It is not Pakistan’s U Turn on Mumbai Attack

By Afshain Afzal

Various articles have been contributed on Mumbai attacks to acquaint the readers with various possibilities and latest developments. Basing our analysis on the statements of Indian Army, Police and eyewitnesses as well as Indian and foreign media reports, it appears to be a conspiracy of RAW with other foreign intelligence agencies. The latest breakthrough by Pakistani authorities in Mumbai attacks is a proof that an honest effort has been made to investigate into the attacks. Many people got perturbed when they found that initially Pakistan, due to absence of Ajmal Amir Kasab’s record in NADRA, was even doubtful of the his Pakistani citizenship despite the fact that Pakistani news channels telecasted the interview of his father from Okara in which he accepted Ajmal Amir as his son. Later it further surprised them when Pakistani authorities not only admitted Kasab’s Pakistani citizenship but also accepted that its soil had been used by militants involved in Mumbai attacks. However, instead of appreciating Pakistan’s efforts in the probe, the Indian media started projecting that Pakistan has accepted the blames leveled by Indian government. While Pakistani media and some international channels which were denying Pakistan’s involvement in the attacks started questioning why they were kept ignorant of latest developments while same stuff was shared with foreigners and handful of CIA-RAW sponsored Pakistan channels?

Leaving aside the propaganda, it is crystal clear that Pakistani authorities have nowhere accepted the blame of Mumbai attacks. It is true that Islamabad arrested three individuals from Karachi and also located the compound where allegedly Ajmal Amir Kasab along with other militants stayed before the Mumbai attack but where is the acceptance? Indian media and some Pakistani channels with anti Pakistan designs are wrongly projecting Pakistani efforts to nab the actual hands behind the attack as Pakistan’s “U Turn” and acceptance of Indian charges. In fact Pakistan is carrying out a thorough investigation on Mumbai attacks during the course of which it found that Mumbai attacks were linked with other terrorist activities in India. In the same regard Pakistani Foreign Minister said on February 15, 2009 that Mumbai attacks are linked with Sahjhota Express blasts. Pakistan has shared its probe report on the attacks with many countries including G-8. The efforts of Pakistan in this regard have been appreciated not only by India but the whole world. Pakistan wants India’s cooperation in the probe and is presently waiting reply of 30 questions it raised to India.

While analyzing the present situation, it is important to keep our minds open as in the mist of anti-Pakistan propaganda it is difficult to differentiate between truth and lie. Pakistan has made a major breakthrough by unearthing part of Mumbai attackers’ network in Karachi as well as successfully tracing links of Mumbai attacks with Sahjhota Express blasts. It is still possible that Mumbai attacks have been staged by some intelligence agency to make things appear real. It may also be a conspiracy of RAW-CIA or some local intelligence agency that may have vested interests. We have before us fake encounters by Indian Army and security forces against those who hold extremist views. One such event took place in Indian held Jammu and Kashmir last year when a student was killed by Indian Army personnel while infiltrating with weapons from Pakistan to India. However, his teachers in Rajouri confirmed that he attended the college that morning. Another event is Malegaon and Modasa blasts which took place few days ahead of Eid ul Fitr, in which 5 Muslims were killed. BJP issued a statement in which it leveled the responsibility on the Muslims and blamed SIMI and Indian Mujahideen for the blasts. But Mumbai Police despite extensive pressure from Hindu extremists unveiled the Hindu terrorists were behind the blast. Police also disclosed that Islamic stickers were pasted on the motor cycle used in the blast to prove that Muslims are behind the blasts. It is too early to say anything with confidence that what would be the final shape of investigations being carried out by Pakistani authorities. It depends on level of Indian cooperation which might lead to unearthing of further evidences with regard of Mumbai attacks links with Samjhoata Express blast. It is on record that slain Indian Terrorist Squad Chief Hemant Karkare put Samjhoata Express blast on the score card of Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit and his Hinduvta outfits. In the light of recent developments, it appears that Mumbai attacks may end at Indian Military Intelligence and RAW who would finally come up with the whole truth regarding Mumbai attack.

