Another LeT attack in India could destabilise the region

Washington, May 25: Another major terrorist attack in India by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has the potential to destabilise the region, a powerful American lawmaker has said, adding that this Pakistan-based militant outfit has increased its threat potential to the United States too.

"This group (LeT), responsible for the vicious Mumbai attacks of 2008, is capable of not only destabilising the region with another attack against India, but through its extensive alumni organisation and network of training camps throughout Pakistan, it could threaten the United States homeland," Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad continue to launch attacks that risk sparking war between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, he said. Testifying before the committee, Christina Fair, an eminent expert if the region, said that Pakistan has raised and nurtured a number of militant groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba being just one, to operate in India and in Afghanistan.

"These are distinct from the Pakistani Taliban, which has been ravaging the state, although part of the Pakistan Taliban does draw personnel from rebel erstwhile proxies," she said.

"Lashkar-e-Taiba draws most of its recruits from Deobandis and other sectarian groups. This allows them to indoctrinate them into this worldview, and since it deploys relatively few people to Kashmir, this is an important part of its domestic outreach mission," Fair said.

PTI