The 26/11 Mumbai attack was carried out by a Pakistan-based terror group, said Pakistan’s former National Security Advisor (NSA) Mahmud Ali Durrani on 6th March, Monday. He also termed it as a classic example of a cross-border terror attack.
It was a 19th Asian Security Conference in New Delhi on Monday. The conference was on combating terrorism at the Institute of Defense Studies & Analysis (IDSA). Today in this conference, Mahmud Ali Durrani nailed his own country for the role on November 26, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks. Speaking at the event he said the commando-style terror attack was carried out by a Pakistan-based terror group. However, M A Durrani stressed that neither the Pakistan govt nor the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was aware of the terror plot planned on its soil. He said that the Pakistani government had no role in this attack.
During the attack in November 2008, Durrani was Pakistan’s National Security Advisor. 10 terrorists were arrived via sea route and launched coordinated attacks across Mumbai on November 26, 2008. It took almost 3 days to flush out the terrorists by our security forces, as they opened indiscriminate firing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal railway station, the Nariman House Jewish Centre, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the Oberoi Trident Hotel and Leopold Cafe at that time in 2009 also he blamed Pakistan for the terror attack and that was the only reason for Mr Durrani,who was removed from the post in 2009.
The attacks killed total 166 people, including 18 security officers and a few foreigners. Only one terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab was caught alive by the Indian security forces and was hanged in November 2012 after a trial. However, Pakistan has denied all those comments and evidence provided by Indian security personnel. New Delhi has provided ample evidence to Pakistan govt over the involvement of top Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders in the attacks of November 26, 2008. But Pakistan has denied all such allegations blaming ‘non-state actors’ for the said incident. According to all the information provided by Indian security forces, Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi was the mastermind of the attack. Lashkar’s operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, had been in hiding after getting bail over a year ago.
According to former US ambassador to India Timothy Roemer, the 26/11 attacks in 2008 brought India-Pakistan on the brink of a nuclear war. He had said, “Those attacks almost started a war between India and Pakistan that might have resulted in some kind of a nuclear war”. Another American citizen David Headley had admitted scouting targets for the 26/11- 2008 attack and has testified that the plot of the attack was hatched with at least one Pakistani intelligence official and a navy frogman.
However, today in the conference, no reaction has been observed by Indian representative against Durrani’s comment. But one senior officer of foreign representative said that Durrani has stamped on the quotation what India said in 2009.
