Another terror attack in India similar to 26/11 with footprints in Pakistan will lead to war: Experts

WASHINGTON: Another primary terrorist assault in India of the magnitude similar to the 26/11 strike originating from Pakistan may easily escalate right into a regional battle, students, former diplomats and US officers have warned ahead of the 10th anniversary of the deadly Mumbai terror assault.

Some 166 folks, together with Americans, have been killed in the assault carried out via Pakistan-based 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists. Nine of the attackers have been killed via police whilst lone survivor Ajmal Kasab used to be captured and hanged after passed down dying sentence via an Indian courtroom.

Perpetrators of the 26/11 assault, together with its mastermind and banned Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, continue to roam freely in Pakistan, indicating that Islamabad is not serious in bringing them to justice. The JuD is thought to be the entrance team for the LeT. The US has offered a $10 million bounty for Saeed.

The 26/11 assault case has entered into the 10th 12 months however none of its seven suspects in Pakistan has been punished yet, appearing that the case had by no means been in its precedence listing.

"The victims of 26/11 have yet to see the masterminds of the attack in the LeT and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) face justice; unfortunately, that is virtually impossible in Pakistan," former Central Intelligence Agency legitimate Bruce Riedel instructed PTI.

Riedel, senior fellow and director of Brookings Intelligence Project, believes that every other terror assault in India of identical magnitude would result in a battle between the two international locations.

"If another attack of this magnitude occurs, there will be war," he stated.

Pakistan's former envoy to the USA Husain Haqqani stated: "With US-Pakistan relations in a tailspin and hawkish attitudes dominating the subcontinent, one cannot predict if and how the situation would be controlled in the event of another major terrorist attack in India, with clear linkages to groups in Pakistan".

Currently a senior fellow and Director for South and Central Asia on the Hudson Institute, Haqqani stated Pakistan "must fulfil its promise of acting" towards the masterminds of the 26/11 assault.

"That it has selected to allow them to function freely raises the justifiable fear that Pakistan's deep state does now not need to deter or punish terrorists chargeable for attacks in India.

"In 2008, Pakistan's promise of appearing towards the LeT and those involved in the Mumbai assault avoided escalation of India-Pakistan hostilities. The US also helped calm issues down via sharing intelligence with each Pakistan and India," he stated.

Agreed a senior Bush management legitimate, who used to be inside the White House on the time of the assault.

"That (India-Pakistan battle) used to be a number one fear and a number one state of affairs that we would have liked to avoid," Anish Goel, who used to be director of South Asia in the National Security Council of the White House on the time of the 26/11 assault, instructed PTI.

Noting that there used to be a lot of pressure on then top minister Manmohan Singh "to react kinetically", Goel stated then president George Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had to make a lot of efforts together with several telephone calls to New Delhi, Islamabad and leaders of several US allies to forestall such a state of affairs.

Bush used to be very concerned, and were given on telephone with Singh straight away, offering condolences and urging restraint, he stated. Rice travelled to the area looking to cool issues.

"There's a lot of public pressure. I believe top minister Singh himself used to be appearing a lot of restraint and used to be now not inclined to do a counter assault in an instant, however there used to be a lot of political pressure on him to take action," stated Goel.

"The US, I think- I don't know needless to say, you have to ask the Indian executive to know- having counseling or urging him to show restraint, gave him some sort of political leeway and maneuverability to resist the home political pressures from those calling for a quick counterstrike on Pakistan," he stated, including that at no level there used to be any proof of army mobilisation.

"There used to be a sense of anxiousness in the then Bush management a couple of conceivable nuclear battle in South Asia. The Mumbai terror assault started an afternoon before Thanksgiving – a national holiday in the USA – and did not finish until Sunday, the closing day of the long weekend. Bush now not only held scenario room meeting on Saturday, but also mobilised his entire management to try and prevent escalation of the stress," Goel added.

A senior former Obama management legitimate stated if every other assault would have happened like that, it might "quickly escalates right into a regional battle".

The present executive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already "taken a difficult line" towards Islamabad together with a surgical strike, the legitimate stated on anonymity.

"I may without a doubt foresee a scenario the place he (top minister Modi) escalates those reasonably a bit in accordance with the terrorist assault. Then for the USA executive, I just don't know if the Trump management would recommend restraint the way in which the Bush management did," he stated.

The Trump management may say they (Indians) are justified, he stated.

"Not only are we now not going to prevent you, however we're going to permit you to. I don't know that they might do, however I don't know if they might elevate the similar message of constraints.

"So, when you're talking about what could happen in the region, if there was another Mumbai attack after the Pakistanis have promised there's no terrorists operating in our country and we're going after all of them, I could see a scenario which quickly escalates into a regional war," he added.