Central intelligence agencies believe that the serial blasts were triggered by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), acting on the direction of the ISI.
NEW DELHI: Central intelligence agencies believe that the serial blasts in Mumbai were most likely triggered by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), acting on the direction of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
An official source said inputs about the re-emergence of the ISI hand have come from miscreants arrested in connection with recent terrorist strikes in north India.
Those in custody have told interrogators that they were taken across the border to Karachi and then sent to training camps in Baluchistan, after which they were sent back to India to await orders.
These revelations indicate that the training camps have shifted from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) to Baluchistan, following close monitoring of ISI activities along the Line of Control. They also suggest a resurgence of the ISI’s proxy war against India after a lull of several years under US pressure.
This is likely to affect the Indo-Pak peace process, which has already slowed down in recent months.
Just last week, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that infiltration from Pakistan had gone up again.
It was an admission that the government was worried about intelligence inputs about renewed ISI activity across the western border.
While there was no direct connection between the Mumbai blasts and the grenade attacks in Srinagar, intelligence agencies were not ruling out the possibility of both being masterminded by the same group.
The use of timers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is typical of the LeT.
The hand grenade used in Srinagar suggested the involvement of a smaller outfit like the Jaish-e-Mohammed. Intelligence officials here believe that both are controlled by the same Pakistan-based group.
The Home Ministry acknowledged that it did not have specific information about the Mumbai blasts. However, central intelligence agencies had been warning the state government for some weeks now that Mumbai was hot.
The red alert to the state government went out after two recent developments—the huge RDX haul in Aurangabad in May and the attack on the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on June 1.
Suspected targets of a terrorist attack were public transport systems, places of worship and pro-Hindu groups and their offices.
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