Pakistani scholar dissects Mumbai massacre

by P. Krishnaswamy

The November 27 Mumbai terror attack was only a temporary setback to the peace process between India and Pakistan that was initiated in 2004, Professor Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema, renowned Pakistani scholar on international relations and incumbent chairman of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) said at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS).

“Had the Mumbai terror strike not happened the two countries would have signed an agreement at the end of this year on several core issues,” he added in his public lecture on `Indo-Pakistan Peace Process’. “Hopefully it does not go any further”, he said.

Instead of pointing the finger at Pakistan even before the completion of a thorough investigation into the tragic happening, India should look at the ‘homeground’ where terrorist movements were active, he said, adding that Naxalite Movements were present in some form in 200 districts across the Indian states, out of a total 600 districts. The terrorists appeared to be well trained and thoroughly familiar with the locations that came under attack and, therefore, other possibilities cannot be ruled out, he said.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff had banned, as far back as 1992 Laskar-e-Taiba, the terrorist movement and if they were still operating on Pakistani soil, of which the government was unaware, they should be very clever, he said.