Introduction
Multiple terrorist attacks took place in Mumbai between November 26 and November 29, 2008. Ten shooters suspected to be linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist organization, carried out the attacks (Kulungu, 2019). The terrorists used automatic guns and hand grenades to attack people at several locations in Mumbai’s south, including the Chhatrapati Shivaji train station, the famed Leopold Café, two hospitals, and a theatre (Kulungu, 2019). The terror continued to unfold at three locations where hostages were taken—the Nariman House, where a Jewish outreach center was located, and the luxury hotels Oberoi Trident and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower—while most of the attacks ended just a few hours after they began at around 9:30 p.m. on November 26.
Background
Lashkar-e-Taib is a Pakistani Islamist militant organization that began in the late 1980s as a militant arm of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad, an Islamist organization influenced by the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam. It aimed to establish Muslim sovereignty over the whole Indian subcontinent in the end. Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the most powerful organizations operating in Jammu and Kashmir, was staunchly pro-Pakistan in terms of regional domination (Ganguly et al., 2019). In an attempt to establish a Muslim state in Jammu and Kashmir, the organization took part in multiple attacks targeting non-Muslim civilians. Any compromises with India were rejected by the group, while the leaders have also professed a desire to impose Islamic authority across India.
Lashkar-e-Taiba had a falling out with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen in 2000 when the latter proclaimed a brief cease-fire with India. After the September 11 attacks on the United States, the Taliban administration in Afghanistan was deposed by US-led military troops, and the party lost additional friends in 2001 (Cheema, 2019). On December 13, of that year, Lashkar-e-Taiba, in collaboration with Jaish-e-Mohammed, launched a suicide attack on India’s parliament complex in New Delhi, the country’s capital. As a result, the US authorities froze Lashkar-e-assets Taiba’s in the US and officially characterized it as a terrorist organization.
During the first decade of the twenty-first century, Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives were thought to have maintained their assaults. Those attacks were largely directed toward Indian security forces. However, in 2006, the gang was linked to a far more lethal attack on civilians in Mumbai, India’s most populated city (Ganguly et al., 2019). During the evening rush hour on July 11, that year, numerous explosives ripped through Mumbai’s commuter rail system, killing over 180 people and wounding over 800 more. In an apparent attempt to target India’s professional elite, the devices were all placed in first-class railway cabins. After the incident, which India blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan held and then freed Saeed, arguing that India’s probe was biased.
Geographic Background
The actions of the organization should be analyzed in the context of the geopolitical relationship between Pakistan and India, and in particular their conflict surrounding the status of Kashmir. After the British forces withdrew from Southeast Asia in 1947, the autonomy of the region became a subject of tension (Gunasekar et al., 2018). Throughout 1947 and 948 India and Pakistan engaged in warfare over the status of Kashmir, with Pakistan considering it to be the extension of their territory and India perceiving their claims as a direct act of aggression (Cheema, 2019). Violent riots erupted in 2008 and 2010 over control of a section of land used by Hindu pilgrims visiting the Amarnath cave shrine east of Srinagar, when the Indian army killed three Pakistani civilians, they said were terrorists attempting to breach the line of control. The military had in reality lured the guys to the region and murdered them in cold blood, according to the inquiry.
References
Cheema, P. I. (2019). Pakistan, India, and Kashmir: A Historical Review. In Perspectiv.es on Kashmir (pp. 93-118). Routledge.
Ganguly, S., Smetana, M., Abdullah, S., & Karmazin, A. (2019). India, Pakistan, and the Kashmir dispute: Unpacking the dynamics of a South Asian frozen conflict. Asia Europe Journal, 17(1), 129-143, Web.
Gunasekar, S., Patri, R., & Narayanan, B. (2018). International tourist arrival in india: Impact of mumbai 26/11 terror attack. Foreign Trade Review, 53(1), 12-28., Web.
Kulungu, M. (2021). Understanding the Cozy Relationship between Pakistan ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Open Access Library Journal, 8(10), 1-21., Web.