LeT group of savages needs to be crushed: US lawmakers

[Bang Galore]

Describing Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as a "deadly serious group of fanatics," US lawmakers have asked Obama administration to push Islamabad to crush the Pakistan-based terror outfit blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"This group of savages needs to be crushed," said Gary Ackerman, chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. "Not in a month. Not in a year. Not when the situation stabilizes in Afghanistan. Not when things are under control in Pakistan.

"Now. Today and everyday going forward. We're not doing it, and we're not effectively leading a global effort to do it. And we're going to regret this mistake. We're going to regret it bitterly, he said at a hearing Thursday on "Bad Company: Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Growing Ambition of Islamist Militancy in Pakistan."

"We need to take this threat very, very seriously," he said noting communications intercepts made public by the Indian Government include an attack controller boasting about the carnage in Mumbai, "This isjust the trailer. The main movie is yet to come."

"The LeT is a deadly serious group of fanatics. They are well-financed, ambitious and, most disturbingly, both tolerated by and connected to the Pakistani military," Ackerman said.

While US attention has focused primarily on Al Qaeda, and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the LeT and other violent,
Islamist extremist groups in Pakistan have been growing in both capability and ambition, the Democratic lawmaker warned.

"As was demonstrated in the horrific Mumbai attack of November 2008, the Al Qaeda model of perpetrating highly visible, mass-casualty attacks appears to have migrated, with enormous potential consequences for the United States," Ackerman said.

"But it would be unfair and wrong to suggest that the LeT problem is strictly confined to Pakistan and the Middle East. In fact, one of the key facilitators of the Mumbai attack was an American of Pakistani extraction," he noted without naming David Coleman Headley.

Pakistani-American Headley and Pakistani-born Chicago businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested in October have been charged in a Chicago court with helping the LeT attackers in Mumbai. Headley is also accused of scouting targets in Mumbai and elsewhere for militant groups.

"There is a temptation to think that the LeT is really India's problem; that the LeT is really just interested in the so-called 'liberation' of Jammu and Kashmir," Ackerman said.

"But the idea that this group can be appeased on the subject of Kashmir is dangerous nonsense. The LeT's true goal is not Kashmir, it is India. And the LeT is not shy about announcing that its intention is to establish an Islamic state in all of South Asia.

Dan Burton, the top Republican on the panel, said LeT's growing influence had serious implications for regional and international security.

"Dismantling and eliminating the threat posed by LeT is clearly no easy task but we cannot shy away from it," said Burton. "As we all know, Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal which would pose a grave threat to the entire region should it fall under the control of extremists."
http://www.hindustantimes.com/americ...e1-518091.aspx

LeT ambitions extend beyond India: US experts

WASHINGTON: Leading South Asia experts say the US should be prepared to take action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), blamed for the Mumbai
terror attacks, if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act against the terror outfit that remains its spearhead against India.

"Doing so may be increasingly necessary not simply to prevent a future Indo-Pakistani crisis, but more importantly to protect the United States, its citizens, its interests, and its allies," Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told a Congressional panel Thursday.

With the exception of Al Qaeda, LeT is arguably the most important terrorist group operating from South Asia and was the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said at a hearing of the House of Representatives subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on the LeT threat.

Suggesting that LeT "remains the spearhead of the Pakistani military's campaign against India", Tellis said: "LeT remains primarily Pakistani in its composition, uses Pakistani territory as its main base of operation, and continues to be supported extensively by the Pakistani state, especially the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."

LeT's ambitions extend beyond India, Tellis said, suggesting the US should stop pretending that LeT is an independent actor. "A candid recognition that the organisation receives protection and support from the Pakistani state would go a long way toward solving the problem."

Noting that since the attack on Mumbai, India and the US have successfully partnered together on matters of intelligence and counter-terrorism, he said: "This cooperation should expand further."

Pakistani expert Shuja Nawaz, director, South Asia Centre at the Atlantic Council of the US, said the LeT represents "a Frankenstein's monster" that appears to have taken on a broader regional role.

"Another Mumbai-type attack involving the LeT might bring India and Pakistan into conflict, a prospect that should keep us awake at night," he said.

