By M H Ahssan
Evidence is mounting of Pakistani links to Mumbai terror.
All roads from the Mumbai terror attacks seem to lead to Pakistan. The only captured terrorist is a Pakistani. He has reportedly revealed that he, along with a large number of heavily armed comrades, also Pakistanis, sailed from Karachi and hijacked an Indian trawler, the Kuber. The trawler has been found, with its crew missing, five miles from the Mumbai seashore. Only the body of their skipper, beheaded al-Qaeda style, was on board.
The pattern of the Mumbai attacks is fundamentally different from preceding terror attacks on Indian soil. Earlier attacks had seen crude explosive devices tacked on to bicycles or motorcycles and left in public places, triggered by timers or mobile phones. The Mumbai terrorists, however, were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, hand grenades and huge quantities of sophisticated explosives. They were trained in sustained combat and targeted not just Indians but foreigners as well, suggesting animus against India joined with a wider anti-western agenda. We can’t overlook the evidence anymore. This is far beyond the scope of indigenous Indian groups.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated indirectly, and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee directly, that the attack was linked to Pakistan. American intelligence officials have said to US media evidence is mounting that a Pakistani militant group, most likely the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was responsible for the attack. New Delhi now needs to collate all the evidence and present it before international agencies. It’s also time for New Delhi to work together with the US, the UK and other concerned governments to evolve a common approach towards Pakistan, which is the world’s central terror hub. Meanwhile, the British foreign office is investigating reports that at least two of the terrorists were British citizens with Pakistani roots.
Even if one presumes that elements in the Pakistani government are not involved in the attacks, evidence points to Pakistani soil being used to mount these attacks on India. Islamabad can’t escape without accounting for this. It has promised full cooperation in investigating the attacks. In which case, how about apprehending Hafiz Saeed, who heads the LeT and roams freely in Pakistani cities, and handing him over to New Delhi or to international agencies? Or, how about rolling up the terror training camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir?
President Asif Ali Zardari’s government had announced that ISI chief Shuja Pasha would visit New Delhi but the decision was overturned, raising questions about who’s really in charge in Pakistan. The Bush administration has, till recently, tended to be indulgent towards the Pakistani military and the ISI but president-elect Barack Obama apparently sees things differently. There now needs to be a determined international effort to ensure Pakistan no longer remains the ground zero of terror.
Terror attack on Mumbai is not just about India: Mumbai’s latest encounter with terror was of a kind that the city or the country has not witnessed in recent years. In a testimony to the gravity of this particular assault, international news channels almost matched Indian outfits in tracking the developments by the hour, on the hour. This might be partially because foreign nationals were taken hostage by the terrorists but that’s not the only reason. The world realises that an attack of this nature on India has ramifications not just for this country, but for the global community as well.
Mumbai’s nightmare is being spoken of in the international media as the worst case of terrorism post-9/11. And the strong condemnations, and pledges of solidarity and assistance from various heads of state are only appropriate. Their unequivocal statements will hopefully translate into a shift in the way the world views, and responds to, India’s fight against terrorism. For far too long, the international community has viewed India’s security concerns through the Kashmir prism. But it has been abundantly clear for a while now that the border dispute with Pakistan is only part of the problem.
The real problem lies within Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The violent campaign of extremists in these territories against liberal, democratic values — and their commitment to the establishment of an altered world order, based on their exclusionary religious beliefs — not only destabilises the region but also puts the entire world at grievous risk. India offers itself as an immediate and symbolically potent target.
By striking India these terrorists are striking at the free world. It is therefore pertinent that powerful global players in the western world, and China, exert their influence on the administrations in Islamabad and Dhaka and compel them to put their houses in order. India, on its part, must also invest more in global efforts to fight the scourge of ideologically-driven terror.
But before that, it must step up diplomatic efforts in coordination with the rest of the world’s affected countries. To do this, it needs to disseminate a strong message through the global media about the sources of terror today. It needs simultaneously to develop a well-crafted communications strategy matching up to global standards. The world’s sympathy and understanding are there now. But not for long if New Delhi fails to make its case convincingly in the days to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment