One of the axioms you hear as you go through life is that you should always believe what people say about themselves. It’s one I have learned — sometimes to my cost — to be true more often than it is false. So what are we to make of the fact that Lashkar-e-Taiba has denied responsibility for involvement in the Mumbai attacks?
The world’s media is having none of it, and the perceived threat from Lashkar-e-Taiba is growing by the day. I’ve already written about Lashkar-e-Taiba in an earlier post, but here are a few more links to articles on the group.
According to Richard Sale, writing in the Middle East Times, LeT has had fighters in Iraq. He also quotes U.S. officials as saying that it was involved in the 2005 bombings in London — an assertion that crops up quite frequently, although I, for one, have yet to have seen anything giving conclusive proof.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Lashkar-e-Taiba has “served as a gateway for western converts turning to jihad” while The New York Times says that the evidence of the group’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks “is accumulating from around the globe”.
My Reuters colleague Tom Heneghan has unearthed an article, written in 2005 by Husain Haqqani, now Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, about the ideology of South Asian militant groups. Here is what Haqqani had to say about Lashkar-e-Taiba:
“The most significant jihadi group of Wahhabi persuasion is Lashkar-e-Taiba (The Army of the Pure) founded in 1989 by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistani intelligence services, Lashkar-e-Taiba became the military wing of Markaz al-Dawa wal-Irshad (Center for the Call to Righteousness). Saeed created a large campus and training facility at Muridke, outside the Pakistani metropolis of Lahore. After the U.S. froze Lashkar-e-Taiba’s assets and called for it to be banned, Saeed changed his organization’s name in Pakistan to Jamaat-ul-Dawa (the Society for Preaching). Pakistani authorities have been reluctant to move against either Lashkar, which continues to operate in Kashmir, or Jamaat-ul-Dawa, which operates freely in Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ul-Dawa scaled down their military operations against India to help Pakistan honor its commitments to the U.S. and India. But Saeed remains free and continues to expand membership of his organization despite divisions in its leadership. ”
So it all makes sense, and blaming Lashkar-e-Taiba for the Mumbai attacks is easier than listening to what it says about itself. But in the light of the media debacle over our coverage of WMD in Iraq, should we accept this so easily?
One of the comments on my earlier post has challenged whether Lashkar-e-Taiba was indeed responsible. The comment says:
“The Lashkar-e-Toiba is essentially a Kashmir-centric Organization, it benefits nothing by attacking Mumbai at such a scale bringing the two countries at the brink of a war, rather it dare not do any such foolhardiness on its own, they have a free run in Pakistan, why would they jeopardize it? Why would the Pakistani Establishment face an International outcry & a war for a Lashkar-e-Toiba? The laskar chief was put under house arrest during the Mumbai train blast in 2006 by Pakistan even though India had not yet sounded anything. They attack to make a Political statement, why would they not own up such a successful mission? … The military precision witnessed in the Mumbai attack is far more superior than the profile of Laskar operatives…”
Are we in danger of jumping on the Lashar-e-Taiba bandwagon just as the media did on WMD in Iraq? Or I am simply questioning the obvious? Either way, we probably need to get out there and turn over a few more stones.
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[...] despite the focus on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the evidence linking them to the attacks on Mumbai is incomplete. Myra MacDonald, a blogger for Reuters, worries that the press may be [...]
- Posted by Pictures of killed Mumbai militants released « Super Information Around The WorldI don’t know how many of you know about it but this artilce will tell you what’s really going on. I got this from GEO tv network. This is about Ajmal Kasab (only terrorist survived in recent Mumbai attacks)
Ajmal Kasab kidnapped from Nepal before 2006: lawyer
RAWALPINDI: A Pakistani lawyer C M Farooque claimed that many people, including Ajmal Kasab, were arrested before 2006 from Kathmandu by the Indian agencies with the help of Nepalese forces.
He said Ajmal Kasab went to the Napalese capital on a business tour. His application regarding his arrest was lying pending in the Nepalese Supreme Court in which a reply was sought from Nepalese forces and Indian High Commission.
