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 attacks that began Nov. 26 and ended three days later have 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 today in New Delhi.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since 1947 over the Kashmir region, which is divided between them and claimed in full by both countries. The two nations came to the brink of a fourth war in 2002, though some analysts said the latest incident may not bring tensions to that level.
“Indian and Pakistan political leaders are wiser after the experience of 2002,” said New Delhi-based C. Uday Bhaskar, a defense analyst and former director of the Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses. Statements by the Indian officials are “carefully nuanced where attention is drawn to elements in Pakistan” without “casting aspersions on the Pakistani state.”
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.
Pakistan Training Alleged
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 yesterday, 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 today, 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 activity as diving, running and swimming, the newspaper reported, citing the unidentified people.
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.
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