Pakistani Fingerprints in Mumbai

Ever since the Mumbai terrorist attacks last November, India has asserted that Pakistani nationals inside Pakistan were part of the conspiracy to murder and wreak havoc among the population of Mumbai. Pakistan at first denied any connection, then acknowledged that there might be a few Pakistani “rogue elements” who conspired with the attackers. As the weeks wore on, deeper and deeper connections between Pakistan and the Mumbai terrorists were ferreted out and exposed in the Indian press.

Now India has identified two members of Pakistan’s army as conspirators in the case. According to Asia News:

India Says Two Pakistani Officers Among Mumbai Terrorist

Investigators present a list of 37 people involved in last November’s attacks; it includes Indian and Pakistani nationals. Trial should take several months. The 11,000-page charge sheet contains accounts by more than 2,200 witnesses.

Mumbai (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Two members of Pakistan’s military are among the organisers of the Mumbai attack. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam presented a list of 37 people charged with planning and abetting last November’s attacks in Mumbai that killed 179 people in India’s financial hub. Indians and Pakistanis are one list that already included Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker captured by Indian security forces during the attack.

The names and rank of the two Pakistan army officials mentioned were not given, but Rakesh Maria, chief Indian investigator in the case, said they took part in training the gunmen.

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Those charged as key planners of the attacks included Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Indian wing of the militant Islamist Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) group, and senior Lashkar members Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah.

All three are accused of masterminding the attacks.

Looking beyond Mumbai to the rest of India, a recently-released report points the finger at foreign nations that are contributing arms to domestic insurgencies within India. When the Indian government refers to the nefarious activities of “foreign nations”, it’s generally understood that Pakistan heads the list, although others such as China may also be involved.

According to AKI:

India: Report Claims ‘Foreign Nations’ Fuelling Insurgency

New Delhi, 25 Feb. (AKI/Asian Age) — A report claims that insurgency in India is being fuelled by foreign countries, mostly developed nations, who are supplying high-end arms and ammunition to Maoists and insurgents operating in nearly a dozen states in India

Insurgents no longer depend on country-made guns and pistols and have to their disposal US-made carbines, Russian made AK assault rifles, Israeli guns and Chinese pistols which are frequently being used against security forces, according to latest inputs given by security agencies to the Indian home ministry.

The recovery of arms by security forces in 2008 has doubled from the previous year, posing a fresh security concern for security agencies grappling with left-wing extremism.

Russian-made guns are the most popular among insurgents, says the report, while Pakistan-made Pika guns, China-made pistols, as well as Belgium and US-made guns top the list of arms frequently being used by militants against Indian security forces in insurgency-hit Jammu and Kashmir.

The report says that Indian security forces seized 1714 arms from militants in 2008, double from the previous year.

Indicating a steep rise in Maoist activities in Orissa over the last two years, security forces recovered the highest 1040 arms in 2008 as compared to only 27 arms in 2007.

The report reveals that Maoists in Chattisgarh are also manufacturing arms locally, which include guns, bomb projector, pipe guns, mortar shells and revolvers.

Now that Islamabad has ceded formal control of the Swat valley to the Taliban, the subcontinent is teetering on the brink of a new — potentially nuclear — crisis. Two heavily-populated countries having nuclear weapons are facing off across a common border. In one of them there is a real possibility that Islamic fundamentalists will not just infiltrate the government, but seize control of it.

The government of Pakistan has very little room to maneuver. On one side it has the Taliban within a hundred miles of the capital, riding a wave of popular discontent and violence. On the other side is the government of India, pressing ever more strongly for an accounting of Pakistan’s involvement with Islamic terrorism inside India.

This situation is unstable. It cannot last. Something has to give.


Hat tip: C. Cantoni.