Research and Analysis Wing [RAW]

The Cabinet Secretariat Research and Analysis Wing [RAW], India 's most powerful intelligence agency, is India 's external intelligence agency. RAW has become an effective instrument of India 's national power, and has assumed a significant role in formulating India 's domestic and foreign policies. RAW has engaged in disinformation campaigns, espionage and sabotage against Pakistan and other neighboring countries. RAW has enjoyed the backing of successive Indian governments in these efforts. Working directly under the Prime Minister, the structure, rank, pay and perks of the Research & Analysis Wing are kept secret from Parliament.

Current policy debates in India have generally failed to focus on the relative priority given by RAW to activities directed against India 's neighbors versus attention to domestic affairs to safeguard India 's security and territorial integrity. The RAW has had limited success in dealing with separatist movements in Manipur and Tripura in the northeast, Tamil Nadu in the south, and Punjab and Kashmir in the northwestern part of the country. Indian sources allege the CIA has penetrated freedom fighters in Kashmir and started activities in Kerala, Karnataka, and other places, along with conducting economic and industrial espionage activities in New Delhi .

In 1968 India established this special branch of its intelligence service specifically targeted on Pakistan . The formation of RAW was based on the belief that Pakistan was supplying weapons to Sikh terrorists, and providing shelter and training to the guerrillas in Pakistan . Pakistan has accused the Research and Analysis Wing of sponsoring sabotage in Punjab, where RAW is alleged to have supported the Seraiki movement, providing financial support to promote its activities in Pakistan and organizing an International Seraiki Conference in Delhi in November-December 1993.

RAW has an extensive network of agents and anti-government elements within Pakistan , including dissident elements from various sectarian and ethnic groups of Sindh and Punjab. As many as 40 terrorist training camps at Rajasthan, East Punjab, Held Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of India are run by the RAW's Special Service Bureau (SSB).

Throughout the Afghan War, RAW was responsible for the planning and execution of terrorist activities in Pakistan to deter Pakistan from support of Afghan liberation movement against India 's ally, the Soviet Union . The assistance provided to RAW by the KGB enabled RAW to arrange terrorist attacks in Pakistani cities throughout the Afghan War. The defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan did not end the role of RAW in Pakistan , with reports that suggest that India has established a training camp in the town of Qadian , in East Punjab , where non-Muslim Pakistanis are trained for terrorist activities. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has blamed India for funding the current upsurge of terrorism in Pakistan , and senior ministers have blamed the Research and Analysis Wing for the sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis which has resulted in thousands of deaths every year.

RAW executed a hijacking of an Indian Airliner to Lahore in 1971 which was attributed to the Kashmiris, to give a terrorist dimension to the Kashmiri national movement. However, soon the extent of RAW's involvement was made public.

RAW has a long history of activity in Bangladesh , supporting both secular forces and the area's Hindu minority. The involvement of RAW in East Pakistan is said to date from the 1960s, when RAW promoted dissatisfaction against Pakistan in East Pakistan, including funding Mujibur Rahmanh's general election in 1970 and providing training and arming the Mukti Bahini.

During the course of its investigation the Jain Commission received testimony on the official Indian support to the various Sri Lankan Tamil armed groups in Tamil Nadu. From 1981, RAW and the Intelligence Bureau established a network of as many as 30 training bases for these groups in India . Centers were also established at the high-security military installation of Chakrata, near Dehra Dun , and in the Ramakrishna Puram area of New Delhi . This clandestine support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), some of whom were on the payroll of RAW, was later suspended. Starting in late 1986 the Research and Analysis Wing focused surveillance on the LTTE which was expanding ties with Tamil Nadu separatist groups. Rajiv Gandhi sought to establish good relations with the LTTE, even after the Indian Peace Keeping Force [IPKF] experience in Sri Lanka . But the Indian intelligence community failed to accurately assess the character of the LTTE and its orientation India and its political leaders. The LTTE assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was apparently motivated by fears of a possible re-induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka and a crackdown on the LTTE network in Tamil Nadu.

