Get ISI declared a terrorist outfit: BJP

It is becoming increasingly clear elements in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence played an important role in the planning and facilitation of last month’s Mumbai attacks, the Bharatiya Janata Party said and demanded that India press for a declaration of the ISI as a terrorist organisation.

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad pointed out here on Saturday that media reports in Pakistan said some important ISI officers were present at the birthday celebrations of Dawood Ibrahim in Islamabad although Pakistan often denied that the man wanted in India for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts of 1993 was living in the country.

While it was for the government to decide on the action against Pakistan, the BJP would suggest that the Indian High Commission in Islamabad be scaled down and the Indian High Commissioner recalled.

An advisory cautioning Indians against travelling to Pakistan was not good enough, Mr. Prasad said. All travel by Indians to Pakistan must come to a stop except in an emergency situation.

Mr. Prasad said that in all probability the 10 terrorists who made their way to Mumbai by the sea were trained commandos who were given training at PNS Iqbal, where Pakistani naval commandos are trained. He said the highly trained and well equipped terrorists would have been facilitated by “state actors” in Pakistan. Therefore, the government of India must stop using the phrase “non-state actors” to refer to the masterminds responsible for the planning and execution of the Mumbai attack.

As for Pakistan, its top leadership began by admitting that “non-state actors” could have been involved in the attack. Later, the leaders talked about “stateless persons” and still later about “freelance terrorists.” The fact was the terrorists who attacked Mumbai were well trained and used sophisticated weapons and a high quality GPS system, Mr. Prasad said.