The Indian diaspora is planning to hold a protest at the Pakistani Consulate in New York to highlight the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. In one of India’s worst terror attacks, the attackers held Mumbai hostage for four days, killing 166 and injuring 300 people.
The 26/11 terror attacks were carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), whose chief Hafiz Saeed has been designated a global terrorist by the UN. Saeed moves around freely in Pakistan under the protection of its army.
Sindhi nationalist, Zafar Sahito of the Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM) says that Pakistan shelters and promotes terror leaders like LeT chief Hafiz Saeed in a bid to blackmail and terrorise other countries. He adds that Pakistan accords terrorists a lot of dignity and provides them high levels of security.
Indian groups in London too plan to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks. The protests also underline the fact that justice has not been given to the families of hundreds of people killed by Pakistan-trained terrorists.
Fourteen years back, ten LeT terrorists from Karachi in Pakistan reached India’s financial powerhouse Mumbai and launched gun and grenade attacks on the Taj Mahal Hotel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji rail terminus, the Chabad House, Cama hospital, Leopold Cafe and Nariman House business.
Indian security forces killed nine Pakistani terrorists and were able to apprehend Ajmal Kasab alive. He spilled the beans on the attack and nailed Pakistan’s involvement.
The Indian government has been mounting pressure through international institutions to prosecute terror leaders with their base in Pakistan.
India doggedly pursued the case with Pakistan and provided a mountain of evidence in the form of interrogations, weapons and records of conversations during the attack. In April 2011, the US agreed that Pakistanis had a role in the Mumbai terror attacks and issued arrest warrants for four Pakistanis believed to be members of the LeT for helping plan the attack and train the attackers.