Pakistan Nearly Started A Nuclear War (Daniel 8:8)

Kargil war: Pakistan, India mulled nuclear option in Kargil

India and Pakistan came close to a possible nuclear exchange at the height of the 1999 Kargil war, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst and Indian broadcast journalist Burkha Dutt claimed on Thursday.

The two South Asian rivals, according to two separate accounts, were ready to risk the use of nuclear weapons. In his account former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Bruce Riedel claimed in an interview with The Independent that the CIA had tipped off the intelligence to then president Bill Clinton.

Reidel made these claims in a written obituary for former US National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.

Another account came from Barkha Dutt in her new book. This time the source was India’s ex-National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra who was cited as saying that Delhi was considering the use of a nuclear weapon during the eight-week-long conflict in Kargil.

“The morning of the fourth (July 4, 1999), the CIA wrote in its top-secret daily brief that Pakistan was preparing its nuclear weapons for deployment and possible use. The intelligence was very compelling. The mood in the Oval Office was grim,” Riedel wrote.
“Berger urged Clinton to hear out Sharif, but to be firm.”

Clinton’s top security adviser went on to suggest that since Pakistan had started the crisis, it must end it and that only a withdrawal could avert further escalation.

On the other end, India’s former NSA Brajesh Mishra told Dutt that then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had written a secret letter to Clinton warning him that India would use any means available unless Pakistan was not convinced to withdraw.

“Crossing the Line of Control was not ruled out, nor was the use of nuclear weapons,” said Mishra, who had handed Vajpayee’s letter to a top US official in Geneva, NDTV reported.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2015.

US Encouraging Pakistani Nuclear Horn (Dan 8:8)

  
US military aid better situates Pakistan to wage war against India: Expert

Kashmir Monitor
THURSDAY, 21 MAY 2015

WASHINGTON: The American military assistance to Pakistan, a latest list of which was recently put out by the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS), better situates its military to wage a war against India and not to fight terrorists, a noted US expert on South Asia has said.

“This assistance better situates Pakistan to wage war against India while doing nothing to shape Pakistan’s will or capabilities to target terrorists and insurgents,” Christine Fair, author of several well-researched books on Pakistan and its military wrote in a recent article, days after the CRS in a report listed out the military hardware including fighter jets that the US has given to Pakistan.
“The items that Washington has conveyed to Pakistan have little utility in fighting insurgents and terrorists; rather, they enable Pakistan to better fight India, a democratic American partner that has long endured Pakistani predations,” Fair said.

A new American policy towards Pakistan, rooted in sober realism, is long overdue, she argued in her recent piece in National Interest.

Since 9/11, the United States has lavished Pakistan with nearly $8 billion in security assistance, $11 billion in economic assistance, and 13 billion in the lucrative programme known as Coalition Support Funds (CSF), she said referring to the CRS report.

Since then, Pakistan has availed of significant US weapons systems and armaments, including: a used Perry-class missile frigate; 18 new and 14 used nuclear-capable F-16s; an array of munitions (i.e 500 air-to-air missiles, 1,450 2,000-pound bombs); 1,600 kits that allow Pakistan to convert gravity bombs into laser-guided smarter bombs, 2,007 anti-armor missiles, 100 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 500 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, seven naval guns, 374 armored personnel carriers, and much more, she said.

A transfer of 15 reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles is also under way.

“This list suggests that Pakistan’s insurgents have developed air, naval and ground-force capabilities,” Fair said.

According to the US author, Washington provides Pakistan access to these weapon systems even despite Pakistan’s failures to comply with the numerous conditionalities which the US Congress has emplaced upon such assistance.

“Currently, the US provides this assistance under various waivers. In doing so, Washington erodes its own credibility, demeans its own laws, and rewards Pakistan for engaging in the very activities that the United States seeks to curtail.

Worse, given the fungibility of funds, the United States has subsidized Pakistan’s investment in its jihadi and nuclear capabilities,” Fair said.

