8A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 3. 2008
INTERNATIONAL
Trying to shed light on Mumbai attacks
Students from India worried about violence so close to home
ASSOCIATED PRESS
People participate in a candlelight vigil held outside the Ja'Mahal Hall, shown in the background, on Tuesday to pay tribute to the victims of last week's Mumbai attacks. So far at least 172 people were killed and 239 were injured.
BY SACHIKO MIYAKAWA
smiyakava@kansan.com
Shlok Narayanprasad checked the news online right after his friend told him about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, his hometown. Narayanprasad, a junior, was shocked by a video that showed places he recognized under siege from terrorists. He said he was scared and worried until he called his parents, who still live in the city, and made sure his friends and family were safe.
According to the Associated Press, at least 172 people were killed.
Although none of his family or friends were hurt, Narayanjasad said he was upset the tragedy happened in those familiar places. His father used to attend office meetings at Nariman House, where some hostages were held and killed by terrorists.
"There were several terrorism attacks in India recently, but I grew up in Mumbai, and I felt very personal about this one," said Narayanprasad, who lived in Mumbai for 17 years before coming to the
coming to the University.
The terrorist attacks last week horrified many Indian students at the University.
A m r u t a B h d k a m k ar, Mumbai junior, said her Indian friends at the University were shocked and angry
"Many foreign people were targeted in the attacks, and it gives an impression that India is not very safe," she said.
"There were several terrorism attacks in India recently, but I grew up in Mumbai, and I felt very personal about this one."
at the attacks, even though many of them were not from Mumbai. She said she worried the attacks would harm Mumbai's and India's images abroad.
SHLOK NARAYANPRASAD
Mumbai junior
Bhadakkar said she was also upset at the city's lax security system, which allowed the terrorists to slip through undetected. She said security was usually tighter during holiday seasons. A top nation
a top national security official resigned on Sunday for failing to thwart the attacks, according to The New York Times.
Namrata Barve, Mumbai graduate student, heard the news from her husband. She watched CNN all day to find out more about the attacks. She said she knew her family was safe, but she was frustrated that most of CNN's coverage focused on American victims of the attacks.
According to the Associated Press, officials suspect that a militant group based in Pakistan called Lashkar-e-Taiba was responsible for the attacks. Philip Schrodt, professor of political science, said the worst-case scenario for the U.S. would be if India found connections between the attackers and the Pakistani intelligence services. This would harm the relationship between India and the U.S. because the U.S. has been cooperating with
the pakistani government to try to control the Taliban, he said.
"In that case, the United States is going to be in a bad situation," he said. "But I think what's more likely is this is the group that is operating in Pakistan without any cooperation from the Pakistani government."
He said that the attacks would not directly affect the U.S. economy or daily lives of most Americans but that Americans should know terrorist attacks may continue.
"In some ways, the fact that India was targeted was a symbol of how important India is," he said. "I think people should look at it as important as the attacks in London or Madrid."
Edited by Lauren Keith
New intelligence shows that U.S. had warned India about terrorism
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Evidence suggests that a group partly based in Pakistan carried out last week's attack in India, U.S. officials said Tuesday, and they also revealed the U.S. had warned the Indian government that terrorists appeared to be plotting an assault on Mumbai.
Also, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that U.S. and British citizens were the targets of the violent siege, although most of those killed in the city, the nation's financial capital, were Indians.
The brutal, prolonged attack had some roots in Pakistan, a senior State Department official said. That's the closest the U.S. has come to placing blame for the coordinated assaults, although the official was careful to say that not all the evidence is in. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.
Indian authorities have claimed a Pakistan connection for days, but the United States has not wanted to "jump to conclusions," as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday. The administration fears that any misstep amid the extraordinarily high emotions surrounding the three-day assault, which killed 172 and wounded 239 in the heart of Mumbai, could spark new and possibly deadly tensions between longtime, nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
Gates told a Pentagon news conference Tuesday that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, had
gone to the region to meet with officials. Rice also is to visit India on Wednesday, carrying the U.S. demand that Pakistan cooperate fully in the investigation into the attack.
Among those killed in Mumbai were six Americans.
The revelation of a U.S. warning to Indian counterparts about a possible attack comes as the Indian government faces widespread accusations of security and intelligence failures concerning the assault.
Washington passed on information that a waterborne attack on Mumbai appeared to be in the works, said a senior administration official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of intelligence information. The official would not elaborate on either the timing or details of the U.S. warning.
Neither Rice nor Gates would confirm that the United States had passed specific information to India ahead of the attacks.
"Obviously we try to pass information to countries all around the world if we pick up information," Rice said at a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
The State Department issued at least two terror-related warnings to Americans in India in October, including one specifically covering western India, which includes Mumbai.
These warnings are usually issued after threat information is received, but they are less specific than what intelligence agencies would pass on to their counterparts.
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