The RAW and the Ministry of External Affairs are provided Rs 25 crore annually as "discretionary grants" for foreign influence operations. These funds have supported organisations fighting Sikh and Kashmiri separatists in the UK , Canada and the US . An extensive network of Indian operatives is controlled by the Indian Embassy in Washington DC . The Indian embassy's covert activities are reported to include the infitration of US long distance telephone carriers by Indian operatives, with access to all kinds of information, to r blackmail relatives of US residents living in India . In 1996 an Indian diplomat was implicated in a scandal over illegal funding of political candidates in the US . Under US law foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to federal elections. The US District Court in Baltimore sentenced Lalit H Gadhia, a naturalised US citizen of Indian origin, to three months imprisonment. Gadhia had confessed that he worked as a conduit between the Indian Embassy and various Indian-American organisations for funnelling campaign contributions to influence US lawmakers. Over $46,000 from the Indian Embassy was distributed among 20 Congressional candidates. The source of the cash used by Gadhia was Devendra Singh, a RAW official assigned to the Indian Embassy in Washington . Illicit campaign money received in 1995 went to Democratic candidates including Sens. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), Paul S. Sarbanes (D -Md.) and Reps. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) and Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md. )

Experts doubt Al Qaeda link in Mumbai attacks...

The men came wearing black hoods, firing automatic weapons and throwing grenades, taking hostages, attacking two hotels, a cinema, a café, a train station and other popular and undefended "soft targets."

An e-mail message to Indian media outlets that claimed responsibility for the bloody attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday night said the militants were from the Deccan Mujahideen.

Global terrorism experts said Thursday they had never heard of the group. And based on its tactics, they said, it was probably not a cell or group linked to Al Qaeda.

"It's even unclear whether it's a real group or not," said Bruce Hoffman, a professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the author of the book "Inside Terrorism." "It could be a cover name for another group, or a name adopted just for this particular incident."

Chrtistine Fair, senior political scientist and a South Asia expert at the RAND Corporation, was careful to say that the identity of the terrorists could not yet be known. But she insisted the style of the attacks and the targets in Mumbai suggested that the militants were likely to be Indian Muslims - and not linked to Al Qaeda or the violent South Asian terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"There's absolutely nothing Al Qaeda-like about it," she said of the attack. "Did you see any suicide bombers? And there are no fingerprints of Lashkar. They don't do hostage taking, and they don't do grenades."

Hoffman agreed that the assault was "not exactly Al Qaeda's modus operandi, which is suicide attacks." But he said the timed attacks, which he called "tactical, sophisticated and coordinated," perhaps pointed to a broader organization behind the perpetrators. Fair also noted that the fact the group had not proclaimed its ideology in a manifesto was "not at all unusual."
"You don't see these types of terrorist operations very often, if at all," Hoffman said. "These aren't just a bunch of radical guys coming together to cause mayhem.

"This takes a different skill set. It doesn't take much skill to make a bomb. This is not just pressing a button as a suicide bomber and dying. You don't learn this over the Internet."
The word Deccan describes the middle and south of India, which is dominated by the Deccan Plateau. Mujahideen, of course, is the commonly used Arabic word for holy fighters. The very name - if it is a real group - suggests a domestic agenda.

"It's maybe not so much a group as a cell that will take on a name for a specific operation," said Fair. "In India you hear these unusual names."
Fair did not agree that the attacks on Wednesday necessarily required deep planning and training.

"This wasn't something that required a logistical mastermind," she said. "These were not hardened targets. A huge train station with zero security. Two hotels with no security, both owned by Indians. Leopold's Café. How hard is it, really? It's not rocket science."
Fair believes the attacks could be "yet another manifestation of domestic terrorism" that has its genesis in a longstanding institutional discrimination against Muslims.

"There are a lot of very, very angry Muslims in India," she said, "The economic disparities are startling, and India has been very slow to publicly embrace its rising Muslim problem. You cannot put lipstick on this pig. This is a major domestic political challenge for India."
The CIA puts the population of India at 1.15 billion, with Hindus making up about 80 percent of the total and Muslims 13.4 percent.

Fair said one incident - "a watershed event" - that continues to anger Muslims were the riots that swept nearby Gujarat State in 2002. The violence killed between 1,000 and 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.

"The public political face of India says, 'Our Muslims have not been radicalized.' But the Indian intelligence apparatus knows that's not true. India's Muslim communities are being sucked into the global landscape of Islamist jihad.