While talking to the Geo News, C M Farooque Advocate said the Nepalese forces arrested almost 200 people including Ajmal Kasab before 2006 and his application in this regard was lying pending in the Nepalese Supreme Court in which Nepalese forces and Indian High Commission were made respondents.
The advocate said he wrote letters to Pakistan and Indian governments in this regard. He said that he had also addressed a press conference in Nepal highlighting the issue in which he revealed that the Nepalese forces arrested Ajmal Kasab and many others and held them at an unknown place and that these people would be used for their ulterior designs at some later stage. He said that he had no contact with Ajmal Kasab ever since he disappeared.
The lawyer said he was still pleading the case of Kasab and was to visit Nepal towards the end of this month. The Nepalese Supreme Court had repeatedly issued notices to the respondents to furnish their reply but they did not submit any reply.
Advocate Farooque said he had filed the petition in the Nepalese Supreme Court in February 2008. He said he was running an NGO, ‘Voice of Human and Prisoners Rights’ and the parents of Ajmal Kasab contacted him for help in this regard after appealing to the Pakistan Government for help.
The people arrested in Nepal had gone there on legal visa for business but Indian agencies were in the habit of capturing Pakistanis from Nepal and afterwards implicated them in the Mumbai-like incidents to malign Pakistan.
- Posted by Baber RizviArun bajari what you say interesting is definately not interesting..but i would like to say since you believe pakistani media so much..trust the BJP ad in Indian media and vote for BJP if at all you are an Indian and see if they fight against terror.
- Posted by OmArun Bhajari
OH NO ! God have mercy on us! another apologist strikes…sic.
- Posted by AnupIts interesting that the mainstream media has ignored the most important facts and evidence. Hemant Karkare of the Indian Anti Terror Squad (ATS) had arrested Hindu terrorists (military officers) for the 29 Sept. 08 Malegaon terror attacts for which the Muslims were initially blamed. During the Mumbai 26 Nov. terrorist attacts, Hemant and two other senior officers were murdered in the first few hours of the Mumbai attack.
Here are some facts that show that the Mumbai attaces were likely to be false-flag operation similar to the Malegaon bombing:
* The terrorists steal police vehicles after they had just come from the ocean in boats. If there objective was to kill as many people as possible, then why risk attacking the police and stealtheir cars?
* There were advertisements after the Mumbai attack: “Fight terror. Vote BJP” — so, what was the motive for the attack — who will benefit? How often have we seen this in India during election time?
* Why was there no attempt to negociate with the terrorists after they had taken hosteges? And what happened to the 7 other terrorists who were captured? And why was the terrorist photographed wearing a hindu orange band? And finally, why were there no demands from the terrorists?
* The Mumbai attacks clearly do NOT benefit any of the Muslim organizations but they certainly have helped BJP, RSS and Shiv Sena!
It is not the first time the Indian government has blamed Pakistan, only to find later that Pakistan had nothing to do with the violence it was being accused of. Four times previously the Indian government falsely accused Lashkare Taiba directly as the organization sponsoring violent incidents in India, and Pakistan indirectly for harbouring the militant group, although Pakistan officially banned the outfit in 2002.
In each of the incidents, namely, the Chattisinghpura massacre, the attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December 2001, the Malagaon blasts and the Samjhota Express incident, investigations were either refused or revealed that neither Lashkare Taiba nor Pakistan but groups from within India were responsible. In the Chattisinghpura incident, for example, on 20 March 2000, one day before President Bill Clinton was due to arrive in India, 35 Sikhs were killed in the village of Chattisinghpura. It was said that about 15 uniformed men belonging to Lashkare Taiba and trained in Pakistan were responsible. Five days later, five men were killed by paramilitary forces in a village called Pathribal, claiming that the “foreign militants” responsible for the Sikh massacre had been found and duly eliminated. When local village people protested, investigations began. When the final results of the investigation were made public, it was found that local police was responsible for the massacre of the Sikhs.
- Posted by Arun Bhajari[...] despite the focus on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the evidence linking them to the attacks on Mumbai is incomplete. Myra MacDonald, a blogger for Reuters, worries that the press may be [...]
