Pakistan Agencies Aided Mumbai Attack, Singh Says
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Official agencies in Pakistan supported the militants who attacked Mumbai in November, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, making Indias sharpest accusation yet that Pakistans government was involved.
There is enough evidence to show that, given the sophistication and military precision of the attack it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan, Singh told chief ministers of Indias states today at a meeting on counter-terrorism.
India yesterday gave Pakistan and other governments what it said was evidence linking Pakistani elements to the Nov. 26- 29 attack on Mumbai, increasing pressure on its neighbor to act against the militant group India has blamed for the assault. It is unclear how long Pakistan will need to judge the evidence and decide on any action, Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Pakistans president, told Indias NDTV television today.
The comments by Singh are the most explicit accusation so far of a role by Pakistani official agencies, said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management, a New Delhi-based research group. They come as India appealed this week to foreign governments, including Pakistani allies such as the U.S. and China, to press Pakistan to help bring the plotters behind the attacks to justice.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the attacks in Indias financial hub that killed 164 people, Singh said. Pakistan has been using terrorism as an instrument of state policy, he said.
In the six-decade Indian-Pakistani dispute over Kashmir, Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate gave arms and logistical help to Lashkar-e-Taiba for attacks on India in the 1990s, Indian and U.S. officials and independent Pakistani analysts say. While Pakistan formally banned Lashkar and several other jihadist groups in 2002, it never prosecuted their leaders, who remained active, according to Hassan Abbas, a former senior Pakistani police official who is now a researcher on Pakistani affairs at Harvard University.
India has demanded that Pakistan dismantle Lashkar and other militant networks on its territory whose attacks have increased tensions between the neighbors, and interrupted a five-year-old peace process.
Indian Politics
Singhs government will seek re-election in May amid public demands for improved security. At least 1,500 people were killed in attacks last year. India has been combating rebels in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and Maoist guerrillas in the southern and eastern regions.
Today, even as Pakistan engages in whipping up war hysteria, our nation remains steadfastly united, Singh said. If anything, the process of national consolidation is becoming stronger.
Singh said Pakistanis have infiltrated terrorists into India through Nepal and Bangladesh as well as the India-Pakistan cease-fire line in Kashmir, which forms the de-facto border between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
During the past year, we faced a severe challenge from terrorist groups operating from outside the country, Singh said. Many of them act in association with hostile intelligence agencies in these countries, he said without identifying them.
War Unaffordable
Singh repeated his governments commitment to confront Pakistan through diplomacy rather than armed force. With the global economic crisis slowing growth in both India and Pakistan, neither can afford a military clash, officials say.
The U.S. fears a conflict would scuttle Pakistans attempts to contain the Taliban insurgency along its border with Afghanistan and has urged restraint on both India and Pakistan.
We must convince the world community that states that use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy must be isolated and compelled to abandon such tactics, Singh said.
Terrorism, political extremism and insurgency are major challenges to Indias internal security.
Leftwing extremism is primarily indigenous and home grown, Singh said. Terrorism, on the other hand, is largely sponsored from outside the country, mainly Pakistan.
Singh called for a strengthening of intelligence and more training and equipment for security forces. Both the center and the state governments must attend to this national task with speed, efficiency and utmost dedication.
Bloomberg.com: Asia