26/11 Mumbai Attacks by Pakistan-Based Terror Group: Ex-Pak NSA

New Delhi: In a major embarrassment to the Pakistan establishment, Former National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani on Monday said that the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that claimed the lives of 166 people were carried out by a terror group based in the country and was a classic trans-border terrorist event.

The Mumbai attacks were perpetrated by 10 terrorists which injured more than 300 when the gunmen attacked four locations: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Oberoi Hotel, Taj Mahal Hotel and Leopold Café and a Jewish centre, all of them located in South Mumbai.

The attacks started on November 26, 2008 and lasted till November 29 and threw life out of gear in Mumbai. The Indian government has maintained that the Lashkar-e-Toiba was the group involved in the attacks and has said that the operation received covert support from the ISI.

Durrani, however, said the the government of Pakistan and ISI were not involved directly in the entire affair.

Recalling the episode, during which he had revealed about terrorist Ajmal Kasab after which he was sacked, Durrani said, "I made a statement on television in Pakistan which the government did not like and for which I got sacked."

In January 2009, then Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani issued a statement and was quoted by Geo News channel as saying that he had sacked Durrani for commenting on the issue of the nationality of Ajmal Kasab without taking the PM or the government into confidence.

Public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam welcomed Durrani’s statement. “I would like to congratulate him for showing the courage, but now he must come out and open the whole conspiracy to the world," Nikam said.

"Durrani is out of his mind. He has obviously switched sides. If he thinks Pakistan is responsible for the cross-border terrorism you should hold him till you complete the prosecution. Because there are no witnesses," Tariq Pirzada, Pakistan defence analyst.