Icheoku remembers very vividly the reaction of the United States security agencies after the Oklahoma city bombing in April 19, 1995. Immediately, the United States authorities pointed accusing fingers to the Middle East as the probable source of the terrorism that killed one hundred and sixty (168) Americans in Oklahoma City. A natural reaction when attacked is to start from a known enemy paradigm and then do the weeding out. But unbeknownst to the Americans the terrorist that brought down the Alfred P. Murray building in downtown Oklahoma city was an American, living in America; and a former patriot who once adorned the military uniform. 
It took several days before the identity of Timothy McVeigh became known as the terrorist that initially misled America's security details on a wild goose chase to the Middle East. Peradventure, India may be towing the same part by reacting naturally to a sworn enemy, Pakistan, as the source of the attack in Mumbai. Primary investigations so far has revealed that some Indians were accessories before the fact of the Mumbai incident, having provided some cell phones used to coordinate the Mumbai operation. India must therefore expand the horizon of their present investigation into the Mumbai nightmare instead of the tunnel-vision assertion that it is Pakistan's fault. They should spread their dragnet and tentacles for a more thorough goal-oriented investigation that will yield the desired fruit - unravel the murderers behind the Mumbai terrorist act. India should not confine their search for the terrorists backers just by looking over their shoulders at Pakistan, no, they should try to see if there are some of their own Timothy McVeighs hiding somewhere in the Indian vast landscape amidst an exploding population which can easily provide a safe hiding place for anyone. While wishing India luck with their search for those behind what happened in Mumbai, Icheoku prays they find the real culprits of the Mumbai-terrorism instead of starting their own version of the Iraqi war, based on a faulty intelligence of a possibly non-existent Pakistani-backed terrorism. Icheoku uses this opportunity also to extend our heart-felt sympathy to the people and government of India for this Mumbai madness and pray for the repose of the souls of the many, from world-over, who lost their lives in the attack. Goodluck Indian and speedy rebound for the city of Mumbai!
Pakistan 'feared Indian attack'
ReplyDeletePakistan feared India was planning to launch a military strike at the height of tensions over the Mumbai attacks, a senior Pakistani diplomat has said.
Pakistan's High Commissioner to London said there was evidence that India wanted "to teach Pakistan a lesson".
Islamabad denies involvement in the attacks which left at least 170 dead, but some of the gunmen are said to have had links to Pakistani militants.
Both sides have taken care not to openly inflame the situation.
High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hassan told the BBC World Service's Newshour programme that he had received the information in the wake of the three-day siege of key sites in Mumbai.
"This is what we were told by our friends that there could possibly be a quick strike at some of the areas they suspect to be the training camps, an air raid or something of that sort," he said.
Mr Hassan said he alerted his president, Asif Ali Zardari, to the danger and Pakistan urgently passed on its concerns to high level US and British officials, who intervened to calm the situation.
How would we have reacted? That could be anybody's guess
Wajid Shamsul Hassan
High Commissioner
"There was circumstantial evidence that India was going to make a quick strike against Pakistan to teach her a lesson," he said.
Mr Hassan said that in his opinion it was unlikely the two countries, which both possess nuclear weapons and have fought several wars since partition in 1947, would have ended up in all-out conflict.
"We wouldn't have gone, and I'm sure India wouldn't have gone for full-scale war," he said. "But then, on the other side, how would we have reacted? That could be anybody's guess. We are a smaller country, we have to defend ourselves."
India has so far made no comment on Mr Hassan's comments.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embarked on a diplomatic mission to ease tensions - flying to Dehli and Islamabad for talks this week.
She also called on both countries to show moderation in their response to the Mumbai attacks.
Analysts say that despite both sides' rhetoric, there has been no concrete signs by either side of heightened military activity, such as troop movements to border areas.
Hoax call denied
In an earlier indication of how strained relations had become during the attacks, the Pakistani Dawn newspaper reported that the country had been put on high alert during the crisis after what the paper called a hoax call was made to President Zardari.
India says the surviving gunman, Azam Amir Qasab, is Pakistani
A caller claiming to be Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to the Pakistani leader in a threatening manner on 28 November, Dawn reported.
The newspaper said Mr Zardari's staff had bypassed usual verification checks for a call to the president.
But Pakistan's Information Minister Sherry Rehman later denied it could have been a hoax.
"It is not possible for any call to come through to the president without multiple caller identity verifications," he said in a statement.
"In fact the identity of this particular call, as evident from the CLI (caller's line identification) device, showed that the call was placed from a verified official Phone Number of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs."
In another development, Indian police have arrested two men in the eastern city of Calcutta suspected of handling mobile phone cards later used by the Mumbai attackers.
Nine of the 10 militants believed to have mounted the attack on 26 November died.
Indian media have named the surviving gunman as Azam Amir Qasab, a Pakistani, and say he has links to a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group denies involvement.
Pakistan arrests Mumbai attack suspects
ReplyDeleteONE of the suspected planners of last month's attack by gunmen in Mumbai was arrested by Pakistani security forces in a raid on a militant camp near Muzaffarabad, sources in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir said yesterday.
The Pakistani government has so far been silent over Sunday's raid at the camp used by Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters in the hills outside Muzaffarabad.
India and the United States have pressed Pakistan to act against militants suspected of being behind the attacks, which killed at least 171 people, or risk an escalation in tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Intelligence officials, workers with a charity linked to Lashkar and people living nearby say the area around the camp was sealed off before security forces moved in to make arrests.
An official with the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity said Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a Lashkar operations chief named by India as a suspect, was taken into custody.
"Yes, Lakhvi is among four or five people arrested in a raid yesterday," said the official, whose JuD charity is regarded as a front for the feared militant group.
A former militant who now has close ties to the JuD also said Lakhvi had been arrested, as did one intelligence official. All of them were speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of talking about security matters. Other Pakistani intelligence officers said six men were arrested, but gave no names.
Britain's The Times newspaper and The New York Post also said in reports on their websites that Lakhvi had been caught.
The surviving gunman captured in Mumbai named Lakhvi and another Lashkar commander, Yusuf Muzammil, as ringleaders in the plot, according to Indian officials.
Indian police said they were also questioning a man arrested in northern India last February and investigating if there were any links to homegrown Islamist militant groups. The man being questioned is an Indian citizen who was caught carrying maps of Mumbai that highlighted several of the targets that were hit.
Pakistan has asked for proof that attackers came from its soil. It says it will cooperate with India in the investigation but tensions between the uneasy neighbours have risen.
For the past two days they have been arguing over the origin of a hoax call to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on November 28 by someone pretending to be the Indian foreign minister. The aggressive tone taken by the caller resulted in Pakistani forces going on high alert for almost 24 hours.
The Pakistan government issued a statement after a special meeting of the cabinet's defence committee saying it was "imperative to proactively defuse the prevailing tensions."
The United States has exerted diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to match words with deeds swiftly to stop the crisis worsening, while asking India to exercise restraint.
"I think there's no doubt that Pakistani territory was used, by probably non-state actors," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.
The United States fears a confrontation with India could deflect Pakistan from the war on terrorism.