01 December 2008
Joint Action Urged to Bring India Terrorists to Justice
Rice says attack underlines importance of counterterrorism cooperation
Washington — President Bush has sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to New Delhi, India, where she will offer America’s condolences in the wake of a devastating terrorist attack in Mumbai and urge close cooperation with neighboring Pakistan’s new civilian government to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“We will be working with India. We intend to work with Pakistan as well. The terrorists have to be stopped,” Rice said December 1 in London following consultations with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. “Challenging them and resolutely going after them is the only choice that we have.”
Bush was among the first world leaders to contact Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 26 to offer condolences and assistance after a group of gunmen launched a series of coordinated attacks in India’s financial center, targeting hotels and a restaurant popular with tourists, a cinema and a hospital, police headquarters, a train station and a community center.
In addition to dozens of Indian citizens, six Americans were among the 172 people killed in the three-day standoff, along with victims from Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
India and Pakistan have been targeted extensively by terrorists in recent years. Incidents include a 2001 raid on the Indian parliament, the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, blasts in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan, and a recent string of bombings in the cities of New Delhi and Jaipur, as well as in India’s Assam state.
According to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, more than 3,100 people in Pakistan and 1,460 in India have been killed or injured in terrorist attacks during 2008.
While a previously unknown group called Deccan Mujahideen initially claimed responsibility for the attacks, the sole surviving gunman taken into custody by Indian authorities reportedly claimed ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization for more than a decade of attacks in the disputed Kashmir region. The attacks threatened relations between India and Pakistan — nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors that have fought three wars since 1947, but have made progress toward peace in recent years.
Pakistan joined in widespread international condemnation of the Mumbai attacks, pledging to dispatch senior officials to India to support the investigation. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani canceled an overseas trip and is gathering top national security officials to focus on relations with India in the aftermath of the attacks. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari — Bhutto’s widower — has pledged to take action should investigations yield indications that the gunmen received support from groups within Pakistan.
“On all scores, the Pakistanis have emphasized their desire to get to the bottom of this and to help in any way that they can,” Rice told reporters November 30, welcoming Pakistan’s response to the attacks. “I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation. And that's what we expect.”
White House press secretary Dana Perino acknowledged concerns about rising tensions in the region and said President Bush, Rice, and other senior U.S. officials have been in close contact with counterparts in India and Pakistan. She underlined Washington’s long-standing support for peace building between India and Pakistan through the “composite dialogue” process.
“In some ways, the whole region is like a forest that hasn’t had rain in many months and one spark could cause a big, roaring fire,” Perino said. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”
Rice will arrive in New Delhi on December 3, cutting short a previously scheduled appearance at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium. Rice canceled consultations in Italy and Finland, but will stop in Denmark on her way back to Washington.
INCOMING ADMININSTRATION MONITORING SITUATION
In Chicago, as President-elect Barack Obama introduced senior members of his national security team, he expressed his condolences for the victims of the Mumbai attack and pledged continued American commitment to building international partnerships to confront terrorism.
“In the world we seek, there is no place for those who kill innocent civilians to advance hateful extremism,” Obama said. “I am confident that India's great democracy is more resilient than killers who would tear it down.”
Stressing that “there’s one president at a time,” Obama said he had spoken with Singh and has received regular updates in the situation from Secretary Rice. Obama said he believes the Bush administration has done what is needed so far.
“I will be monitoring the situation closely,” Obama said. “My expectation is that President Zardari of Pakistan, who has already said that he will fully cooperate with the investigation, will follow through with that commitment.”
A transcript of remarks by Rice and Miliband is available on America.gov.
