as Andreas Liveras, 73, the founder of a yacht business, from Nottinghamshire.

Ian Tyler, the chief executive of the construction giant Balfour Beatty, was also caught up in the terror at the Oberoi hotel.

The British High Commission in Delhi has set up a command centre in Mumbai's British Council library, where victims were able to prepare to fly home.

Sir Richard Stagg, the British High Commissioner in India, said he had seen three or four wounded Britons in hospital, but said the total "must be significantly more". UK officials flew to Mumbai yesterday to help Britons caught in the attacks.

The England cricket team postponed its final one-day matches against India amid fears for players' safety. They will fly back to Britain tomorrow, but intend to return to India in time to start a Test on 11 December.