this clearly fits the 'target pakistan' outcome that was desired, this will force pakistan to attack a variety of militant groups in NWFP and perhaps even elsewhere (kashmir, Punjab etc). The thing is that the Pakistani army can barely cope targeting neo Taliban groups and foreign groups, if they add Lashkar e Toiba to the list there is a real danger they will actually LOSE the fight. They have not targeted Lashkar and similar groups before, and Lashkar have MORE military power than the neo Taliban groups and the foreigners.
The outcomes from such a move by the Pakistani army could be very very serious and lead to the worst case scenario of a full scale civil war and colapse of the state in Pakistan.
India Tells Pakistan to Match Its Words With ‘Action’ on Terror
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ai.4EDrceX4A&refer=home
By Bibhudatta Pradhan and Pratik Parija
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- India blamed “elements” from Pakistan for last week’s deadly Mumbai terror attacks and told its neighbor to match its words of cooperation with “strong action” to build a “qualitative new relationship.”
The comments by India’s foreign ministry stopped short of accusing the Pakistani government of complicity, which may help ease tensions between the two long-time rivals.
“Indian and Pakistan political leaders are wiser after the experience of 2002,” when they went to the brink of war over the disputed region of Kashmir, said New Delhi-based C. Uday Bhaskar, a defense analyst and former director of the Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses. Yesterday’s statement and others by Indian officials are “carefully nuanced where attention is drawn to elements in Pakistan” without “casting aspersions on the Pakistani state.”
The Nov. 26-29 attacks had threatened to derail peace talks between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Nov. 27 said India will “go after” individuals and organizations behind the assault, while Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said his government will act, provided there’s evidence.
“It was conveyed to the Pakistan High Commissioner that Pakistan’s actions needed to match the sentiments conveyed by its leadership,” Vishnu Prakash, India’s foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters yesterday in New Delhi.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over Kashmir, which is divided between them and claimed in full by both countries.
Pakistan Training Alleged
The assault on two luxury hotels, a cafe, a rail station and a Jewish center killed 195 people, including 22 foreigners, and was the deadliest in 15 years in Hindu-majority India.
The outlawed Lashkar-i-Taiba, a Kashmiri guerilla group alleged to have carried out the attacks, still operates training camps for militants inside Pakistan and has expanded its membership, the Washington Post reported, citing Michael Scheuer, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst.
Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only suspected terrorist caught by the police, told interrogators that 24 people were trained in Pakistan over the course of a year, 10 of whom were picked for the Mumbai operation, the Times of India reported yesterday, citing unidentified people.
Kasab said the terrorists were trained by a former soldier in seven phases, including the use of weapons and ammunition and such physical activities as diving, running and swimming, the newspaper reported, citing the unidentified people.
Peace Talks
The two nations ended their fifth round of talks between home secretaries in New Delhi on Nov. 26, just before the attacks began that evening. They resolved to cooperate with each other to combat terrorism and take “severe action” against any elements.
India says the success of the peace talks that started in 2003 depends on Pakistan ending alleged support for cross-border terrorism in the part of Kashmir under Indian control and taking steps to combat militants.
Pakistan and India should work together in the wake of the terrorist attacks and not allow the incident to spur new antagonism between them, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, told CNN this weekend. “Non-state actors” were forcing their agenda and Pakistan’s government “will cooperate with India in exposing and apprehending the culprits” behind the attacks, Zardari said on Nov. 28.
The U.S. doesn’t believe Pakistan’s government was involved in the attacks, and the Bush administration trusts Pakistan to investigate the issue, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters yesterday. “We have no reason not to” trust Pakistan “right now,” she said.
Rice Urges Cooperation
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will visit India this week, urged the Indian and Pakistani governments to work together to find the perpetrators.
“I do think that it is extremely important that there be the highest levels of cooperation between Pakistan and India at this point,” Rice told reporters while en route to London on Nov. 30. “I’d just note that the lines of communication are open between them.”
Pakistan’s political leaders will meet today to discuss security policy. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will head the meeting to assess the regional situation, according to Zahid Bashir, the Pakistani premier’s press secretary.
The biggest opposition group, the Pakistan Muslim League faction headed by former premier Nawaz Sharif, which split from the Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government in August, will attend the meeting, party spokesman Siddiq-ul-Farooq said.
‘Overworked, Understaffed’
Gilani canceled a trip to Hong Kong, where he was to attend the Clinton Global Initiative summit, to focus on addressing growing tensions with India, Bashir has said.
The 60-hour killing spree by less than a dozen terrorists underscores the failure of India’s police force to keep pace with better armed, equipped and trained militants, a former intelligence agent said.
“That system has collapsed,” said Vikram Sood, former director of India’s foreign intelligence agency, known as the Research and Analysis Wing. “Police are overworked, understaffed and undertrained.”
At least 20 officers, including the head of the Maharashtra state Anti-Terrorism Squad, were among those killed in the attacks.
