Tuesday 23 December 2008


PAKISTAN-INDIA TENSIONS MOUNT OVER MUMBAI TERROR

Omar Waraich

Time, December 23, 2008

Nearly a month since the Mumbai terror attacks that killed 163 people, India and Pakistan remain locked in a war of words, and cross-border tensions are rising. New Delhi is growing increasingly frustrated over what it sees as Pakistan's failure to act more decisively against Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the group blamed for the attacks, and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), its affiliate charity. But Islamabad bristles at such criticism, noting that it has cracked down on JuD in line with a U.N. Security Council designation of the group as a terrorist organization, and arguing that unless India provides credible evidence to prosecute particular invididuals, Pakistan's hands are tied.

Tensions escalated Monday as Pakistani air force jets patrolled the skies over major cities while, across the border, the Indian Foreign Minister accused Pakistan of shifting "blame and responsibility." Residents in Islamabad and Lahore, the eastern capital of Punjab province near the Indian border, were alarmed by the sight of the jets swooping low over them. In a brief explanatory statement that made an opaque reference to India's alleged incursions into Pakistani air space last week, the Pakistan air force said that "in view of the current environment," it had, "enhanced its vigilance."

"[Pakistan's military] is trying to show to the Indians that it will not let incursions take place without being challenged," says analyst and retired general Talat Masood. Pakistani fears of a potential Indian military strike, which have simmered since the Mumbai massacre, were heightened Monday after Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian Foreign Minister, said that his country was keeping all its options open. While Mukherjee denied any intent to launch military action, he issued the latest in a series of stern salvos, demanding of Pakistan that "much more needs to be done," echoing remarks made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in recent days. "We have highlighted that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan has to be dismantled permanently," Mukherjee told a gathering of Indian diplomats in New Delhi, adding that India has provided Pakistan evidence of the culprits, including satellite phone intercepts and a letter from Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving suspect, Reuters reported.

(...) [artículo aquí]

No comments: