Daily Times

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday called upon all countries, particularly Pakistan, to uphold their UN Security Council obligations to implement sanctions against terrorists responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

“We call upon all countries, particularly Pakistan, to uphold their UN Security Council obligations to implement sanctions against the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and its affiliates,” said the US secretary of state on the 10thanniversary of the attack. “It is an affront to the families of the victims that, after 10 years, those who planned the Mumbai attack have still not been convicted for their involvement,” he added.

Indian politicians and officials routinely condemn Pakistan for not taking action against LeT leader Hafiz Saeed. Pakistan says that evidence provided by India against Hafiz Saeed is too vague.

Six Americans were among the Mumbai victims and the US State Department announced a $5 million prize for the capture of the remaining planners of the attacks. The US already has a $10 million bounty offered for Hafiz Saeed and $2 million for Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, another senior group leader.

India marked the 10thanniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks with ceremonies at sites across the city that became battlegrounds in the wave of violence that killed scores and dealt a critical blow to relations with Pakistan.

While Mumbai staged its own solemn ceremonies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the attacks ‘gruesome’ and said, “A grateful nation bows to our brave police and security forces who valiantly fought the terrorists during the Mumbai attacks.”

Played out on TV news channels around the world, the bloody events – widely known as 26/11 – have been compared in India to New York’s suffering on September 11, 2001.

Published in Daily Times, November 27^th 2018.