In Pakistan, both the civil and the military now appear to recognise the existential threat from home grown militancy, Nawaz said noting: "The army appears to have dislocated the Tehreek-e-Taliban of Pakistan. Yet, it faces a huge and, to my mind, greater threat in the hinterland, in the form of the LeT."

Pakistan expert Lisa Curtis said Washington must develop policies that approach the LeT with the same urgency as that which the US deals with the threat from Al Qaeda.

"Given the potential for LeT-linked terrorist cells to conduct a Mumbai-style attack here in the US, Washington must pursue policies that contain and shut down the operations of this deadly organization," she said.

This will require close cooperation with the Pakistani government, which has in the past supported the LeT, and only recently and haltingly begun to take steps to rein in the group's activities, said Curtis, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

The arrest of Pakistani American David Coleman Headley, accused of scouting targets for the Mumbai terrorist attacks, showed the Pakistani military's apparent closeness to LeT, she said while noting a former army officer was named as Headley's handler.

Marvin Weinbaum, a professor and scholar-in-residence at the Middle East Institute, said the LeT could surpass or replace Al Qaeda as the number one terror network worldwide.

The Paksitan-based outfit threatens American and Western interests, and not just India as originally conceived by its sponsor, the ISI, he said. LeT "has evolved from being a government-sponsored Pakistani jihadi group dedicated to an insurgency in Indian Kashmir into a terrorist organization with regional and global ambitions and reach".

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/5674865.cms

http://in.reuters.com/article/southA...46854720100312

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Bang Galore

Describing Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as a "deadly serious group of fanatics," US lawmakers have asked Obama administration to push Islamabad to crush the Pakistan-based terror outfit blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"This group of savages needs to be crushed," said Gary Ackerman, chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. "Not in a month. Not in a year. Not when the situation stabilizes in Afghanistan. Not when things are under control in Pakistan.

"Now. Today and everyday going forward. We're not doing it, and we're not effectively leading a global effort to do it. And we're going to regret this mistake. We're going to regret it bitterly, he said at a hearing Thursday on "Bad Company: Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Growing Ambition of Islamist Militancy in Pakistan."

"We need to take this threat very, very seriously," he said noting communications intercepts made public by the Indian Government include an attack controller boasting about the carnage in Mumbai, "This isjust the trailer. The main movie is yet to come."

"The LeT is a deadly serious group of fanatics. They are well-financed, ambitious and, most disturbingly, both tolerated by and connected to the Pakistani military," Ackerman said.

While US attention has focused primarily on Al Qaeda, and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the LeT and other violent,
Islamist extremist groups in Pakistan have been growing in both capability and ambition, the Democratic lawmaker warned.

"As was demonstrated in the horrific Mumbai attack of November 2008, the Al Qaeda model of perpetrating highly visible, mass-casualty attacks appears to have migrated, with enormous potential consequences for the United States," Ackerman said.

"But it would be unfair and wrong to suggest that the LeT problem is strictly confined to Pakistan and the Middle East. In fact, one of the key facilitators of the Mumbai attack was an American of Pakistani extraction," he noted without naming David Coleman Headley.

Pakistani-American Headley and Pakistani-born Chicago businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested in October have been charged in a Chicago court with helping the LeT attackers in Mumbai. Headley is also accused of scouting targets in Mumbai and elsewhere for militant groups.

"There is a temptation to think that the LeT is really India's problem; that the LeT is really just interested in the so-called 'liberation' of Jammu and Kashmir," Ackerman said.

"But the idea that this group can be appeased on the subject of Kashmir is dangerous nonsense. The LeT's true goal is not Kashmir, it is India. And the LeT is not shy about announcing that its intention is to establish an Islamic state in all of South Asia.

Dan Burton, the top Republican on the panel, said LeT's growing influence had serious implications for regional and international security.

"Dismantling and eliminating the threat posed by LeT is clearly no easy task but we cannot shy away from it," said Burton. "As we all know, Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal which would pose a grave threat to the entire region should it fall under the control of extremists."

LeT ambitions extend beyond India: US experts

WASHINGTON: Leading South Asia experts say the US should be prepared to take action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), blamed for the Mumbai
terror attacks, if Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act against the terror outfit that remains its spearhead against India.

"Doing so may be increasingly necessary not simply to prevent a future Indo-Pakistani crisis, but more importantly to protect the United States, its citizens, its interests, and its allies," Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told a Congressional panel Thursday.

