NEW DELHI, 17 December — India yesterday blamed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence for last week’s assault on parliament saying the ISI was connected to the attack. Pakistan denied Indian accusations that its intelligence service was involved in the attack.
Pakistan’s Information Secretary Anwar Mahmood called on India to handle the new tensions between the two rivals in a "dispassionate manner" after the new accusations.
India’s Defense Minister George Fernandes said earlier yesterday that India had "sufficient proof" of the involvement of ISI in Thursday’s attack.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell urged New Delhi to be cautious in using its "right of self-defense." Powell termed it essential that both sides cooperate in seeking to defuse what could otherwise become a very dangerous situation.
New Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma told reporters the link came to light during questioning of several people arrested after last Thursday’s attack.
"The things which have come to light clearly show that ISI was connected with this and if ISI is connected with it then Pakistan must know of it," he said.
He said the main accused, now in police custody, admitted he had been trained at an ISI camp in Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir. "The ISI connection is very clear." Sharma also said the five attackers, who died in the raid along with eight other people, were all Pakistani citizens. He said police believed the operation was carried out by Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, two of several Pakistan-based groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
And the original target had been the capital’s international airport, but the attackers changed their minds for an unknown reason. Four people, at least three of whom are Indians, have been arrested in connection with the raid.
Police said a Delhi University lecturer Abdul Rehman Geelani disclosed during questioning that he along with Muhammad Afzal, a resident of Sopore in Baramullah and Shaukat, also hailing from Sopore, had been in touch with slain militants and that Muhammad Afzal is the main coordinator of Jaish-e-Muhammad in Delhi. A meeting had taken place in the house of Shaukat and plans to carry out an attack on the parliament were prepared. Four people, including Geelani, have been arrested. The others are Shaukat, Afzal and Afsana alias Navjot (a woman), according to police. Geelani was arrested on Friday after it was established that he had received a call from militants on his mobile phone.
The conspiracy to attack the parliament was hatched in December’s first week, police said.
In a move that stoked tensions with Pakistan, India has demanded Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba be closed, their assets frozen and their leaders arrested.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, under pressure from his own party to send forces into Azad Kashmir to hunt militants, said on Saturday New Delhi had reached the limit of its tolerance.
Urging international pressure on Pakistan, he also hinted India may not show the restraint it did during a 1999 conflict, when it held back from crossing the Line of Control dividing Kashmir.
"We could have gone across the border during Kargil but we showed restraint," he said. "Again we are being told to show restraint. We have shown a lot of patience, but there is a limit."
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has threatened to retaliate with force if India took "precipitous action".
"Any misadventure (against Pakistan) would be met with force," he said on Saturday, but pledged to act against any Pakistan-based group proven to be involved in the New Delhi raid.