 

Pakistan Calling The Kettle Black (Dan 8:8)

 

Pakistan army accuses India of backing terrorism in rare rebuke

Pakistan’s military has accused India’s main intelligence agency of whipping up terrorism in Pakistan in rare public criticism that could increase tension between the nuclear-armed rivals.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military has accused India’s main intelligence agency of whipping up terrorism in Pakistan in rare public criticism that could increase tension between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The accusation came after a meeting of the army’s top commanders at the military’s headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday to review an offensive against militants in the northwest and other security issues.

“The conference also took serious notice of RAW’s involvement in whipping up terrorism in Pakistan,” the army said in a statement, referring to India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), its external intelligence arm.

While Pakistani army officers often privately accuse India of meddling, it is rare for the military to accuse India’s spy agency in an official statement.

The neighbours have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over the divided Muslim-majority region of Kashmir which they both claim in full but rule in part.

Pakistan believes India is supporting separatists in resource-rich Baluchistan province, as well as militants fighting the state. It also sees India as fuelling strife in the volatile city of Karachi.

India denies interference in Pakistan but accuses Pakistan of supporting militants who launch attacks in India and fight in Indian Kashmir. India has also accused Pakistan of backing the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies those accusations.

A Pakistani official with knowledge of the commanders’ meeting said they had discussed what they believed to be India’s involvement in the Baluchistan insurgency.

“It was unanimously felt that India is providing all kinds of support to Pakistan’s enemies, be they the (Pakistani) Taliban, or elements in Karachi or in Baluchistan,” said the official who declined to be identified.

“There is documentary proof. All evidence is there and we will bring it in the open soon.”

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a television interview aired later that RAW was “an enemy organisation”.

“RAW has been formed to undo Pakistan and to wipe Pakistan off the map of the world,” Asif said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made improving ties with India a priority when he won a 2013 election.

But his push was widely seen as causing friction with the army which sees relations with India as its responsibility.

Late last month, Sharif accused India of failing to respond to Pakistan’s desire for good relations.

India was angered earlier in April when a Pakistani court freed on bail Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused of plotting a 2008 assault on the city of Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

– Reuters

Taliban Continue To Threaten Pakistan (Daniel 8:8)

Gunmen kidnap seven Pakistani police in Punjab attack

LAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan | By Mubasher Bukhari and Jibran Ahmad

(Reuters) – Dozens of gunmen from criminal gangs kidnapped seven Pakistani police from a checkpoint in the normally peaceful province of Punjab on Sunday, officials said.
The kidnapping, and further fighting between insurgents and the military in the northwest of the country, underscored the range of security problems facing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of 180 million, is beset by a Taliban Islamist insurgency in the northwest and a separatist insurgency in the west. Murders, kidnappings and extortion by criminal gangs are common. Sectarian violence is growing.
Sunday’s attack, by gunmen from different gangs, targeted a police checkpoint in Obaro, inside Punjab but at the intersection of three provinces, said District Police Officer Sohail Chatha.
“We have launched a rescue operation,” he said.
A statement from Sharif’s office said he took “serious notice” of the kidnapping.
Police are poorly trained, paid and equipped. Rather than instituting reforms, Sharif’s government has handed much of the responsibility for security to the powerful military, which has a history of mounting coups and is frequently accused of extrajudicial killings.
In separate developments, the military said air strikes killed 44 insurgents on Saturday in Khyber and North Waziristan, two remote, mountainous northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan.
The military said five soldiers and 27 militants were killed in fighting in Khyber on Thursday. Access to the areas is restricted and it is difficult to independently verify casualty figures.
Tirah Valley in Khyber is a key smuggling corridor into Afghanistan where militants have many small bases. North Waziristan was the Taliban’s last major stronghold until the military launched an offensive there last June.
Residents and officials confirmed at least nine deaths from the bombing in Tirah and seven in North Waziristan.
“‎Two fighter jets started bombing in Tirah valley on Saturday morning for two hours,” said 58-year old tribal elder Sakhi Jan.
He said his family fled but his younger brother remained to stop militants from occupying the house. The brother said residents saw militants bring out nine bodies and 13 injured militants.
A local government official quoting tribal elders said around a dozen people were killed in Tirah valley.
In North Waziristan, Pakistani air strikes killed seven militants in two locations, a resident said.
“Local, Punjabi, Afghan and foreign militants are living here,” he said. “Sometimes the war planes target their positions but militants have become very clever and don’t get together in large numbers.”
A security official in Mir Ali, North Waziristan, said around a dozen militants had been killed.
(Writing by Katharine Houreld; editing by John Stonestreet)

