06-04-2009, 03:56 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/LeT-pla...how/4614112.cms
<b>
LeT planning another attack</b>
4 Jun 2009, 0448 hrs IST, Indrani Bagchi, TNN
NEW DELHI: Seven months after Mumbai 26/11, Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba is planning its next, more spectacular attack in India. <b>Even before Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed was released in Lahore, LeT masterminds have been at work on the next strike.</b>
Counter-terrorism officials are working on very specific intelligence that points once again to Pakistan-based LeT planning another spectacular attack in India. While there is always some terrorist group or another in Pakistan plotting against India, this time, the intelligence has been a lot more specific.
India has kept up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan, but officials are worried that another attack on the scale of Mumbai would put India under tremendous pressure to take a militaristic response.
What is interesting is that India and the US are working closely to neutralize the impending terror threat. It has cemented their relationship, built over several years, but which took a whole new shape after the Mumbai attacks. Officials from both countries have been sharing data, information and intelligence to get a shot at cracking the group and their attacks. The US too has a strong interest in preventing another Pakistan-sponsored attack against India because it could blow Washington's Af-Pak policy out of the water.
LeT's targets are not different, and Lashkar's strategy too has not changed. The basic idea is to spark off a Hindu backlash, so clearly the prime targets are people like Gujarat chief minister <b>Narendra Modi and other so-called Hindu targets</b> are on top of the list. <b>South Indian states are particularly vulnerable</b>, said sources, because LeT leaders are known to be working on plans to attack soft targets in these states.
According to officials, in terms of preparedness, <b>LeT leaders in Pakistani prisons - Zarar Shah and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - have had full access to communications facilitating the planning process.</b> Meanwhile, cementing a growing relationship, Indian and US officials are working together to neutralize the impending LeT threat.
Over the past weeks, officials from both countries have been on intense bilateral cooperation to crack the terror plot.
Sources said the determination and resources of the LeT was stronger than before. In preparation for more terror attacks, security agencies have <b>found new terror modules sprouting up in Nepal and Bangladesh as well as in India</b>.
<b>Thus, it didn't really matter that LeT leaders were locked up - it barely dented their operational capabilities</b>.
Indian officials have also noticed a more dangerous trend: that in the past months, LeT has grown, evolved into a more dangerous organisation, parts of which are beyond the control of the Pakistani security establishment. That does not mean that the ISI has given up its links or controls over the group, all of which continue.
<b>
LeT planning another attack</b>
4 Jun 2009, 0448 hrs IST, Indrani Bagchi, TNN
NEW DELHI: Seven months after Mumbai 26/11, Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba is planning its next, more spectacular attack in India. <b>Even before Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed was released in Lahore, LeT masterminds have been at work on the next strike.</b>
Counter-terrorism officials are working on very specific intelligence that points once again to Pakistan-based LeT planning another spectacular attack in India. While there is always some terrorist group or another in Pakistan plotting against India, this time, the intelligence has been a lot more specific.
India has kept up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan, but officials are worried that another attack on the scale of Mumbai would put India under tremendous pressure to take a militaristic response.
What is interesting is that India and the US are working closely to neutralize the impending terror threat. It has cemented their relationship, built over several years, but which took a whole new shape after the Mumbai attacks. Officials from both countries have been sharing data, information and intelligence to get a shot at cracking the group and their attacks. The US too has a strong interest in preventing another Pakistan-sponsored attack against India because it could blow Washington's Af-Pak policy out of the water.
LeT's targets are not different, and Lashkar's strategy too has not changed. The basic idea is to spark off a Hindu backlash, so clearly the prime targets are people like Gujarat chief minister <b>Narendra Modi and other so-called Hindu targets</b> are on top of the list. <b>South Indian states are particularly vulnerable</b>, said sources, because LeT leaders are known to be working on plans to attack soft targets in these states.
According to officials, in terms of preparedness, <b>LeT leaders in Pakistani prisons - Zarar Shah and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - have had full access to communications facilitating the planning process.</b> Meanwhile, cementing a growing relationship, Indian and US officials are working together to neutralize the impending LeT threat.
Over the past weeks, officials from both countries have been on intense bilateral cooperation to crack the terror plot.
Sources said the determination and resources of the LeT was stronger than before. In preparation for more terror attacks, security agencies have <b>found new terror modules sprouting up in Nepal and Bangladesh as well as in India</b>.
<b>Thus, it didn't really matter that LeT leaders were locked up - it barely dented their operational capabilities</b>.
Indian officials have also noticed a more dangerous trend: that in the past months, LeT has grown, evolved into a more dangerous organisation, parts of which are beyond the control of the Pakistani security establishment. That does not mean that the ISI has given up its links or controls over the group, all of which continue.