Europe think tank on failure to nail Pakistan for Mumbai terror attacks, says 'Highly unacceptable'

The international community's failure to nail Pakistan for Mumbai terror attacks even after the 12 years is "highly unacceptable," according to an European think tank, which said the Pakistani military establishment, was "eminently culpable" in the 26/11 attacks and has ensured that the trials into the attacks never really moved forward.

In a commentary, the European Foundation for South Asian Studies, on Saturday said Pakistan has imbibed and chosen the use of terrorism to conduct its business.

On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists trained by the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) carried out a series of coordinated attacks against multiple targets in Mumbai including the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, the Leopold Cafe, the Nariman (Chabad) House, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, killing 166 people.

Pakistani authorities continue to deny culpability and yet to take action on the multiple dossiers shared by India. A trial underway in a Pakistani anti-terrorism court against seven suspects has made little headway in more than a decade, as Pakistani officials serially question the sufficiency and legitimacy of evidence against them.

The whole world, barring Pakistan and its benefactor China, knows full well exactly who the perpetrators of 26/11 were, the EFSAS said.

Most countries of note hesitate a little while publicly and repeatedly asserting with conviction the identity of the country, Pakistan, as also the individuals involved, it added.

"The Pakistani military establishment, which was eminently culpable in the Mumbai attacks, has ensured that the trials into the attacks never really moved forward. It is unlikely to relent unless it is forced into a situation where the cost of not doing so is unpalatably high," the EFSAS said.

"The importance that the use of terrorism has in the Pakistani scheme of things, as also the deceitful nature that the Pakistani State has imbibed and chosen to conduct its business around, were once again revealed when media reports earlier this week made the shocking disclosure that despite his conviction and sentencing to tens of years in prison for terror financing, Hafiz Saeed is no longer lodged in jail," it added.

The plethora of evidence that has been gathered on the attacks has caused the international community, led by the US which lost six of its citizens in 26/11, to conclude that LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, LeT deputy head of international operations Sajid Mir, and their Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) handlers Major Iqbal, Major Samir Ali, Lt. Colonel Hamza and Colonel Shah were among the key planners and executioners of the 26/11 attacks.

"While it is comforting for critics of terrorism to know that the capability to accurately unearth so much of information about a clandestinely launched terror attack actually exists, it is at the same time exasperating to be faced with the harsh reality that such knowledge and conviction have little substance if they fail to compel a terror-sponsoring country such as Pakistan to bring the culprits to justice. That is a grossly unacceptable situation," it added.

(ANI)

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