With the exception of Al Qaeda, LeT is arguably the most important terrorist group operating from South Asia and was the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said at a hearing of the House of Representatives subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on the LeT threat.

Suggesting that LeT "remains the spearhead of the Pakistani military's campaign against India", Tellis said: "LeT remains primarily Pakistani in its composition, uses Pakistani territory as its main base of operation, and continues to be supported extensively by the Pakistani state, especially the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."

LeT's ambitions extend beyond India, Tellis said, suggesting the US should stop pretending that LeT is an independent actor. "A candid recognition that the organisation receives protection and support from the Pakistani state would go a long way toward solving the problem."

Noting that since the attack on Mumbai, India and the US have successfully partnered together on matters of intelligence and counter-terrorism, he said: "This cooperation should expand further."

Pakistani expert Shuja Nawaz, director, South Asia Centre at the Atlantic Council of the US, said the LeT represents "a Frankenstein's monster" that appears to have taken on a broader regional role.

"Another Mumbai-type attack involving the LeT might bring India and Pakistan into conflict, a prospect that should keep us awake at night," he said.

In Pakistan, both the civil and the military now appear to recognise the existential threat from home grown militancy, Nawaz said noting: "The army appears to have dislocated the Tehreek-e-Taliban of Pakistan. Yet, it faces a huge and, to my mind, greater threat in the hinterland, in the form of the LeT."

Pakistan expert Lisa Curtis said Washington must develop policies that approach the LeT with the same urgency as that which the US deals with the threat from Al Qaeda.

"Given the potential for LeT-linked terrorist cells to conduct a Mumbai-style attack here in the US, Washington must pursue policies that contain and shut down the operations of this deadly organization," she said.

This will require close cooperation with the Pakistani government, which has in the past supported the LeT, and only recently and haltingly begun to take steps to rein in the group's activities, said Curtis, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

The arrest of Pakistani American David Coleman Headley, accused of scouting targets for the Mumbai terrorist attacks, showed the Pakistani military's apparent closeness to LeT, she said while noting a former army officer was named as Headley's handler.

Marvin Weinbaum, a professor and scholar-in-residence at the Middle East Institute, said the LeT could surpass or replace Al Qaeda as the number one terror network worldwide.

The Paksitan-based outfit threatens American and Western interests, and not just India as originally conceived by its sponsor, the ISI, he said. LeT "has evolved from being a government-sponsored Pakistani jihadi group dedicated to an insurgency in Indian Kashmir into a terrorist organization with regional and global ambitions and reach".

care to provide a link for your source?

[Bang Galore]

Originally Posted by Thomas

care to provide a link for your source?

Sorry. Meant to provide it.

LeT group of savages needs to be crushed: US lawmakers- Hindustan Times

LeT ambitions extend beyond India: US experts- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

U.S. lawmakers press Pakistan on Lashkar-e-Taiba | South Asia | Reuters

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...-let-130-zj-03

Here's the link to the official notice of the hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee:

http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing_notice.asp?id=1163

[Omar1984]

WASHINGTON: The US Congress is holding a hearing on Lashkar-e-Taiba on Thursday, focusing on its alleged role in terrorist attacks inside India and exploring views within the Pakistan Army about the group.

The group’s association with Al Qaeda will also be highlighted.

An announcement by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, describes the hearing’s title as “Bad Company: Lashkar-e-Taiba and the growing ambition of Islamist militancy in Pakistan.”

The subcommittee’s chairman Gary Ackerman will preside the meeting. Mr Ackerman is also the present chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.

In 2002, he was awarded India’s third highest civilian award, the Padma Bushan, for his contributions to India’s cause in the US Congress. —Correspondent

DAWN.COM | Front Page | US Congress plans hearing on Lashkar-e-Taiba



LeT's only problem is with india's occupation of Kashmir, they have no problems with non-muslims they love the Chinese.