"Indians will have a strong incentive to link this to Al Qaeda. 'Al Qaeda's in your toilet!' But this is a domestic issue. This is not India's 9/11."

For Hoffman, who has studied terrorism for more than 30 years, the Mumbai attacks are "alarming on a number of levels."

"It's not often that things in terrorism alarm me. So much is a repeat of what we see almost every day, like suicide bombings. There's no real innovation in terrorism, which is why 9/11 was so terrifying, because it was so innovative and heinously clever.

"But these attacks show how a handful of men, basically using weapons off the shelf, can paralyze a city and frustrate highly trained security forces. These attacks were calculated to spread alarm and anxiety - to put it quite frankly, to unhinge things - and that's exactly what they've done."

MUSLIMS... the most easy scapegoat in India!!

Every time a bomb goes off in some part of India, the needle of suspicion invariably turns to a “Muslim outfit’s terror network” (stressing on the Muslim part of the terror network) which, interestingly, always has a link with the Intelligence agency of Pakistan, whether it is the historical event of attack on the Indian parliament or the blast in Samjhuta Express or the Godhra train incident. But the truth behind this home-grown terror storm is actually revealed with the arrest of a serving Lt. Colonel and a retired Major in connection with Malegaon and Modasa blast. The Mumbai police and central security agencies are probing the role of some more members of the armed forces, including another high-ranking official, for funding the incident.

The Maharashtra police are said to have cracked the September 29 bomb blasts in Malegaon and Modasa town in neighbouring Gujarat saying these were allegedly carried out by the Hindu Jagran Manch, an Indore-based Hindu extremist group known to have links to the BJP’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) whereas, Interestingly, The BJP had condemned both the blasts... now that’s called real diplomacy!

Police say Lt-Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit of Army Education Corps is accused of providing logistical support for Hindu militants to make bombs. Purohit was working with the Army Liaison Cell, a front of Military Intelligence, and was learning Chinese and Arabic in Panchmari in Madhya Pradesh. At least nine other people - including a retired army major, Ramesh Upadhyay - have already been detained in the case.

Both bombs were placed on motorcycles parked in crowded areas days before Eid and set off after Muslims had broken their Ramzan fast on a Monday evening. Investigators (as usual) initially suspected Islamist groups such as SIMI or the Indian Mujahideen to be behind the near-simultaneous attacks, ignoring the fact that most of the population in Malegaon is Muslim.

So far, Anti-Terrorist Squad have arrested three persons including a ’sadhvi’ (Pragnya Singh ) in connection with the blast. Pragnya is a ’sadhvi’ who had taken ’sanyas’ (leaving the world for god) in 2007. The motorcycle that was used in the bomb blast, guised with an Islamic sticker, also belonged to Pragna.

Few months earlier, two members of a Hindu organization were found involved in making of low-intensity bombs, but involvement of a woman in the bomb blasts is the most shocking development. It is the new face of the Hindu terror where women are being utilized as a shield by these fanatics. Pragnya is a former member of Durga Vahini, the women wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

VHP along with some other Hindu organizations always try to project themselves as ‘patriotic’ groups but always remain in search of appropriate time to target the minority communities probably to prove their religious patriotism.

Interestingly, Sources said it was believed that some of the money from the funds, meant for operational purposes of Military Intelligence, had been allegedly siphoned off by Purohit for setting up the Abhinav Bharat, a little known saffron group, how convenient…!
Now this is called Intelligence with a Big capital “I” … where no body knew so far from where the funds are coming and where they are going.. and yet they have a courage to blame all their ills on Pakistan... Bravo!!

Why attacks on Christians in India???

