Indian Can Be Involved in 26/11 Mumbai Attacks: HM Chidambaram

NEW DELHI : Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram has indicated for the first time that an Indian citizen might be involved in Mumbai attacks.

During an interview with an Indian TV channel, he said that voice samples of the suspect from Pakistan were essential to conclusively establish the identity of Abu Jindal, who is suspected to the Indian handler.

“There was a handler in 26/11 whom we have known for long, or suspected for a long time, could be an Indian.”

Jindal is one of the alleged masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. It is believed that his real name could be Syed Zabiuddin Ansari.

Chidambaram will travel to Pakistan for a regional meeting this month, a visit that may lay the ground for improving ties which deteriorated after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

India Says One 26/11 Terror Handlers Could be Indian

NEW DELHI: For the first time the Indian government has admitted that at least one of the 26/11 terror handlers could be Indian.

Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram, speaking an Indian news TV, amitted that there could have been an Indian hand in the Mumbai terror attacks.

He said that voice samples of the suspect from Pakistan were essential to conclusively establish the identity of Abu Jindal, who is suspected to the Indian handler.

“There was a handler in 26/11 whom we have known for long, or suspected for a long time, could be an Indian.”

Jindal is one of the alleged masterminds of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. It is believed that his real name could be Syed Zabiuddin Ansari.

He is wanted in the Aurangabad arms haul case as well as well as for plotting to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Ansari hails from Aurangabad in Maharashtra, the channel reports.

Chidambaram travels to Pakistan for a regional meeting this month, a visit that may lay the ground for improving ties which deteriorated after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram will be the first top level official to cross the border since the assault on India’s financial capital by gunmen which claimed 166 lives.

India blamed the attack on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group and broke off a four-year peace dialogue, demanding Islamabad bring the culprits to justice before talks could resume.

Foreign ministry officials said Chidambaram will meet his Pakistani counterpart, Rehman Malik, and other officials for talks that may have a narrow focus on what action Islamabad has taken in regard to the Mumbai attacks.

But the visit’s larger goal could be to create a forum for limited dialogue, leading to a calibrated easing of tension.

PM Asks World to Pressure Pakistan Attackers 26/11

Washington: news update, Warning of “phenomenal consequences” if the advance of terrorists in Pakistan was not controlled, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the world community to pressurise Islamabad to do much more to bring to book those responsible for the “horrible” 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
“We don’t want Pakistan to fail and emergence of democracy in Pakistan is something we welcome,” he said at the Council on Foreign Relations, a leading US think tank Monday. “But at the same time we have to recognise that there are forces at work in Pakistan that are with terrorists.”

“At least until now they were active only in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Now I think they hold direct on grip in several parts of mainland Pakistan.

“If that process is not controlled, it has I think phenomenal consequences for the security and stability of Pakistan as well as our own security,” he added.

Asked if he regretted not taking the military option in retaliation against the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the prime minister said he resisted enormous pressure at that time “and I think the decision that I took was balanced and right decision”.

“As regards future, I hate to speculate and sincerely hope that that sort of eventuality does not arise,” Manmohan Singh said. “And that’s why I believe world community has an obligation to impress upon Pakistan that it must use all its influence to curb the power of terrorist groups.”

The prime minister said Pakistan had done something to control the activities of Taliban terrorist groups in FATA, but “it has not acted as it should have acted in bringing the terrorists elements who are using their territory to target our country”.

Nor has Pakistan used all its machinery to bring to book all those murderers and those who perpetrated the horrible crime in Mumbai, he said, urging the world community to pressurise Pakistan to bring to book all those who are responsible for it.

There was now impeccable evidence that the conspiracy was planned in Pakistan with the active connivance of people still roaming about freely in Pakistan, he said. “Therefore I respectfully respect the world community to use all its influence on powers that be in Pakistan to desist from this sort of behaviour.”