South Asia Theater

India and Pakistan ready for war, US threatens intervention?

India was planning a military strike over the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hassan told the BBC, saying New Delhi intended "to teach Pakistan a lesson." The network quoted the official saying, "This is what we were told by our friends that there could possibly be a quick strike at some of the areas they suspect to be the training camps, an air raid or something of that sort." India has made no comment on Hassan's remarks. (Press TV, Dec. 7)

Obama team member linked to Hindutva fascist movement

A group of Indian-American organizations and individuals have launched a campaign against Sonal Shah, a member of the transition team of the US president-elect Barack Obama, for her alleged links to India's Hindu fundamentalist ultra-right. Specifically, she is said to have worked in America for the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), an civic ally of the right-wing BJP opposition party that was deeply implicated in the 2002 Gujarat pogroms. The organizations are demanding that Shah to come clean on the issue. From IndiaServer, Nov. 21:

Pakistan: anti-India protesters sport Mumbai conspiracy theory

In the wake of mass protests in Mumbai where many called for military action against Pakistan, marchers in Islamabad had their turn to chant slogans against India and the US Dec. 4, when thousands filled the streets to protest US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to New Delhi. At the protest, led by the Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba and Jammat-e-Islami, a favorite banner slogan was, "We are ready to sacrifice ourselves by launching Jihad against the enemies of our country." Many protesters claimed India itself planned the Mumbai attacks as a means of waging a war against Pakistan. (Press TV, Dec. 4)

Protests in wake of Mumbai terror

Thousands of people took to the streets of Mumbai Dec. 3 to demand India's leaders do more to protect them from terrorism in the wake of last week's attacks. A BBC reporter on the scene says many of the protesters called for military action against Pakistan. (AFP, BBC World Service, Dec. 4) Meanwhile, Muslims from Mumbai and several other Indian cities are preparing Dec. 8 demonstrations to oppose all those who spread terror in the name of Islam. In Mumbai, a silent vigil will be held at the scene of the attacks. The theme of the mobilization is "Killers of innocents are enemies of Islam." (Times of India, Dec. 4)

India: more terror in Assam

Five were killed and 35 others injured Dec. 2 in two separate attacks in the Karbi Anglong district of India's eastern Assam state. A bomb went off inside a second-class coach of a passenger train at the Diphu railway station at about 8 AM, killing three, including a five-year-old child. Thirty-five others were injured, 10 of them seriously. Elsewhere in the district, two motorcycle-borne militants with an AK–47 gunned down a couple at the Dolamora village later that morning.

Anomalies emerge in Mumbai terror —of course

India's intelligence apparatus is rapidly zeroing in on its usual suspect Pakistan in the Mumbai attacks. The Times of India reports Dec. 2:

All the 10 terrorists, suspected to have been involved in the Mumbai attacks, were trained by ex-army personnel even as the lone arrested terrorist has admitted to being a Pakistani, the police on Tuesday said.

BJP exploits Mumbai terror

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the right-wing BJP arrived in Mumbai Nov. 28 to pay public last respects to police officers killed fighting the militants who attacked India's financial capital, and announce Rs 1 crore ($2 million) compensation to the families. But the widow of the most senior officer to lose his life in the fighting, Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, has refused to accept the compensation offer. Karkare was killed by Mohammad Ajmal Mohammad Amin Kasab, the only militant arrested in the three-day terror attack, who has been identified as a Pakistani national. (India Business Standard, Nov. 30; PTI, Nov. 29; IANS, Nov. 28)

Pakistani merchant ships seized in Mumbai attacks

The Indian navy seized two Pakistani merchant ships, asserting that they were used to drop off the Mumbai attackers in a series of small boats. According to Indian news agencies, intelligence sources pinpointed one particular cargo vessel that had stopped in Mumbai briefly before leaving for Karachi, Pakistan. Indian navy and coastguard vessels happened to be engaged in routine exercises off the coast of Gujarat and were immediately dispatched to intercept the vessel.

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