Pakistan’s Nuclear Terrorism

Taliban flaunts missile launch: Threat to world security

[ April 29, 2015 12:56:00 ] The deadly Pakistan-based Islamist group Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) has become deadlier. If its claims that it has developed an indigenous missile named Omar-1 which it successfully test-fired are true then it poses a grave threat not only to Pakistan and Afghanistan but to the regional and international security as well. Terrorism has acquired new dimensions and threatens to alter the status of the world order. The scenario is very scary. The new firepower will not only help grow the influence of the fundamentalist Islamic forces, it will also endanger the actors who created them. And Pakistan will be the first to face the heat as its security forces have stepped up operations against the Taliban following a dastardly attack on a Peshawar school in which 145 people lost their lives, including 132 school children. And the Taliban has made its intentions clear by stating that its enemies will be on the run. From now onwards, the Taliban will not only be able to inflict maximum pain on its adversaries, it can widen its operations as the missile can easily be assembled and dissembled in accordance to the situation. What we are witnessing today is a new version of terrorism. The movement is acquiring a very deadly shape after it has drawn in its fold several highly qualified technocrats, who are religiously motivated, indoctrinated and bent on establishing an Islamist state. Technology, it is now apparent, is their latest weapon of the Taliban. With terror as their chosen instrument, these radical Islamists seek to remake the world. The more worrisome trend is the links between some retired Pakistani military and intelligence officials and nuclear scientists to Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. Without their help, it would not have been possible for the fundamentalists to acquire the technology to develop a missile. The latest development will give Western leaders nightmares about militants acquiring nuclear materials, or worse, an entire weapon. When the militants can develop a missile, can that be far behind? It certainly will be next on the agenda of militants. And god forbids if that happens, the entire mankind will be endangered. The consequences of the cocktail of terrorism and nuclear weapons can be very devastating. If militants have gained strength today, then Pakistan can not absolve its responsibility. It has allowed the militants to grow, giving them not only shelter but finances. Pakistan has long been suspected of playing a double game, fighting some militants while supporting those its generals have regarded as strategic assets to be used against rivals and neighbours, India and Afghanistan. Not only that, Pakistan has notoriously played a vital role in nuclear proliferation. One cannot forget the enormity of what Pakistani nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan has done. He created an elaborate, wholly illicit network by selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Was he doing it alone? Looks unlikely! The Pakistani establishment and the military in particular were completely complicit as Khan widened his nuclear black market. The fear of nuclear terrorism in Pakistan stemming from the danger of radical Islamists overrunning the country and gaining control of the country”s nuclear assets is arguably the greatest threat. The possibility of Pakistan”s nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands looks more real now than ever. And the world can”t turn its eyes off. There can be no second view about the fact that TTP is now a force to reckon with. Over the last few years and especially since the Nawaz Sharif”s PML (N) has come to power, the government of Pakistan has been floundering in its policy to tackle the challenge posed by this militant organisation. The government cannot be faulted for efforts to engage the TTP in talks as was spelled out in its election manifesto; it bent backwards in its efforts and managed a few rounds of dialogue. The TTP, however, arrogantly perceived this effort as a sign of weakness and has adopted unreasonable postures. Most distressing has been its policy of continuing with its violent activities even as the talks are underway. Time has come for Pakistan to act and act decisively. It will have to shun its approach of differentiating between good militants and bad militants. The United States has often reminded Pakistan to fight militant groups that threaten Afghan, Indian and U.S. interests. It is high time that pressure is built on Pakistan to target all militant groups to bring security to the region. Pakistan should also realize that a lot of its own citizens have died as a result of terrorism. A lot of members of their military have fallen dead. While the people of Pakistan talk in hushed tones against the TTP, an all out popular upsurge is not being witnessed. No violent movement can be quelled unless the people do not provide unrelenting support to the military and political initiative. Terrorism can be contained by the security forces only with unrelenting support of the local population. The people in Pakistan are presently on the fence-sitters phase, they want the Taliban out of their lives but are dependent upon the government and the security forces to do the dirty job, they are not coming forward to make a contribution. Not much can be achieved without such support coming by. It”s important for Pakistan to recognize that threat and to act against that threat. Not only Pakistan, it is also the responsibility of the international community to ensure that these militant groups do not gain a foothold but are pushed back into the recesses of memory. The world can”t afford to remain a silent spectator now. The top priority should be to ensure that Pakistan”s nuclear weapons and