11/26 mumbai is not the first time pakistan’s involvement has been revealed in terror-related activities. the country has been actively fomenting terrorism and militancy in different parts of the world including south asia. it has emerged as the chief promoter of the so-called islamic militancy. here, underworld don dawood ibrahim’s case becomes very significant. he is believed to have masterminded the 1993 mumbai serial blasts, and is reportedly enjoying a lavish lifestyle in pakistan. but successive governments there have brazenly denied the fact. in 1999, when terrorists hijacked an indian airlines plane ic 814, they demanded the release of three dreaded ultras, including masood azhar and two others. one of the released terrorist, british-born omar ahmad saeed sheikh, was sentenced to death on july 15 by an anti-terrorism court in hyderabad in pakistan for kidnapping and murdering wall street journal reporter daniel pearl. the other released terrorist masood azhar still roams freely in pakistan and shares close connection with powerful state officials. lashkar-e-taiba (let), a terrorist organisation based in pakistan, has a long past of involvement in various terror activities in india including red fort attack in 2000, indian parliament attack in 2001, 2006, mumbai local train bombings – just to name a few. as per the cia report, the attack on indian embassy in kabul this year was also carried out by pakistan based terrorist groups along with isi. india presented evidence to pakistan regarding the involvement of isi, but all in vain. terrorism emanating from pakistan is not only injuring india, but also hurting other parts of the world. the 9/11 attack on america, the london bombings in 2005, a foiled attempt to attack the glasgow airport - all had some connection with pakistan, be it the nationality of the accused or their training or funding.
according to a cia report, let still conducts training of militants inside pakistan, runs a large charitable and social-service organisation in the name of jamaat-ud-dawa (jud), a fact that has been accepted by pakistani officials, and even has a designated spokesmen to handle inquiries from media. let was founded around 20 years back to create disturbances and to extend moral support to separatists in kashmir. it operates from a 200-acre training complex that has religious school and conference centre, in the village of muridke in eastern pakistan. in december 2001, us declared lashkar a terrorist organisation after it was accused of attacking the indian parliament. despite this, its leader hafiz saeed openly engages in anti-india rhetoric in full knowledge of pakistani authorities. in april 2006, the us classified jud as a terrorist organisation. but the pakistan government neither banned it nor shared any information about it. the group continues to raise funds, run religious schools and supply terrorists. but lately after the mumbai terror attacks the united nations security council has placed sanctions against pakistan-based jud, a front organisation for lashkar-e-taiba, declaring it a terrorist organisation. but it seems the ban has not left any impact on jud as indian foreign minister pranab mukherjee recently said that reports of jamaat-ud-daawa changing name to keep its operations intact is not a new development and that even lashkar-e-taiba had resorted to such tactics to avoid being banned. he also stressed that it is upto the government of pakistan to stop these organisations from flourishing in any form, name or shape. according to reports, the organisation is in the process of adopting a new name -- tehreek-e-hurmat-e-rasool to avoid restrictions. in 2005, pakistan's ambassador to washington husain haqqani candidly said, "the most significant jihadi group of wahhabi persuasion (influenced by the doctrine of 18th-century islamic scholar muhammad ibn-abdul wahhab) is lashkar-e-toiba, which is backed by saudi money and protected by pakistani intelligence service, isi.”
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