- Posted by Pakistani organization accused of links to Mumbai attacks holds open house « Muslim in SufferMyra, do check this out–
- Posted by Anuphttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment /columnists/david_aaronovitch/article52 69730.ece
indian U-turn; india itself involve in mumbai mass killing:
India’s foreign minister denied Sunday that he had phoned Pakistan’s president at the height of the Mumbai terrorist siege, prompting its air force to go on high alert, but Pakistani officials insisted he — or someone else in his ministry — had placed the call.
Meanwhile, India’s investigation into the attacks was running into similar theatrics, with security officials demanding the release of one of only two men arrested so far, saying he was actually a counterinsurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission. The arrests, announced in the eastern city of Calcutta, were the first since the bloody siege ended. But what was touted as a rare success for India’s beleaguered law enforcement agencies quickly turned sour as police in two Indian regions squared off against one another.
- Posted by PeaceDig a whole for Pakistan, But india fall…..
- Posted by PeacePsychiatrists in India’s financial hub are reporting increased cases of panic attacks and insomnia after last week’s attacks, telecast live into millions of homes. “There was no sense of balance or reasoning. The coverage was so jingoistic and nationalistic. This is a complex issue with various dimensions to it. Simply reducing it to ‘politicians are villains’ and ‘Pakistan is the enemy’ without discourse or debate is a deep failing of the media, but it does influence public opinion,” said Manjula.
I am an Indian American. And one thing that did trouble me about this horrific tragedy of Bombay is who benefits from it. The more I think about it, and the more information becomes available about the killing/abducting/torturing patterns of the attackers, I believe its an Al Queda operation. Possibly aided and abetted by some old ex army/ISI elements in Pakistan.
Pakistan civilian Govt. gains absolutely nothing from this attack. In fact just a day before that Qureshi was in N. Delhi and the relationship between two countries seemed on a much delayed upswing.
ISI does stand to gain from it, since from the first day Zardari was trying to break it up and curtail it’s power. The second beneficiary could be the Pakistan Army. It’s the only armed forces in the world with the dubious distinction in the world of losing every war it ever fought! Even they are laughed at by the Pakistani comics. Its quickly becoming irrelevant in its own country because of the multitude of losses it suffered in NWFP. And could use a break to go to a more peaceful frontier with virtual american guarantee of no war:)
- Posted by AmlanMyra, It’s Israel that’s been provoking Pakistan since long by trying every possible strategy to attack & destroy it’s Chinese Nuclear installations, secondly Pakistan is not vulnerable like the middle-east countries nor considers Israel as a direct threat plus targeting the Jews will earn them loads of goodwill & respect from Islamic groups & Establishments who are mostly extreme anti-Zionists & enhance their latest psychic covert strategy to club India with Israel & their latest attempts to term Indians also Zionists.
- Posted by AnupThe Amarnath land row was started by the pro Pakistani Geelani faction of the Huriyat & the pro Azadi faction & Political parties had no other option but to toe the line & it actually blew out of proportion mainly because of the opposing reaction by the people of Jammu. During that phase in Pakistan, due to the existing inner turmoil’s & fresh political transitions Pakistan could not derive maximum mileage of the situation.
Anup, for the benefit of everyone above who has asked why I am sceptical that it was Laskhar-e-Taiba, I’m posting a link to one of your comments on an earlier post where you raise many questions about it:
http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/2008/1 2/03/curbing-militants-in-pakistan-a-tri al-of-patience/#comment-8266
Secondly, if you were correct in blaming the ISI (and as you know Pakistan consistently denies this), why would they risk Israeli retribution by targetting the Jewish centre in Mumbai? Provoking India is one thing, but provoking Israel would seem potentially much more dangerous for Pakistan
Thirdly, if the ISI really were out to stir trouble with India, why did Pakistan not get involved in the Amarnath land protests in Kashmir? It looked like Pakistan was conspicuous by its absence in those protests.
Myra
- Posted by Myra MacDonald