technology do not fall into the hands of terrorists. Xiaomi”s Tata coup Industrialist Ratan Tata has created quite a flutter by becoming the first Indian to invest in the cash-rich, fifth-largest smartphone vendor in India, the Chinese $45-billion Xiaomi Corp. While the amount Mr Tata has invested is not known, it is a real coup for the Chinese company, which has ambitions to be the number one smartphone vendor in India in three years. They had approached Mr Tata to act as adviser and mentor. But even more than helping us “tweak our business model”, as Xiaomi”s Manu Jain said, it is significant that Mr Tata, by putting his signature on one of China”s most successful start-ups, has helped dilute fears that Indian security agencies have had about Chinese equipment makers. Of course China”s credibility has come a long way since May 2013, when it was said that the Indian government had launched an investigation of Huawei and ZTE, both Chinese telecom equipment-makers, following security concerns over Beijing”s alleged involvement in cyber espionage. Prior to that there were concerns about using Chinese telecom equipment to roll out fibre optic networks. But that is all in the past as India too has advanced technologically to be able to put in place security safeguards.It is exciting to see what Mr Tata”s contribution will be in Xiaomi, which made news this week with the spectacular launch of the Mi4i, with 4i standing for India. Mr Tata has in the last one year invested in several e-commerce start-ups, but this one is different. Jaitley”s big challenge Finance minister Arun Jaitley faces one of his biggest challenges this week as the Lok Sabha decides the fate of the constitutional amendment bill on the Goods and Services Tax. The entire Opposition and some BJP allies had opposed the bill”s introduction, and many of them, excluding the allies, walked out, making the fate of the bill a fait accompli. Jaitley is said to be in hectic parleys to get the Congress and others to agree to a discussion as they keep insisting that the bill be sent to the standing committee. This is just political cussedness as the bill, that was first talked about in 2003 during the first BJP-led NDA government, has already been with the standing committee for two and a half years.The Congress seems to be paying the BJP back in the same coin as it were BJP-led states that had scuttled agreement on GST even though it was discussed threadbare by the empowered committee of state finance ministers during the Manmohan Singh government. It was alleged then the BJP was deliberately opposing the bill as it did not want the Congress to take credit for it. It is a sad commentary that such a major reform that could increase GDP by 2 per cent, facilitate the ease of doing business and give the states financial strength is being sacrificed at the altar of tit-for-tat. Mr Jaitley will need enormous give-and-take and generosity to get the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress to transcend its hurt pride. Why we Indians are an unhappy lot Money is not everything, but can you be happy if you don”t have it? That”s a no-brainer, obviously. But the SDSN report reminds us to seriously consider a policy orientation that may help in climbing the happiness chart. The third edition of the World Happiness Report suggests that India figures way down the list, meaning it is a more unhappy place to be in than most countries in the world. In a survey of 158 countries, it found itself in the rear of the pack at place 117, a slide from the rank of 111 a year ago. This can hardly be good advertisement for our society, our government, or our political and economic system. Obviously, there is a long way to go before we can turn the corner since we are so lowly placed. It hasn”t helped that the Indian economy flew at more than seven per cent annual average rate of growth between 2004 and 2014 in spite of the last two years of the UPA recording growth rates of less than five per cent – the best for any democracy ever. And the forecast for the first year of the Narendra Modi dispensation is somewhat higher. But even if this is not realised, the data should still be reasonably comforting. And yet, high growth rates do not automatically translate into promotion on the scale of the world happiness index, as tabulated by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an initiative of the UN helmed by the well-known Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs. But it cannot be lost on anyone that the world”s happiest countries – Switzerland tops the list this year – are also among its richest. Money is not everything, but can you be happy if you don”t have it? That”s a no-brainer, obviously. But the SDSN report reminds us to seriously consider a policy orientation that may help in climbing the happiness chart. The yardstick adopted by SDSN makes it obvious that societies and countries should be caring, have social systems to be proud of, should respect freedoms, and should obviously also provide their people access to health, education and housing, and, not the least, should be low on corruption. India loses out on many of these pegs, and we should move quickly to fix the problem. The Modi government had promised much when it came in about a year ago, but the sense many have – rich and poor alike – is that action has not followed on words, although much was promised. Corruption levels have not changed but tolerance thresholds are lower, making for social disharmony. The economic expectations have not been met. While we take these on board, it does cause surprise that countries like war-torn Iraq, the nursery of terrorism Pakistan, and politically-wracked Bangladesh have outperformed India on the happiness index – Pakistan by a mile (it is ranked 81). No less surprising, Pakistan is ahead of China. The question then is, does the index need fixing, and, if so, how?

