The continuing probes into the Mumbai terror attacks that have established the links between its perpetrators and Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI could put Washington and Islamabad onto a collision course, an investigative report released by ProPublica said.
“The Mumbai case could put Washington and Islamabad on a collision course,” veteran journalist Sebastian Rotella said in his latest investigative report, which was released on January 26, on the Mumbai terrorist attacks. US attorney-general Eric H. Holder has vowed to prosecute the killings of the six Americans as required by law, Mr Rotella said, adding that the prosecutions for the Mumbai and Denmark plots are being led by Patrick Fitzgerald, the US Attorney in Chicago. Mr Rotella said at least half a dozen suspected masterminds of the attacks are still at large and it is unlikely that Pakistan would extradite any suspects to the US. Pakistani courts tend not to convict accused radical Islamists, he said, adding that the Pakistani government denies any official link to the 2008 terrorist attacks. “Why should there have been involvement of the Pakistani government in the Mumbai attacks at a time when Pakistan and India were dealing seriously with issues?” a senior Pakistani official was quoted. “Mumbai incident provided a pretext for India to shy away from settling the contentious issues between the two countries,” the official alleged. Mr Rotella said the question of Pakistani government involvement drives a high-stakes debate about whether the ISI participates in terrorist activity.
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Pak terrorist enabler, says media probe
Washington, Jan. 29: Pakistan, a key US ally in the war against terrorism, is a supporter of jihadist terror as seen in the close links between the suspected mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attacks and the ISI, according to fresh independent probes by a media group into the 26/11 attacks.
“The question, simply put, is whether the larger interests of the United States in maintaining good relations with Pakistan will permit (Sajid) Mir (the jihadi terrorist) and other suspects to get away with one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in recent history,” veteran journalist Sebastian Rotella said in his latest investigative report. —PTI