Indian allegations alarm Pakistan

A claim of responsibility for this week's attacks was made by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen - a reference to a mainly Muslim region of India.

According to a statement leaked to Indian newspapers, the one alleged militant captured alive, named as Azam Amir Qasab, said the Mumbai militants had received training from an Islamist group once backed by Pakistani intelligence, Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pakistan banned the group in 2002 at US insistence. - bbc



Ajai Sahni, the executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in Delhi ... react to the terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai and discuss the claims of Pakistani involvement in them.

Some related links:

Mumbai attacks: Are they British?

• Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said two "British-born Pakistanis" were among eight gunmen captured alive during bloody shoot-outs with soldiers.

Taj Mahal hotel owner: We had warning (cnn)

Indians claim terrorists took orders from Pakistan

Armed Teams Sowed Chaos With Precision

Terrorists at Taj fired from everywhere: commando

Commandos battle well-trained, ruthless gunmen

Police find explosives at Taj hotel

Was computer expert aged 36 the mastermind?

• One possible mastermind and Simi member is Abdul Subhan Qureshi, a 36-year-old computer engineer suspected of being behind multiple bombings in Delhi, Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad earlier this year. Qureshi, also known as Tauqeer, is from Mumbai and his expertise with internet security could have played a vital part in pulling off such an ambitious plot, said Mr Neill. "He is an IT whizz-kid so it is quite possible he is the person investigators will be concentrating on. ... Simi has declared jihad on India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by forcefully converting everyone to Islam.

India's day of reckoning - World - smh.com.au

• In May the Lashkar-e-Toiba head, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, threatened to attack tourist sites unless the Government withdrew its support for the United States, and it has claimed responsibility for the recent bombings in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi.

Here is 21 year old Azam Amir Qasab, the lone terrorist captured who told officials at the hospital, “We had been instructed to kill to the last death.”



Indian Intelligence is good at getting the truth. Hopefully they'll know more than the people who instructed this filth know by the time they are done with him. The game is complicated with many potential players internationally. This may not escalate, but keep your eye on the ball. Both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons. In the event of a nuclear war India would "win" but such a war would be horrible beyond anything in recorded human history. I don't think it will come to that, but some on the fringe believe India faced a nuclear war prior to known history. The terrorists could certainly be radical Islamist terrorists as it seems, but those who seek real peace should keep an eye on the possibility that India and Pakistan are being "played" by war profiteers pulling the terrorist's strings.

Here is some background:

Pakistan warns that US-India nuclear deal could lead to new arms race

• India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, and though a peace process has stabilised relations since 2004, they remain deeply distrustful of each other.

Securing Pakistan's Nukes

• The U.S. is spending $100 million to secure Pakistan's nukes.  ... Pakistan has about 60 operational nuclear weapons, upon which the U.S. has been spending an average of 16.7 million dollars per year.

More Nukes to Pakistan?

• Pakistan is by far the country in which terrorists are the most likely to get their hands on nuclear arms, either by capturing them, having them slipped to them by cooperative elements in the military or intelligence services, or by overthrowing the failing government.

Should the UK sell arms to India and Pakistan? (2002)

• India already has a £1bn order with British Aerospace for Hawk trainer jets and is now asking the MoD about the purchase of Sea Harriers, fully-fledged combat jets.

Nuclear war would do little damage in U.S. (2002)

• A nuclear war between Pakistan and India could dwarf any catastrophe in world history, killing up to 12 million people in South Asia, but the radioactive fallout likely would not harm Americans half a world away. In fact, because of the combined effects of distance, dispersion and dilution, the increased amount of radiation in U.S. air would be barely measurable, health experts say. ... Still, a Pakistan-India nuclear exchange would set a new standard for human horror: A Pentagon intelligence report estimates that the dead could total 9 million to 12 million, based on population centers that could be targeted.

Bush: U.S. to Sell F-16s to Pakistan (2005)

• President Bush rewarded a key ally in the war on terrorism Friday by authorizing the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, a move that reversed 15 years of policy begun under his father and that India warned would destabilize the volatile region.

US ready to sell advanced arms to India: Pentagon (2006)

• "It is our goal to help meet India's needs in the defense realm, and to provide important capabilities and technologies that India seeks. We are on a path to accomplish this," the Pentagon said in Washington.

How India’s New Nuke Deal Might Set Off an Arms Race (2008)

• ... some observers worry the United States has just helped spark a new arms race.

Bush: India a jobs opportunity

• An estimated 80 percent of Indians live on less than $2 a day, but India’s middle class has swelled to more than 300 million — a number larger than the entire U.S. population — and India’s exploding economy has created millions of jobs. The country’s outsourcing industry alone is expected to bring in $22 billion in revenue this fiscal year, much of that generated by U.S. companies.