Pakistan A Huge Nuclear Concern (Dan 8:8)

 

Pakistan: A growing nuclear concern  In November 2008, a series of horrific attacks against civilian targets struck India. Some 173 people were killed and 300 were wounded. Ten Pakistani terrorists carried out the attacks and one of them was captured alive.  In his interrogation, the terrorist admitted he and his partners had been instructed to kill tourists and Jews, while avoiding harming Muslims. Among the fatalities were six Jews who had been staying at Chabad House and were hideously tortured before they were killed, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rebecca, whose pregnancy did not elicit a shred of pity from her tormentors. Last week, Pakistan released on bail the mastermind behind the attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. The Indian government and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls were flabbergasted by the decision. In fact, there are no Jews left in Pakistan. The name of the country, which was established in 1947, means “Land of the Pure.” The small Jewish community that had lived in Pakistan in its early days was attacked and forced to emigrate.  The absence of Jews in Pakistan does not seem to prevent it from teaching extreme anti-Semitism in the 50,000 madrassas that have been founded in the past three decades. Pakistan also supports Jew-hating jihadists operating as “proxy” in the bloody ongoing territorial dispute for control of Kashmir.  Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic militant organization accused of planning and executing the Mumbai attacks, was suspected by experts to have been unofficially supported by the Pakistani government’s intelligence agency.  French journalist Bernard-Henri Levy wrote a best-seller about the brutal murder of Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl and pointed out the connections between Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan security services and the father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan.  Osama bin Laden’s house was adjacent to a Pakistani military base and the U.S. accused the Pakistani authorities of knowing the identity of the house’s occupant.  No wonder that jihadist views are common in Pakistan: In certain areas, Shariah is the rule of law. More than 85% of the public support it and more than 90% support corporal punishment for people who break Islamic law.  The Taliban organization is very dominant in Pakistan and in the 2007 armed conflict in northwest Pakistan between the state and armed militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, more than 10,000 people were killed. About 3 million were expelled from their homes.  A scenario in which Islamic groups seize power is not at all unrealistic, which means that a jihadist organization could achieve nuclear capability, supported by a population of 190 million people.  U.S. foreign policy contributes quite a bit to these murderous civil wars across the Muslim world and its support in Pakistan, while turning a blind eye to the volatile situation, joins the rest of the Obama administration’s dangerous moves. Israel should warn the world of threat from the only Muslim nuclear country in the world, equipped with one hundred nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles with a range of approximately 2,500 miles — the distance between Pakistan’s western boundary and Israel.

