No lesser is this reflective of the confusion created in the Indian ruling flank following coming unravelling of a ruse of its. It had thought the world sympathy that the Mumbai terrorist strike had drawn it had thrown up conditions conducive for fructifying the Indian
establishment's long-cherished dream of having Pakistan declared a terrorist state. Hence after initially repeatedly saying that only non-state Pakistani elements were involved, the Indian officialdom changed its tune to harp the line that this terrorist strike couldn't be perpetrated without Pakistani state agencies' assistance. But they soon discovered they had no listeners abroad; not even in America or Britain, their two staunch backers in the episode. Worldwide, they have been rebuffed, on the ground that there is no evidence to corroborate their assertion. Indeed, they are being increasingly
viewed negatively for ratcheting up tensions in the region.

Given this, Mukherjee's backtracking could only be a desperate, though vain, attempt to keep pursing the Indian project of exploiting the Mumbai tragedy to demonise and isolate Pakistan internationally.

 

Whatever it is, Islamabad should remain focused on Mumbai strike's fuller and transparent investigation. For, there are too many things amiss with the Indian probe, the local connection, most of all. No matter how sophisticatedly was this strike planned, it couldn't have been carried out without local collusion. It is just inconceivable that the attackers after days of sea voyage were so fresh that they just disembarked from their dinghies, and with heavy rucksacks packed with guns and explosives on their backs they immediately divided themselves into groups and proceeded to their target destinations all
by themselves as they were born and bred in Mumbai.

There definitely was local assistance. Indeed, in the first hours the Indian channels themselves alluded to it. They spoke of the arrest of two Indian nationals, one an official, in Kolkata (Calcutta) in connection with the strike, sourcing it to Indian security officials.

They even reported that a terrorist under detention in a UP jail was being brought to Mumbai, as city maps and other incriminating material had been found on him. Various channels also spoke of the collusion of some staff of the two hotels attacked. Even there were varying media reports about the attackers' number, some putting it at 20 or more, all attributing their stories to official sources. Both the Indian officialdom and the Indian media have gone silent on these initial leads. And so have both on the intriguing first stories about the attacked Jewish guest house having ordered food for fifty people from one of the attacked hotels, whereas the hostages were less than a dozen, leaving the mystery answered as to why had they ordered food for so many people when the house guests were far less.

Both are now focusing exclusively on the Pakistani link, keeping the local connection obscure. But if it has to be a real investigation, this connection cannot be left uninvestigated. It has to be probed thoroughly, incisively and transparently. Islamabad must insist on it and demand a joint investigation to make for an impartial and
objective probe. In their own investigation, the Pakistani investigators must have stumbled on some leads to this Indian connection, which Islamabad must make into a basis for persuading the world capitals to pressure India into conducting a joint probe into the strike and allowing the Pakistani investigators to pursue these leads on Indian connection in India. Islamabad needs launching a robust world campaign on this score.

Further, the Indian investigators have themselves busted a terrorist network of their military officers, both serving and retired, and Hindu fanatics, involved in various terrorist activities. One of them, a military intelligence officer, is implicated in the Samjhota Express terrorist blast that killed about 70 Pakistani passengers and wounded many more. The Indians had never shared the finding of their investigation of the blast; neither when they absurdly blamed it on Pakistani agencies and their agents, nor now after their own military officer and his Hindu fanatical cohorts have been found responsible.

america, Britain, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai suspects, Mumbai terrorist,  pranabMukherjee, Samjhota Express "Ahsan Waheed"