Showing posts with label Mumbai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mumbai. Show all posts

Thursday, February 12, 2009

India welcomes Mumbai admission


BBC

India welcomes Pakistan's action

India has described the admission by Pakistan that last year's Mumbai terror attacks were partly planned on its soil as a "positive development".

A foreign ministry statement said India also expected Pakistan to take steps to dismantle the "infrastructure of terrorism" on its territory.

Pakistan's interior minister said suspects arrested could be prosecuted.

The admission was condemned by militant groups in Kashmir, who accused the government of bowing to US pressure.

This is the first sign of an easing in tension between the countries over the attacks, a BBC correspondent says.

An Indian soldier surveys the Taj Mahal Palace Tower Hotel in Mumbai, during the attack in November
The attacks on Mumbai had overshadowed relations for weeks

Many in Delhi are genuinely surprised at what some see as a major turn-around by the Pakistani authorities, Sanjoy Majumder reports from the Indian capital.

Relations had deteriorated considerably after the attacks by 10 gunmen which claimed 170 lives.

Pakistan denied any responsibility in the immediate aftermath of the attacks but later admitted that the sole gunman captured alive was one of its citizens.

Top Indian officials are now meeting to examine the information that has been handed over before determining their next move.


'By boat from Karachi'


"It remains India's goal to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai to book and to follow this process through to the end," the Indian foreign ministry statement said.

Mr Malik conceded that a foreign terror plot was hatched in Pakistan

"We would also expect that the government of Pakistan take credible steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan."

Earlier, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said eight suspects from the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group could face prosecution.

"Some part of the conspiracy has taken place in Pakistan," he told a news conference in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

He said six of the suspects were in custody while two others remained at large.

"The attackers left from Karachi on a boat hired from Balochistan [Province]," Mr Malik said.

"An e-mail claiming responsibility for the attack was sent by Zarrar Shah of the Lashkar-e-Taiba."

Mr Shah was arrested at a Lashkar camp in December in Pakistani-administered Kashmir by security forces.

Another man arrested at the time was Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, described as Lashkar's chief of operations.

Mr Malik named Hamad Amin, a Karachi resident currently in Pakistani custody, as the mastermind behind the attacks.


Militant anger


The main alliance of militant groups in Kashmir, the United Jihad Council (UJC), condemned the Pakistani government for admitting to Lashkar-e-Taiba's involvement.

A UJC spokesman, Syed Sadaqat Hussain, said the government had done an about-turn after US envoy Richard Holbrooke's visit.

"Pakistan has succumbed to American pressure and fallen victim to an Indo-US conspiracy," he said.

Separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that Pakistan did "not have an independent foreign policy" and had "bowed before the US".

It took more than one month for Islamabad's authorities to recognized their part in the Mumbai attacks. Maybe the visit in South Asia of US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Hoolbroke, is having its share in this. As long as it happens, the reasons are less important. It would be interesting to see what practical steps will follow in fighting terrorism and/by finding a solution for the Kashmir dispute.


See also:

Voice of America - Hoolbroke's mission to South Asia

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Bangladesh Militants Involved in Mumbai Attacks, Dawn Reports




Jay Shankar
Bloomberg
February 5


Pakistani investigators probing the terrorist attacks on India’s financial hub of Mumbai have evidence a banned militant group in Bangladesh was involved, the Dawn newspaper reported, citing officials it didn’t identify.

Investigators have determined that the Harkat-nl-Jihad-al Islami organization planned the Nov. 26-29 assault and trained the terrorists who took part, according to the report. The attack killed 164 people.

The Bangladesh connection will be included in a report to be submitted by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency to the government and will be shared with India, according to the newspaper. The report may indicate the Mumbai attack was carried out by an “international network of Muslim fundamentalists,” Dawn said.

India blames Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attack. It presented Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s government with a dossier last month that it said proved the involvement of Pakistani nationals. Gilani said on Feb. 1 his government has investigated information provided by India on the attacks and will respond.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net


See also:


Reuters-US' Holbrooke to visit India


Reuters - Pakistan must cooperate with India on Mumbai




Saturday, January 24, 2009

Pakistani peace mission in India


Sanjoy Majumder

BBC News, Delhi


A Pakistani peace delegation made up of politicians, activists and journalists has travelled to India - the first such visit since the Mumbai attacks.

During three days in Delhi they will meet politicians and other Indians in an effort to reduce tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

India blames the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks on Pakistan-based groups and wants Islamabad to crack down on them.

The group will have only limited access to the Indian government.

They are meeting politicians and parliamentarians from both the governing Congress Party as well as left-wing parties, but no member of the cabinet or senior official.


'Challenging terrorism'


Despite the peace mission's limited mandate, the group of 24 Pakistani activists who crossed the land border into India and are now meeting their counterparts in Delhi feel it is worth the effort.

"We decided to come to meet not just our counterparts but also people in the government and outside and to see what is the way forward," says Asma Jahangir, delegation leader and chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

"Certainly war is not the way forward."

India has handed over a dossier to Pakistan that it says contains evidence linking the Mumbai attacks to elements in that country.

But while there is sympathy for Delhi's position, Ms Jahangir believes that India is missing the point.

"The major issue is how do the governments of the region get together to challenge terrorism, which is not only spreading in Pakistan but throughout the region," she said.

In the past, interactions of this nature have had some success in pushing both governments to do business with each other.

But some believe that the mood in India has changed post-Mumbai, making efforts such as this one that much more challenging.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Lessons learned?

Since 9/11 are they any lessons learned, useful in order to prevent similar attacks? Anne Applebaum is asking a couple of interesting questions regarding the overall level of efficiency in the fight against terrorism, in the light of the last terrorist attacks in Mumbai. When, again, everything occurred (again) out of any intelligence prediction.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Mumbai: The Hunt


The bloodshed in Mumbai is over, with 124 people killed and 284 wounded. The responsibility was claimed by a group called Decan Mujahideen.
The police is looking also after a possible mastermind of the attack, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, suspected of other terrorist attacks on India's soil.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Terror hits India again



At least 101 people were killed and 290 injured in a terrorist attack on two luxury hotels in Mumbai. The coordinated attacks targeted also popular restaurants, a rail terminus and a Jewish Centre. This is the most serious, of a long series of terrorist activities hitting Mumbai and India in the last months.


CNN: Testimonies of witnesses


Key-developments, Hindu Times


BBC: Map of the locations


CSM: Home-grown terrorism in India


Council on Foreign Relations, on India's terrorism


TIME reporting


Twitter discussions


Mumbai profile