Abu Hamza confirmed Pakistan’s role: India

Islamabad urges Delhi to share information on the suspect and stop the blame game.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India’s home minister on Wednesday said a key suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks had provided information confirming Pakistani ‘state support’ for the assault.

Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari, also known as Abu Hamza, an Indian-born member of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was detained at Delhi international airport on June 21 when he arrived from a Middle Eastern country.

Home Minister P Chidambaram, speaking to reporters in Kerala state, said that police interrogation of Ansari had confirmed Indian accusations that Pakistani state actors were also involved.

“He has confirmed that he was in the control room and he has named a few people who were in the control room,” Chidambaram said of Ansari, despite the fact he has yet to be charged, let alone found guilty.

“So that confirms our suspicion that it was an organised effort which had some kind of state support. The argument that it was non-state actors who were behind the 26/11 massacre is no longer valid. We’ve always said that some state support was there for these people,” said Chidambaram.

“When I say, state actors, at the moment, I am not pointing my finger at any particular agency… But clearly there was state support or state actors’ support for the 26/11 massacre,” he added.

Indian media reported on Wednesday that members of Pakistan’s ISI were also in the control room at the time of the attack. It was not possible to independently verify the information, which was sourced to Indian security officials.

“India should supply details about Abu Hamza (Ansari), enabling us to take action,” Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik told a news conference in Islamabad, adding there was no record of Ansari having entered the country legally.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2012.