And meanwhile, Pakistan is still dragging its feet about prosecuting the perpetrators of the Mumbai massacre. Now, why is that? “Mumbai terrorist group threaten Indian ‘water jihad,'” by Rob Crilly in the Telegraph, April 27 (thanks to Joan):
Pakistani terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks have threatened to launch a fresh jihad against India over disputed water rights.
The Indian and Pakistani prime ministers are due to meet on Wednesday amid escalating tensions over limited water resources.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of breaching the terms of a 1960 treaty governing the use of shared river systems, complaining that irrigation channels on its side of the border have emptied.
The issue has now been adopted by militants in Jamaat-ud-Dawah, widely regarded as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Jihadi group fighting Indian troops in Kashmir and responsible for the November 2008 wave of gun and bomb attacks that killed at least 170 people in Mumbai.
Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashka-e-Taibi and head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, threatened a water war with India during a recent TV interview.
“Look at India’s attitude, especially after the 9/11 attacks. It has taken advantage of Pakistan’s weaknesses and made dams and stopped our water.
Pakistan, for its defence, will have to fight a war at all costs with India if it is not prepared for talks on Kashmir and water,” Saeed said in an interview with Frontline, a private TV channel.
His comments followed earlier statements claiming that control of water resources was being used as a weapon to weaken Pakistan.
“India is trying to hatch a deep conspiracy of making Pakistan’s agricultural lands barren and economically annihilating us,” said one….
Delhi broke off talks with Islamabad after the Mumbai attacks, which a senior Pakistan official later admitted had partly been planned in his country.
They resumed briefly in February but India insisted full negotiations would require Pakistan to prosecute those responsible for the Mumbai killings….
Is that unreasonable?