[Chappal Chor]

Originally Posted by Omar1984

LeT's only problem is with india's occupation of Kashmir, they have no problems with non-muslims they love the Chinese.

whatever may be the problem they are a terror outfit and should be wiped out. any nation or country which supports the activities of an internationally banned organization is supporting terrorism itself

[thebrownguy]

Originally Posted by Chappal Chor

whatever may be the problem they are a terror outfit and should be wiped out. any nation or country which supports the activities of an internationally banned organization is supporting terrorism itself

Whatever be the issue, this terror group has to be dealt with!! How can anyone justify such terrorism!
You must have heard this a million times now!! But till Pakistan does not work to eradicate such terror elements from its soil, peace will remain elusive in the subcontinent.

[LCA Tejas]

LET must be crushed... Yeah... it should be

[Omar1984]

Originally Posted by LCA Tejas

LET must be crushed... Yeah... it should be

And who will crush them? This congressman in U.S. who obviously is in love with indians, indians are even giving him awards for serving indian interests in the U.S. congress.

U.S. needs Pakistan's help in bringing peace in Afghanistan and reconciling the Taliban with the Afghan government, they cant afford to be on Pakistan's bad side.

Pakistan has already made too many sacrafices for this War OF terror, we are not going to make more sacrafices certainly not for india's interests.

[Chappal Chor]

Originally Posted by Omar1984

And who will crush them? This congressman in U.S. who obviously is in love with indians, indians are even giving him awards for serving indian interests in the U.S. congress.

U.S. needs Pakistan's help in bringing peace in Afghanistan and reconciling the Taliban with the Afghan government, they cant afford to be on Pakistan's bad side.

Pakistan has already made too many sacrafices for this War OF terror, we are not going to make more sacrafices certainly not for india's interests.

It the duty for the people of pakistan that terror do no originate from their soil on Indian land.


If you cant crush it sorry we can also very well close our eyes towards anyone who want to blow your buddies off and want to rest in comforts in our land. And guess what we are not short of people who would like our sponsorships. And sorry we are also not going make sacrifices for the pakistani interest. Oh wait we also need some water....

[Omar1984]

Originally Posted by Chappal Chor

It the duty for the people of pakistan that terror do no originate from their soil on Indian land.


If you cant crush it sorry we can also very well close our eyes towards anyone who want to blow your buddies off and want to rest in comforts in our land. And guess what we are not short of people who would like our sponsorships. And sorry we are also not going make sacrifices for the pakistani interest. Oh wait we also need some water....

Then get ready for a 4th full scale Indo-Pak war, this time may be going to be a nuclear war.

[EjazR]

LeT don't even love Muslims if they don't listen to their agenda and have killed Muslims in Kashmir and Mumbai. They have target killed nationals from 40 other countries mostly non-Muslims in Mumbai. So to say they have no problem with non-Muslims or even Muslim is wrong. There is no difference between LeT and Taliban type groups. Both follow the extremist political Islam ideology and justify violence and killing of innocents civilians.

Pakistan has improved relations with Afghanistan by cracking down on Taliban, why not give it a similar try with India by cracking down on India centric groups. I'm sure there would be positive outcome just as there has been in Afghan-Pakistan relations.

[blueoval79]

Originally Posted by Omar1984

Then get ready for a 4th full scale Indo-Pak war, this time may be going to be a nuclear war.

Yeh Jang ho jaye ek bar to achha hai....taki tum jaise logon ko pata lage ki nuclear war hoti kya hai.....

Mazak bana rakh hai.....Nuclear war ka...ladoo hai...halwai ki dukan main milta hai....jao le ao.....

[Chappal Chor]

Originally Posted by Omar1984

Then get ready for a 4th full scale Indo-Pak war, this time may be going to be a nuclear war.

So you want to support a terrorist organization and want a full scale nuclear war in order to defend terrorists. Now what better explanation can be for the sorry state of Pakistan

[karan.1970]

Originally Posted by Omar1984

LeT's only problem is with india's occupation of Kashmir, they have no problems with non-muslims they love the Chinese.

You mean LeT / JuD is the wing of ISI which only has Kashmir in its job goals??

[Chappal Chor]

Originally Posted by blueoval79

Yeh Jang ho jaye ek bar to achha hai....taki tum jaise logon ko pata lage ki nuclear war hoti kya hai.....

Mazak bana rakh hai.....Nuclear war ka...ladoo hai...halwai ki dukan main milta hai....jao le ao.....

I dont know why they think they have a god given right to do anything they like since kashmir is a disputed territory. going by the same logic we can also finance things in P-o-K. And then the people start getting agitated