The Pakistani Spectator

Despite allout efforts to woo a bruised neighbour, India is not prepared to resume peace talks stalled by the Mumbai carnage of November 26, 2008, in which 164 people were killed.  New Delhi has accused “Pakistan state” involvement and set a pre-condition of Pakistan taking action against the perpetrators, including prosecution of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group that India claims is the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. The 69-page Indian Dossier titled “Mumbai Terrorist Attacks (November 26-29, 2008)” posted to Pakistan as evidences, lacked credible evidence to stand in the court of Law to bring the perpetrators to justice.  Nevertheless, Pakistan has acknowledged that some part of the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan by non-state actors, acting upon their own wish.  Pakistan raided militant organizations and arrested Zakiur Rehman Lakhavi and Hafiz Saeed (founder of the LeT and head of JuD) along with 124 activists throughout Pakistan.  Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was arrested in Pakistan in December 2008.  However, Lahore High Court released him in June, 2009, in the absence of ‘concrete evidence’ against him.  The Government of Pakistan has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court for his re-arrest. While expressing dismay over Hafiz Saeed’s release, India’s Federal Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram termed Lahore High Court‘s verdict of “insufficient grounds to detain Saeed” to a “charade.”

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has become bone of contention between the two countries. It is very interesting that instead of appreciating Pakistan’s efforts against Mumbai suspects, India has hinged everything on the prosecution of Hafiz Saeed.  How can Pakistan take action against Hafiz Saeed on the basis of “hearsay & conjectures”? So much so, Indian interior minister has visited to urge US to intervene in the issue and press Pakistan to act against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, is an uncalled for development.  Becoming wary of Indian proddings, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has invited his Indian counterpart for a “public debate” on the issue of Mumbai attacks. Undoubtedly, Pakistan has done more than India as far as investigations into the Mumbai attack are concerned. Pakistan started the trial of 26/11 incidents in a transparent manner.  However, time will be required to access the genuineness of information provided by India.  The hearing is likely to be completed in two or two and half months.  India not to cast doubt on Pakistan‘s sincerity as Pakistan respected Indian courts likewise India should respect Pakistan‘s courts. What India has provided so far in the case of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is not sufficient for any legal action. Under immense Indian pressure, Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice against Hafiz Saeed based on the confession statement of Ajmal Qasab - the lone survivor of Mumbai attackers. The prominent Indian newspaper “The Hindu” criticized the Interpol for issuing such an ambiguous and vague notice.

Christine Fair, a renowned political analyst at the RAND Corporation analyzed that the attacks though attributed largely to Pakistan LeT.  However, there is a change in the initial Indian stand – from total complicity of Pakistan-based LeT to the possible assistance of local facilitators.  Until recently, India has generally dismissed the importance of home-grown Islamist militant groups and has focused instead upon the Pakistan-based groups.  Many Western experts feel that such precision planning and execution in the Mumbai attacks would not have been possible without the involvement of some local dissatisfied and underprivileged community.  Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, while admitting Indian involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks on 26/11, blamed Indian Muslims for fomenting troubles in India supported by Pakistan-based groups LeT & JeM.  It is very worrisome that marginalization of Indian Muslims is directly proportional to the increase in radicalism leading to the incident such as Mumbai attacks.

Apart from the rise of Muslims radicalism in India, Hindu extremist organizations and its leader are proliferating hatred propaganda against Pakistan, Islam or Muslim.  India media disclosed that serving Indian Lt Col Purohit along with others army officers have accepted the responsibility of destroying Samjhota Express that took the toll of 300 innocent Pakistani lives. India did not share any information in Samjhota Express case, despite we need it and consider it very important. India should cooperate with Pakistan in this regard. Pakistan has the right to demand for handing over of Lt Col Purohit involved in the blast of Samjhota Express.  Pakistani people also wanted the culprits involved in Samjhota Express tragedy to be booked on justice.

There is enough of Indian involvement in Swat.  The Swat insurgency was planned by Indian military officers posted to several locations in Afghanistan. The destruction of schools of girls and boys and the slaughter of innocent people were done on orders from Indian assets inside the nearby Afghan provinces. Some of the Indian indulgences are: (a) The Mumbai terrorist act appears to be a joint Israeli and Indian event. Both countries have secret cooperation in the areas of intelligence and countering Muslim groups. (b)  The lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Qassab is of Indian origin playing the role of a Pakistani terrorist. (c) Indian explanations regarding the bodies of the rest of the terrorists, their DNA samples, their origins, are misleading and confusing. (d) Important parts of the Mumbai operation were planned and conducted outside Pakistan. Considering these factors, Pakistan should be under no compulsion to accept the Indian version of events while apprising the same to the international community.

Pakistan has shown its seriousness in Mumbai terror attacks completing the probe in record time after the information was provided to Pakistani investigation team.  India took 90 days to submit the challans of the culprits, while Pakistan submitted the challans within 76 days of the information provided to Pakistan.   India is wrongly blaming Pakistan for delay in the investigation, while the delay was on their part as they submitted Ajmal Kasab’s statement after four months of the Pakistan’s request.  Similarly, the DNA report of Ajmal Kasab and the answers to 32 questions sent by Pakistani investigation team were not given in time.  Pakistan has successfully completed the investigation against the five accused of the Mumbai terror attacks.  The accused included Hammad Amin Sadiq, Zaki ur Rehman, Mazhar Iqbal, Abdul Wajid and Shahid Jamil.  The Hammad Amin facilitated funds and hideouts for Mumbai terror attacks, Zaki ur Rehman was the mastermind of terrorist attacks on Mumbai and Commander of LeT, Mazhar Iqbal was handler, Abdul Wajid was facilitator and expert of computer networks and Shahid Jamil was also facilitator and crew member of “Al-Hussaini” and “Al-Fouz”.  In addition, 13 more accused have been declared proclaimed offenders (POs) for their alleged involvement in Mumbai terror attacks. These included: Mohammad Amjid Khan facilitator in Karachi, Iftikhar Ali for depositing $ 250 in Islamabad to obtain VoIP connection for terrorists’ communication, Shahid Ghafoor Captain/ Tandol of boat Al-Hussaini and Al-Fouz and crew members Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Usman, Ateeq ur Rehman, Riaz Ahmad, Muhammad Mushtaq, Muhammad Naeem, Abdul Shakoor, Muhammad Sabir Salfi, Muhammad Usman, Shakil Ahmad.  The performance of Pakistani investigation team is laudable for successfully completing the investigation.

The normalisation of Pak-India relations is the hallmark to the stability and peace in the region. Pakistan called for an end to the ‘blame game’ which is not in the interest of the region, as it will not help resolve thorny issues, including the issue of Kashmiris. India should appreciate and accept what Pakistan has done so far in the Mumbai case, if it really wants Pakistan to cooperate.  In this connection, Pakistan has suggested of fielding a joint Indo-Pak team to probe Mumbai terror attack and expanding the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism by including intelligence agencies from both sides to reduce mistrust accentuated by the 26/11 strike. India must reconsider its decision of suspending the composite dialogue between India and Pakistan.  The decision was reactionary and showed no understanding of political reality.  Justice demands that Pakistan be defended, more so because Pakistan is a country that has remained frontline state in GWOT since 2001. The international community has acknowledged sacrifices and Pakistan’s role in war on terror by extending full cooperation to resolve the issues confronting the country. Instead of moving to the United States, India needs to stop the blame game and talks with Pakistan. India needs to give Pakistan a chance to investigate in Mumbai attacks that requires time to investigate proofs given by India.