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Washington, April 15(ANI): The fact that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks accused, had been instructing LeT operatives while in Pakistani custody, raises questions over whether the Pakistanis were “protecting” rather than “prosecuting” him, noted South Asian affairs analyst Lisa Curtis has said.

“Pakistan has failed to take substantive action against the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) terrorist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed nearly 166, including six Americans,” said Curtis, who is a Senior Research Fellow for South Asia at the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

“Pakistan has dragged its feet on trying and prosecuting seven LeT members who are widely believed to be behind the Mumbai carnage that it took into custody over two years ago. In fact, one of the alleged ringleaders of the attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, had been instructing LeT operatives while in Pakistani custody, raising questions over whether the Pakistanis were “protecting” rather than “prosecuting” him,” she added.

Referring to Pakistan-Canadian terror suspect Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s recent disclosure to a US court that he had provided material support for the 26/11 attacks “at the behest of the Pakistani Government and the ISI”, and not the LeT, Curtis said that Pakistan must take action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to avoid further international embarrassment over the issue.

“Punishing the perpetrators would be the best way to quell accusations of official Pakistani involvement in the attacks,” she added.

Curtis also said that while Pakistan has called for a cut in the number of US military trainers in the country, a reduction in US drone attacks against terrorists sheltering in its tribal border areas, and greater transparency in the Central Intelligence Agency’s counterterrorism activities inside its territory, it has done little to inspire the trust that is being sought by Pakistani officials.

Following Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s meeting with CIA chief Leon Panneta in Washington on Monday, a Pakistani official told a US newspaper that the CIA must share more information about what it “wants and is doing” inside Pakistan, adding, “They have to stop mistrusting [Pakistani intelligence] so much.”

“The problem is that Pakistan’s handling of recent terrorism cases and its dealings with the Afghan Taliban have done little to inspire the trust Pakistani officials seek,” said Curtis.

She noted that Pakistan maintains links with the Afghan Taliban as well as the Haqqani network, that are responsible for some of the fiercest attacks against coalition soldiers and civilians in Afghanistan.

Curtis also said that although Pakistani intelligence officials were seeking to take advantage of the Raymond Davis episode to gain leverage in their dealings with the US, the Obama Administration “must remain committed to US counterterrorism goals in the region and continue to pursue policies in Pakistan that prioritise protecting the US homeland from additional terrorist strikes.”

“Rather than seeking to change U.S. counterterrorism objectives in the region, Pakistan should propose strategies for jointly tackling the threat,” she added. (ANI)