History is evident that political Hinduism was always an eternal part of Secular India, and to be more precise - the inseparable part. Although the Indian post-Independence history is tagged by discrimination and violence against Muslims but the rise of anti-Christian sentiment is a more recent phenomenon. Initially appearing as isolated incidents of violence against minorities, the aggression against Christians has now intensified both in its frequency and severity. Latest in the series is the communal madness shown by the VHP goons that started in Orissa and was then extended to other states and districts of India. The magnitude of damage that Sangh Parivar has caused to the minority society is beyond describing in words. Analyzing the situation, the question remains why are the Christians under attack in India? What is the motivation behind this naked, shameful orgy of violence against a minority in a secular state?
The answer lies in the growing communalization of Indian politics that has now crept into the society as well. The ideology of Sangh Parivar aims to unite the Hindus and strengthen the Hindu cultural foundations. Being a Hindu extremist organization, it insists that ‘nationhood’ must be founded on Hindutva dogma. Putting it simple it’s like – although India is a democracy (as it claims) but as Hindu constitutes the majority of population so India should become an acknowledged Hindu state - where these minorities are proving to be the basic obstacle (curse) in their way of success.
The Human Rights Watch report on violence against Christians in India agrees to the maintained fact as it says, “India’s inter-religious violence now extends to the Christians, and its underlying causes are the same as those promoting violence against Muslims, Dalits and other marginalized groups in the country. Political and economic power struggles linked rhetorically to the creation of a Hindu nation.” The report further says that there are numerous compilations of atrocities perpetrated upon Christians, and they suggest an alarming pattern of violence.
Both Muslim and Christian communities have faced repeated attacks from Hindu activists in the past. The history suggests, as the Hindutva ideology has grown more powerful over the years, Hindutva activists have coddled in organized pogroms to eliminate minority communities.

Kashmir - Glory turned a Nightmare

THE destiny of Kashmir as written by the “Shining” India is a total dismay and bloodshed spread over a huge period of time. Over 700,000 of Indian army residing in the Indian held Kashmir (IHK) has done a colossal damage to the Kashmir valley that was once regarded as heaven on earth. The insurgency which was amplified in 1989 is continued till today. Ever since then, innumerable Kashmiris have lost their lives in this violence. Hundreds of thousand people went missing and numerous are being brutally tortured in jails. Thousands of young children made orphans and their mothers widowed. Infinite number of women is molested by the so-called care takers of the valley. Countless houses and shops burnt and destroyed with a number of unnamed graves lying down in the valley. This is Kashmir - under the Indian occupation. Sadly the heaven on earth has been gradually changed in the land of crimson red.Since 1989, the wails of family members mourning their dead have been persistent to life in Jammu state.

A US based watchdog, Human Rights Watch, says in a report: "The Indian army and paramilitary forces are responsible for innumerable and serious violations of human rights in Kashmir. Extrajudicial executions are widespread in Kashmir. The alleged militants (majority of which are turned to be innocent local people later) taken into custody are often executed instead of being brought to trail. Most of those summarily executed are falsely reported to have died during the armed clashes between the army and the militants". India might claims to be the world’s largest democracy but the fact remains that this country is rewarding its men with more money, power and commendations for killing innocent people in Kashmir. Its security forces are accountable for disappearance of countless people in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989 and staged encounter killings by fabricating claims that those killed were militants. These innocents are killed for the promotions and awards promised in return of their evil courage by the Indian government. Recently, Srinagar court has issued non-bailable warrants against five army personnel, including a colonel, who were accused of killing a mosque priest in a fake encounter in 2006 and passing him off as a militant to achieve awards. How distressful that the concerned men have never appeared in any session of the court.

For sure, fake encounters were never uncommon in Kashmir but gradually the situation is getting worse. It is all due to the impunity enjoyed by the Indian troops and officials which is fueling the conflict. Kashmiri human rights defenders say that thousands of people have disappeared since the conflict began, where most were last seen in the custody of Indian troops. Jammu State Human Rights Commission in its annual report for the year 2006-07 has registered a double increase in custodial killings and disappearances, where Human Rights groups noted that police officials often refused to turn over bodies in cases of suspected staged encounters. The bodies were often cremated even before their families could view them. Asia Director at Human Rights Watch, Mr. Brad Adams said in a report “This epidemic of fake “encounter killings” by the Indian security forces has plagued Kashmir for too long”. Still the world is turning deaf ear towards the woes of Kashmiris. It is high time when the International community should condemn the unforgiving violations of human rights by the Indian security forces. Indian government has always side tracked the issue of Kashmir to cover up its occupation of Kashmiri land through brutal force. Now the international community must urge India to come to the negotiation table to decide the fate of Kashmir jointly with Pakistan and according to the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiris people. If India is really sincere in resolving the issue (as it claims) then it should stop repression in Kashmir now.