15 yrs of 26/11: LeT flourishes in Pak with China's backing

Fifteen years after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, the Pakistan based Lashkare-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group continues to flourish in Muridke with the country's all weather friend China shielding Islamabad against sanctions targeted at the principal perpetrators of the attack by the UN 1267 Committee.

- Shishir Gupta

Since Xi Jinping took over as President in March 2013, China blocked efforts by the US, UK, France and India to designate Pakistan based terrorists belonging to LeT and Bahawalpur based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and sanction them by listing them under the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee at the UN that was set up in 1999 under resolution 1267.

While 26/11 principal planner Let's emir Hafiz Saeed, his brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki, operational planner Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, and financier Arif Qasmani are all on the 1267 list, Sajid Mir, the principal handler of 10 terrorists who wreaked havoc on India's commercial capital on November 26, 2008 has not been put on the list due to hurdles put up by China. Mir was the man who directed the two jihadists at Chabad House at Nariman Point to take headshots at Rabbi Gavriel and his wife Rivka during the attack while the rabbi's two year old son Moshe survived due to his Indian nanny.