Pakistan Continues To Encourage Terrorism (Dan 8:8)

 

Pakistan court grants bail to alleged leader of Mumbai terror attack

Jon Boone in Islamabad 
Thursday 18 December 2014 15.25 EST

One day after Pakistan’s prime minister vowed to crack down on terrorism, a court has granted bail to the man accused of masterminding the deadly 2008 assault on Mumbai.

The decision by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi to release Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi after finding insufficient evidence to link him to the attacks drew sharp criticism from New Delhi.

The country has long demanded action against Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group co-founded by Lakhvi that was behind the three-day assault by 10 young “fidayeen” suicide fighters in which 166 people died.

Investigators have copious amounts of evidence provided by Ajmal Kasab, the sole survivor of the attack team, and David Headley, a Pakistani-American extremist who conducted surveillance operations on the Taj Mahal Palace hotel and other targets in Mumbai.

The Indian home minister, Rajnath Singh, called the decision “very unfortunate”. “India has given enough evidence [against Lakhvi]. We expect the Pakistan government to appeal at the earliest,” he said.

Lakhvi’s lawyer said his client had been granted bail on the basis of surety bonds of more than £6,000 and could be free in under a week.

Following the massacre by the Pakistani Taliban of 141 people at a school in Peshawar this week, Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, vowed his country would “continue the war against terrorism until the last terrorist is eliminated”.

He promised there “will be no differentiation between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban”, a reference to the long history of Pakistan’s clandestine support for anti-India militant groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan Continues To a Support Terrorism (Dan 8:8)

India outraged after Pakistani court frees alleged Mumbai mastermind

 Big News Network.comFriday 13th March, 2015

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI – Close on the heels of recent signs of thaw between India and Pakistan, the two nuclear armed South Asian neighbours were back to square one on Friday following a bitter diplomatic row over release from a prison of a mastermind suspect behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the alleged masterminds of the attack, was freed from a Pakistani prison after a court Friday declared the detention orders as illegal.

This triggered a strong reaction from India, and the Pakistan envoy in New Delhi was summoned to convey outrage over the court order.

India’s foreign ministry in a statement said that India summoned the Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit to lodge a formal protest over the issue

“India today conveyed its outrage to Pakistan at the release of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the key accused in the Mumbai terror attacks,” said spokesperson Syed Akbarudin of the ministry.

The ministry said if a person, who is also a designated international terrorist by the United Nations, is released, it will pose a threat that cannot be ignored.

“This goes against Pakistan’s professed commitment to combat terrorism, including its recently stated policy of not differentiating amongst terrorists.”

Basit later told the media that Lakhvi’s trial continues and the judicial process should be allowed to take its own course.

A separate statement from India’s internal ministry said that it was “the responsibility of the Pakistan government to take all legal measures to ensure that Lakhvi does not come out of jail”.

“Pakistan should realise that there are no good terrorists and bad terrorists, a fact which has been globally accepted,” the statement said.

Lakhvi and six other suspects were arrested in February 2009 over charges of “facilitating” the Mumbai terror attack. An Islamabad High Court order on December 29 last year suspended the detention but was restored soon.

Lakhvi, a top leader of the banned terrorist Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit, is on the most wanted list of India’s National Investigation Agency.

The development comes days after India’s top diplomat, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, was in Islamabad to clear way for dialogue over pending disputes between the two neighbours.

The rare visit came seven months after India called off foreign secretary level talks over Pakistan’s engagement with separatist leaders in disputed Jammu and Kashmir a Himalayan state ruled in parts but claimed in full by the two rivals.

The issue of Lakhvi’s release rocked the Indian upper house of parliament on Friday with many lawmakers urging the government to take a strong note of the development and review any engagement with the Pakistani government.

Pakistani Horn Once Again Harbors Terrorism

Pakistan court grants bail to alleged Mumbai attacks mastermind

By Afp

Published: 09:49 EST, 18 December 2014 | Updated: 09:50 EST, 18 December 2014

 

An Indian soldier aims his weapon towards The Taj Mahal Hotel during the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, which killed 166 people and was blamed on the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba ©Pedro Ugarte (AFP/File)

A Pakistani court Thursday granted bail to the alleged mastermind of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, lawyers told AFP, prompting India to demand an appeal.

The 60-hour siege on India’s economic capital left 166 people dead and was blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals worsened dramatically after the carnage, in which 10 gunmen attacked luxury hotels, a popular cafe, a train station and a Jewish centre.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused of masterminding events, was granted bail by a judge in the capital Islamabad.

“We had moved a bail application with the Islamabad anti-terror court on December 10, today the judge granted bail to my client after hearing arguments from both sides,” Lakhvi’s lawyer Rizwan Abbasi told AFP.

Prosecutor Mohammad Chaudhry Azhar confirmed the court had granted bail.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the decision was “very unfortunate”.

“India has given enough evidence (against Lakhvi). We expect the Pakistan government to appeal at the earliest,” he told journalists in Delhi.

The court’s ruling comes a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to crack down on terror groups in Pakistan, after Taliban gunmen massacred 148 people, mostly teenagers, at a school.

Sharif on Wednesday announced that a six-year moratorium on the death penalty would be lifted for those convicted of terror offences.

The horror of the Mumbai carnage played out on live television around the world, as commandos battled the heavily-armed gunmen, who arrived by sea on the evening of November 26.

It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city and New Delhi has long said there is evidence that “official agencies” in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack.

- Traumatic attacks -

Islamabad denies the charge but LeT’s charitable arm Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), seen as a front for the militant group, operates openly in the country.

LeT founder Hafiz Saeed also leads a high-profile existence despite a $10 million US government bounty offered for his capture, regularly appearing on TV and addressing large public gatherings of his followers.

As well as Mumbai, LeT is also accused of involvement in militancy in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region that is the source of much of Pakistan and India’s friction.

Seven Pakistani suspects have been charged with planning and financing the attacks but the failure to advance their trials has been a major obstacle to normalising ties between Pakistan and India.

Delhi has accused Islamabad of prevaricating over the trials, while Pakistan has claimed India failed to hand over crucial evidence.

The sole surviving gunman from Mumbai, Pakistani-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was hanged in India in 2012.

The attacks traumatised India, exposing the antiquated weapons and methods of the local police force and revealing crucial gaps in the country’s defences.

They also derailed a nascent peace process between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

In the wake of the Peshawar massacre on Tuesday, Sharif said Pakistan would not distinguish between “good Taliban and bad Taliban” as it seeks to crush the scourge of homegrown Islamist militancy.

But scepticism will remain, particularly in India.

Analyst Pervez Hoodbhoy said Thursday’s development would hurt ties with India.

“After the Peshawar massacre there was an outpouring of sympathy for Pakistan from many countries, including India. But this will pass soon,” he told AFP.

“By selectively attacking the ‘bad’ terrorists in Waziristan, while protecting those who have committed atrocities in other countries, Pakistan is on a weak wicket.”

Pakistan has long been accused of playing a “double game” with militants, supporting groups it thinks it can use for its own strategic ends.

Many Pakistanis regard the struggle against what they see as India’s “occupation” of Kashmir as a just fight, and are prepared to tolerate groups engaged in it.

Pakistan and India both control part of Kashmir but claim the whole of the territory and have fought two of their three wars over it since independence from Britain in 1947.

Ten gunmen went on the rampage and attacked luxury hotels, a popular cafe, a train station and a Jewish centre in Mumbai

Supporters of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) shout slogans against India and the US during a 2012 rally in Lahore ©Arif Ali (AFP)

The United States has offered a $10 million bounty for the capture of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, seen here addressing a rally in Lahore, on May 25, 2012 ©Arif Ali (AFP/File)

Pakistan has declared three days of national mourning over the school massacre in Peshawar, which has sparked national outrage and candlelight vigils in major cities such as this one in Karachi, on December 17, 2014 ©Asif Hassan (AFP)

 A Pakistani soldier stands guard at the site of the militants’ attack on a school in Peshawar, on December 18, 2014 as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to crack down on terror groups ©A Majeed (AFP)