India in ‘wait and watch’ mode to Pakistan arrests

New Delhi: India on Monday reacted cautiously to reports from Pakistan that security agencies there had taken into custody senior Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives wanted in connection with the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Though Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the publicity wing of the Pakistani armed forces — on Monday formally noted that an “intelligence-led operation against banned militant outfits and organisations” is under way and that “arrest and investigations are on,” Indian officials told The Hindu that the nature of the action being taken was still not clear. According to Pakistani newspapers, LeT commanders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah are among those arrested, though no official in that country has been willing to confirm this on record.

“We don’t know if they have really been arrested, nor do we know what being arrested actually means. For example, are they really being locked up or merely being transferred from one state guest house to another,” an official said.

The officials also cautioned against reading too much into Pakistan’s reply to India’s December 1 demarche in which New Delhi had asked Islamabad to take “strong action” against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.

In its reply on Monday, Pakistan essentially reiterated what it has been saying publicly over the past five days, the officials said, including an assurance that it would not allow its territory to be used to stage terrorist strikes against its neighbours and an offer of a joint investigation.

India, the officials said, was less interested in assurances and wanted Pakistan to act decisively against terrorist groups operating on its territory.

The officials dismissed the emphasis being placed on the extradition of Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon and the ‘list of 20 most wanted fugitives’ as media speculation, and reiterated that India had made a number of specific, well-focussed demands which it was not prudent to speak about in public.

Pakistan launches operation against banned organisation

Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi said to be among those arrested

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Operation confined to Muzaffarabad area

Plan to send high-level team to India

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Hafiz Mohammad Saeed

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan military said on Monday it had mounted an “intelligence-led operation” against a banned militant organisation in Pakistan-adminstered Kashmir and made several arrests.

Military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas did not specify that the target of the operation was the Laskhar-e-Taiba, nor would he confirm if Lashkar commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, suspected by Indian investigators of having masterminded the Mumbai attacks, was among those arrested.

The military spokesman declined to divulge the exact number of those arrested. The operation was “ongoing,” he said, and added that details would be made available soon. “At the moment,” the operation was confined to the Muzaffarabad area, he said.

Independent sources have said security forces raided a “centre” of the Jamat-ud-Dawah, a LeT front organisation, 5 km from the POK capital Muzaffarabad, and that Lakhvi was among those taken into custody.

Dawn newspaper reported he was among those arrested after the operation began on Sunday afternoon. Local media estimates about the arrests have ranged from nine to 20.

The raid came amid massive international pressure, led by the United States, to act “urgently” against terrorists operating from Pakistani territory.

Alongside, in what appeared a renewed bid to defuse the crisis between the two countries, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir proposed, in a meeting on Monday with the Indian envoy, Satyabrata Pal, that a “high-level delegation” from Pakistan should visit New Delhi “as soon as possible.”

In a demarche to the Indian High Commissioner, the Pakistan government indicated this would help to carry forward investigations that it had initiated “on its own” into the alleged involvement of “any individual or entity in Pakistan” in the Mumbai attacks, and reiterated its offer of a joint investigation.

New Delhi is now expected to respond to the proposal but Indian officials said they were awaiting some clarity from the Pakistani side on the composition of the delegation.

The Cabinet Defence Committee said after a meeting on Monday that “that all actions taken [by the government] will be within the ambit of Pakistani law.”

Diplomatic observers believe this to be an indirect rejection of the demand by India for its “most wanted.”

A statement issued after the meeting said it was “imperative to proactively defuse the prevailing tensions.”

Present at the meeting were the Prime Minister, the Defence, Foreign, Interior and Information Ministers, the three service chiefs, and heads of intelligence organisations.

The Defence Committee reiterated that Pakistan would not allow its soil to be used for any kind of terrorist activity anywhere in the region or and the world, and the offer of “full cooperation with India, including intelligence sharing and assistance in investigation as well as setting up of a joint investigative commission.”

Unwarranted: Saeed

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi

Hafiz Saeed, founder-leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its front group, the Jamat-ud-Dawah, reacted angrily to the Pakistan military raid on his outfit, saying India “wants to crush Azad Jammu and Kashmir.”

In an interview to Geo News, Mr. Saeed said the Muzaffarabad operation against his groups was carried out under “Indian pressure” and was “unwarranted.”

He said the targeting of Kashmiri organisations without any proof was an expression of Pakistan’s “weakness.”