Report: India may attack Pakistan

Press TV reports:

Indian military has prepared operations against targets in Pakistan and awaits the signal to go forward, a US intelligence report says.

"These most likely would take the form of unilateral precision strikes inside Pakistan-administered Kashmir, along with special forces action on the ground in Pakistan proper," Global Intelligence Service, Stratfor said in its latest report.

"Sources have indicated to Stratfor that New Delhi is going through the diplomatic motions in order to give Pakistan the opportunity to take care of the militant problem itself - but the Indians know that Islamabad has neither the will nor the capability to address their concerns," the agency said.

It explained that India knew strikes in Pakistan would not eliminate the terrorist threat, "but that would not be the aim of any such operation". It added, "Instead, India has to communicate firmly that it will no longer tolerate attacks from Pakistan-based militants - whether they are rogue or approved by the state. Failure to do so risks emboldening the militants and their enablers, as well as a domestic political backlash. The Indian government could not live with either of those outcomes."

Earlier on Friday, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the government was keeping all options open in dealing with the situation. "If a country cannot keep the assurances that it has given, then it obliges us to consider the entire range of options that exist to protect our interests and people from this menace."

"We have made repeated appeals to our neighbors over the years to ensure that they do not provide support to terrorist activities and to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. But our pleas have been ignored in spite of assurances given by them," he added.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee warns that India will consider all options against Pakistan.

The remarks come three weeks after New Delhi blamed the Pakistan-based banned militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba for orchestrating the November 26 attacks on Mumbai, which left 172 people dead.

US, Indian and British officials claim to have clear evidence suggesting that the attacks originated in terrorist training camps inside Pakistan.

India has demanded the handover of 40 suspected militants allegedly involved in the attacks. Islamabad, however, says it will not extradite any suspect, insisting that they should be tried in Pakistani courts.

Pakistan President Asia Ali Zargar said on Wednesday that intelligence agencies had failed to offer concrete proof justifying claims that militants who attacked Mumbai were Pakistani nationals.
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Comment: when analyzing any information two things must be considered: a) the source and b) the information itself and its consistency with other sources. In this case, I would rate "Stratfor" as something like a "C" - decent, but not really trustworthy. As for the info that India *might* strike Pakistan, well, as with almost any *might* kind of information it is not really big news. *Will* strike, or a time frame, that would be really interesting. But *might*? Yeah, they *might*, that is true almost by definition, but will they? So far, I simply seem no reason to lean either towards a 'yes' or a 'no'. I just post this report "for your information"

The Saker