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| Terrorist bombings predictably deadly | | India to face Islamic militants with growing ambitions | | From B L KAK
NEW DELHI, JULY 17: Official intelligence agencies have cautioned the government of India against the growing possibility of more deadly strikes from the terrorists and jihadis in different parts of the country in the coming days and weeks.
According to a set of inputs made available to the government, the terrorists are expected to target crowded public places, civil and defence installations and places of worship. Possibility of terrorist strikes on the vital highways in Jammu and Kashmir is also not ruled out.
Three sets of bombings have hit India in the past 10 months. They have been predictably deadly, with 62 killed in the Indian capital, New Delhi; 20 in Varanasi; and 200-odd in last week’s Mumbai train bombings. Indian officials as well as experts say that the pattern bears the mark of Islamic militant groups who have fought for 17 years from bases in mostly Islamic Republic of Pakistan to wrest away part of divided Kashmir from India.
It also may reflect a troubling new reality: the crystallization of these groups into regional networks inspired -- some say aided -- by Al Qaeda, in an attempt to export jihad across South Asia. “What we have seen in the past few years is the morphing of these groups from a very localized and aggressive focus on the Kashmir issue to a more internationalist ideology,” said Rollie Lal of the US think tank Rand Corp.
By mentioning regional conflicts like Kashmir in messages to supporters, Osama bin Laden “connects their causes into something that is much larger, and gives them a feeling that there is a greater significance to their struggle,” Rollie Lal said. Kashmir was split between India and Pakistan after the subcontinent’s bloody partition in following independence from India in 1947. The two nuclear-armed neighbors have since fought two wars over Kashmir.
The dozens of Islamic militant groups fighting in India’s part of Kashmir are widely believed to get at least some training and funds from Pakistan. But Islamabad insists that it only offers the rebels political, diplomatic and moral support.
Authorities investigating the Mumbai bombings -- as well as the October blasts in New Delhi and the March explosions in Varanasi -- have yet to publicly say with any certainty which groups they blame. However, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has reiterated that the Mumbai bombings were “instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border”-- a clear reference to Pakistan and militants based there.
“We are looking more for a set of people than any one named group. There are so many of them, but they all have the same source,” an Indian intelligence official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of his work. That source, he and others insist, is Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a Pakistani-dominated Muslim group. Lashkar, which has denied any role in the attacks, started out fighting in Kashmir but quickly spread through Pakistan, opening everything from orphanages to militant training camps.
Pakistan banned the LeT in 2001. But Indian officials and intelligence specialists insist that its leaders still live openly. Experts say its ambitions have grown, along with those of other militant groups. Lashkar is also thought to have Al Qaeda ties. Given the stagecraft they use--such as near simultaneous bombings--there has got to be a flow of information and knowledge and support.
The supposed Al Qaeda connection aside, motives for the latest attacks are hard to discern. Theories range from the militants trying to trigger fresh riots between India’s Hindus and Muslims, to groups working at the behest of Pakistani officials frustrated by the lack of progress in the India-Pakistan peace process. Many Indians, including Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, have suggested that the attacks aim to undermine India’s rise as a global power.
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