Indians organisations in US condemn Mumbai attacks

New York, Nov 29 (UNI) Indian-American Intellectuals Forum has strongly criticised the Mumbai terrorist attacks, saying Pakistan was behind the carnage.

''In New York, only one place was attacked during the 9/11 tragedy,'' President Narain Kataria of the forum said. ''But in Mumbai, terrorists attacked a number of places, targeting not only Indians but also foreigners.'' The forum praised the heroic deeds of the security forces in the entire operation and prayed for peace for the departed souls. But at the same time criticised the intelligence failure on the part of the Indian government.

It appealed to all parties to shun what it called ''vote bank politics'' and work for the welfare of the nation.

Overseas Friends of BJP, which is affiliated to the main opposition party in India, also condemned the incident. It asked the government to tighten the anti-terror law and take stringent action against anyone trying to break the country apart.

It blamed Dawood Ibrahim, al-Qaida, Lashkar-e-Toiba, and Indian Mujahideen for the Mumbai mayhem.

''India is going to be a superpower in the next decade. Our enemies hate us. Our adversaries are motivated by the sinister desire to cripple the burgeoning Indian economy and strain our relationship with Western nations. We have to nip in bud their malicious attempts,'' the OFBJP said in a statement released by its General Secretary Jagdish Sewhani.

It added, ''It is time that government of India should enact POTA and other tough terror laws to handle the problem of terrorism with iron hand.'' The statement was released in the name of Coalition Against Genocide which was formed by concerned Indian-Americans. Three individuals-- Gautam Desai, George Abraham and Kaleem Kawaja -- signed the statement. Nearly 20 Indian organisations - cutting across party, cultural, religious, linguistic lines - endorsed the statement.

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