There is no doubt that the attack on Mumbai on 26 November 2008 was launched from Pakistan soil but there are many theories about who exactly, masterminded, planned and ordered the launching of this attack. The front organization for this attack was Lashkar-e-Tyyeba (LeT) but the meticulous planning, commando training and use of latest technology to guide the terrorist group throughout the attack was beyond the capability of LeT. It is apparent that the experts of the ISI and Pakistan military were involved in planning and execution of this attack, this aspect has been examined in depth by the authors of this book by mustering all the relevant facts available from open sources. Pakistan after the usual denials and dithering had to accept the fact that the attack was indeed launched from its territory but denied any knowledge of the groups who may have launched it; many red herrings were thrown, such as: the attack was launched by non-Pakistani terrorists, and was planned in UK etc. No official inquiry in India has been able to muster information to fully establish who actually masterminded or planned the attack, no undeniable facts pointing to involvement of the ISI, Pakistan army or other official agencies came out from various investigations. The US intelligence perhaps found the truth but did not make it public for its own reasons. Now Wilson John and Vishwas Kumar two eminent scholars have uncovered the entire conspiracy behind the Mumbai attack in a convincing manner and at last we have a detailed investigation report clearly brings out the complicity of Pakistan Army and some of its well known generals in planning and execution of the Mumbai attack. Although the evidence pieced together by the authors may not stand in a court of law or convince the international community to indict Pakistan army or any of its generals but this book puts all the facts together that indicate complicity of a group of Pakistan generals beyond reasonable doubt, facts that will stand in the court of general public. The role of General Musharraf brought out by the authors needs special attention as he was the head of the state and not only head of the army when the attack was planned. The dubious game that Musharraf played in adopting terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy has been brought out with clarity. It seems that general Musharraf has been largely been responsible for the mess that Pakistan finds itself today; among his predecessors, General Zia-ul Haq in particular was responsible for encouraging the growth of radical Islamic groups which ironically haunt Pakistan today. The First two chapters of the book give a detailed account of the special training given to the group assigned the task of attacking Mumbai, and development of the concept, planning and execution of the attack at informal gatherings at the ISI headquarters. The role of the non-state actors and their collaboration with the official agencies described in the last two chapters of the book clearly brings out the fact that Pakistan is still using terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy and this policy is unlikely to change any time soon. Seldom has such a detailed account of the involvement of various official agencies and army officers of Pakistan in terrorist attacks been presented in a cogent form before. The information gathered by the authors is mind boggling and shows how hard they worked to get so much information from open sources. It seems greater attention is required to be paid by our intelligence agencies to obtain information from open sources; and if this information is properly collated and analysed many terrorist attacks may be preempted. At the end annexures give all the known details about the Mumbai attack in one place enabling the reader to get a complete picture of those deadly fateful hours of November 26, 2008 attack. The book is a valuable source of information for the common man and analysts alike, a must read for all. It is to the credit of the authors that they have been able to obtain such detailed information of all most all the events and personalities connected with the planning and execution of the Mumbai attack.
Posted By:Magazine - South Asia Defence & Strategic Review
