Friday, January 02, 2009

India is still fumbling for a response to Pakistan in the aftermath of its worst ever terror strike, writes Ranjit Bhushan

LeT camps in Pakistan. Back to square one. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has admitted the possibility of "rogue, non-state actors" orchestrating the Mumbai horror, but has also said that Pakistan per se had no hand in this. And jingoistic media reportage notwithstanding, it is difficult to imagine that Zardari could have ordered such a strategic harakiri.

Experts believe this is a good opportunity to mobilise international opinion against Pakistan, as many were killed who belong to other countries, so their governments are keen to get to the bottom of what happened. “This is the best time for India to mobilise opinion. Not just India, other countries are involved,” former Indian high commissioner to Islamabad, G Parthasarthy, told TSI.

There is a large element of truth in this. Apart from many countries which are willing to help – a terrorist slaughter like this has sent alarm bells ringing in most foreign capitals – the USA and Israel have been most keen to help. An FBI team is in Delhi armed with critical intercepts by the CIA, and the National Security Guards (NSG) is sifting through all the evidence to figure out the extent of the Pakistani culpability. However, it is not entirely clear how Indian sleuths from the intelligence services are going to deal with the Americans.

Israel, after the killing of five Jews at Chahad House in Mumbai, has taken it as an attack on their nationhood. The Foreign Minister of Israel, Behrak Ekud, told journalists in Tel Aviv that India has been offered "all kinds of help", but added that New Delhi has mostly declined. Some former Mossad officials are of the view that Indian commandos took too long to neutralise the terrorists, causing an unusually large number of casualties.....Continue

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