Mumbai attack: Pak Role Under Scrutiny

[tekisui]

WASHINGTON: Strategic gurus and security analysts in the US and from across the world are examining Pakistan's role in terrorism following yet
another terror episode in India ending with fingers pointed at its widely-reviled neighbour.

While initial reports from India suggested the Mumbai carnage was a localised attack by militant malcontents in India because of the "Deccan Mujaheddin" decoy that was used to claim responsibility, evidence cited by Indian army and security experts based on phone intercepts, nature of weaponry, mode of entry by sea etc., has quickly focused the attention on Pakistan.

The statement by India's normally cautious and restrained prime minister, Manmohan Singh, that groups based across the border, a thinly-disguised reference to Pakistan, has also galvanized the strategic and security community into examining Islamabad's role in the region that has already been subjected to scrutiny in the past.

"From a tactical perspective most terrorist attacks in India have been carried out through the use of improvised explosive devices planted on bicycles, motorcycles and cars, and triggered by timers or mobile telephones. In contrast, according to press reports, the attackers involved in the latest Mumbai violence were armed only with Kalashnikov assault rifles, principally, and hand grenades," Jane's Country Risk Daily Report noted in an assessment on Thursday that discounted an internal insurgent attack.

The report also said the apparent focus on killing or capturing foreign businesspeople, specifically US and UK nationals, which has never occurred before, also suggested "a wider global anti-Western agenda." This stands in contrast to the national issues that appeared to motivate Indian Mujahideen, it said.

Experts also said the heavy weaponry, grenades, and the sustained attack pointed to intense training and planning beyond the scope of indigenous groups.

Other intelligence experts and websites also zeroed in on Pakistan's role in the region. "There have been reports from credible sources for years that Pakistani intelligence has used terrorist groups to conduct war-by-proxy against traditional rival India. With the latest horrific attacks throughout Mumbai, evidence continues to accumulate that may add new substance to such reports," the website Washington Examiner noted.

(snip)

What has added potency to the latest charges against Islamabad is the Bush administration's own assessment - leaked to the US media - that Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI was linked to the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul some weeks back that killed nearly 60 people including a much-admired Indian diplomat and a respected senior defense official.

more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/USA/Mumbai_attack_Pak_role_under_scrutiny/articleshow/3766765.cms

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This appears to me a insurgent attack used by and funded by the ISI.

[Taverner]

1. It wouldn't surprise me

[varun]

2. The fact that they targeted westerners

tells me that this is not a home grown anti Indian group. This group has links to Al-Qaeda or anti-Western Jihadi groups.

And there are many of those in Pakistan.

[tekisui]

3. I don't think there is any evidence that they are link to Al-Qaeda.

More likely it is connected to LeT and ISI, Pakistani organizations.

[burythehatchet]

4. So, since the United States, through its funding of the ISI is a state sponsor of

terrorism....

[tekisui]

5. What goes around comes around, I guess.