Zardari may soon have to take those strong measures he promised if Pakistani involvement were proved. “Police: Pakistani militants behind Mumbai attacks,” by Ramola Talwar Badam for Associated Press, November 30 (thanks to all who sent this in):
MUMBAI, India — The only gunman captured by police after a string of attacks on Mumbai told authorities he belonged to a Pakistani militant group with links to the disputed region of Kashmir, a senior police officer said Sunday.
India has blamed “elements” from Pakistan for the 60-hour siege during which suspected Muslim militants hit 10 sites across India’s financial capital, leaving at least 174 dead.
Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the assailant now in custody “” the only one of 10 to survive “” told police the group had intended to hit even more targets.
“Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the terrorist acts in the city,” Maria told reporters. “The terrorists were from a hardcore group in the L-e-T.” […]
A previously unknown group called Deccan Mujahideen “” a name suggesting origins inside India “” has claimed responsibility for the attacks. But suspicion in Indian media quickly settled on Lashkar-e-Taiba, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help wage its clandestine war against India in disputed Kashmir. […]
And here comes the usual finger-pointing and attempt to claim victim status that we have so often seen from Muslim spokesmen in the wake of Islamic jihad attacks or honest discussion of the Islamic texts and teachings that jihadists use to justify their actions:
Speaking earlier Sunday, a spokesman for a Jamat-ud Dawa denied any link to Lashkar-e-Taiba and said he condemned the attack.
“We condemn the killings of civilians. We condemn such killings in a terrorist activity, and at the same time we condemn it happening in the shape of state terrorism, as we see in Srinagar, Kashmir,” Abdullah Muntazir said, referring to alleged Indian army atrocities in Kashmir, which is claimed by both Pakistan and India….
Yeah, it’s all the same: resisting the jihad in Kashmir is just like torturing and murdering a rabbi and his wife, isn’t it? Just as speaking out against jihad and Islamic supremacism is the same thing as flying a hijacked airplane into an office building. We have heard all this many times before.