Pakistan discloses arrest of second Mumbai plotter
Nation under pressure to crack down on Islamists
NEW DELHI – Pakistan said Wednesday that it had detained a second suspected plotter of last month’s Mumbai terrorism rampage, stepping up its bid to mollify India and the United States over the alleged involvement of Pakistani militants.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani told reporters that security forces had taken Zarar Shah, a member of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, into custody. Shah is reportedly the communications chief for Lashkar-e-Taiba, or “Army of the Pure,” and is suspected of having worked out communication methods for the 10 armed gunmen who stormed luxury hotels and other bustling venues in Mumbai in a 2 1/2-day siege in which more than 170 people were killed.
Since the attacks, New Delhi and Washington have leaned heavily on the government in Islamabad to crack down on the Islamist group, whose roots are in the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir. Pakistani officials this week confirmed the arrest of Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, also a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and suspected mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.
But Gillani backtracked Wednesday on reports that Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of another banned Kashmiri extremist group, was under house arrest, contradicting a statement made by the Pakistani defense minister the previous day.
It was the latest in a flurry of contradictory statements out of Islamabad this week that appear to reflect the government’s uncertainty over the best response to accusations that the Mumbai attacks were launched from Pakistani soil.
India and the U.S. say the evidence is strong and demands aggressive action. But Islamabad is worried about a public backlash if it is seen as kowtowing to New Delhi and Washington.
Pakistani officials have therefore tried to portray the arrests of Lashkar-e-Taiba militants as being for domestic reasons, because they were members of an outlawed organization.
“We are not doing anything under Indian pressure. The ban on Lashkar-e-Taiba already exists,” Gillani told reporters.
He and other officials say the militants will not be extradited to India, a move that would likely cause a popular outcry in Pakistan.