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Terrorism returns to Mumbai, Bomb blasts kill 21, 80 injured

...... it is easy for experts on the other side of the border, like Amir Rana, the director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, to say ‘It is important not to jump to conclusions and let the investigation take its course’. The likes of Rana must impress upon their government, particularly the all-powerful army and the ISI not to sleep over the mountain of evidence India has provided since 26/11 but to pursue the case vigorously.

Poreg View: This headline in The Telegraph, UK, has neatly captured the scene in Mumbai on Wednesday July 13 night when three near-simultaneous explosions threw India’s commercial capital into chaos with people fearing a repeat of the ISI sponsored LeT executed 2008 mayhem that had claimed 166 innocent lives and nearly destroyed the iconic hotel, Taj at the historic Gateway of India.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the co-ordinated timing of the bombs was evidence of a terrorist attack but appealed to “remain calm and maintain peace”.

No body has yet claimed responsibility for these blasts at the Zaveri Bazaar (popular jewellery market), the Opera House (in the business district) and Dadar – all in Southern Mumbai. But officials suspect the hand of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), which like the LeT is a creation of ISI in its campaign to make India bleed, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). A relatively new group, IM’s expertise is low to medium intensity attacks like the ones Mumbai has just experienced. 

IM and LeT have close nexus since the former came up as the LeT’s foot soldier for outsourced ‘job works’; IM cadres keep visiting LeT centres for training. The Pune bakery blast in Feb 2010 was the handiwork of IM activists.

Jumping to conclusions even before the police dig deep into the outrageous attack may be unfair but the history of Pakistan based and aided militant outfit’s involvement in the wave of terror that has swept through India leaves no room for doubt that the latest blasts too could be its handiwork. More over there is the recorded history of Pakistan based groups picking up soft targets in India every time the two nuclear neighbours are getting ready for a round of talks. 

The November 2008 attack had derailed the dialogue process for instance. The latest targeting of Mumbai comes on the eve of another round of negotiations at the foreign minister level later this month (July). Both countries have just held foreign secretary level talks in Islamabad and also have been discussing fresh CBMs particularly in the field of bilateral trade.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Indian leadership has invested heavily in the dialogue process. And has been working untiringly to prepare the public mood for a long lasting solution to what are termed as the intractable problems left behind by history in the sub-continent.  It is bound to find the going tough when July 13s happen and has to factor in the reality of public anger at the continued presence in the city’s Arthur Road jail  of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 attacks. 

Whether the triple blasts were a “birthday gift” for Kasab (his birth day is listed as July 13, 1987) is not germane to the discussion though it is a factor that has incensed the people of Mumbai, which is also known as a city of dreams. For the Mumbaikars, Ajmal Kasab is the face of 26/11, and he is still breathing free, is fed, looked after and protected by the exchequer because of the Indian legal system that gives an opportunity even to a dreaded terrorist facing the death penalty to be heard by the highest authority in the country.  

So much so, it is easy for experts on the other side of the border, like Amir Rana, the director of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, to say ‘It is important not to jump to conclusions and let the investigation take its course’.  The likes of Rana must impress upon their government, particularly the all-powerful army and the ISI not to sleep over the mountain of evidence India has provided since 26/11 but to pursue the case vigorously. 

Frankly, Pakistan has run out of alibis after Tahawwur Rana’s conviction by Chicago Federal Court of aiding LeT in the 2008 attack and the confession of Rana’s close friend David Headley that Inter-Services Intelligence agency had helped LeT ‘fund and plan’ that maritime commando- style assault on Mumbai. It is three years since the mayhem. But Pakistan has not brought a single suspect to book. Nor has it dismantled the militant network it had created in aid of its foreign policy goals. The ISI uses these militant outfits to pursue and protect Pakistan’s interests in the Pak-US-India axis.

Headley’s revelations have led to the unprecedented US indictment of a suspected ISI major, and as the Guardian reports created ‘another flashpoint in the escalating conflict between the US and Pakistan’ since the slaying of Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad, a garrison town close to Islamabad. The Obama administration has since accused the ISI of involvement in the murder of Syed Saleem Shahzad, Pakistani investigative journalist who worked for Asia Times Online (Hong Kong) and Adnkronos (AKI, Italian news agency) and withheld $800m in military aid.

The dip in the US-Pak ties is designed to serve American plans to reach the Taliban through the Pakistan gate-way. While this is understandable, the shape and course of emerging US-Pakistan relations will be of immense interest to India for two reasons. One these will have a bearing on its bilateral ties with Islamabad. Two the situation in Afghanistan where America is carrying out its much talked out draw down of forces to the glee of Obama critics at home. 

This interest in no way deflects Delhi from protecting its own interests even when it has no desire to make life difficult for the political leadership in Pakistan. Already the political executive is increasingly marginalised by the ‘permanent’ establishment and is forced to be content with foreign travels. 

Certainly, India has no interest whatsoever in the geo-political games in the region beyond a point. Because it knows what it needs is not dollops of sympathy but support to efforts to ‘bring the perpetrators of these terrible crimes to justice’
-m. rama rao 

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