Pakistani militant group an intractable Indian foe

The Pakistan-based militant group that attacked Mumbai a year ago remains an implacable Indian foe and could strike again despite Pakistani efforts to rein it in.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba emerged from the embers of the Islamist battle against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan in the 1980s and began fighting Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region in the early 1990s.

While its network has spread globally, as shown by the recent arrest of suspects linked to the group in Chicago and Italy, its focus remains India, said people with knowledge of the group.

"I don't know whether they'll carry out another attack like Mumbai, but for sure they won't leave India in peace as long as Kashmir is not resolved," said a former group member.

"Their goal is Kashmir freedom. It's the priority. They still pray for the freedom of Kashmir every time they finish their prayers," said the former Lashkar member who is still involved in Islamist causes and who declined to be identified.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region which both claim in full but rule in part.

Pakistan nurtured guerrilla factions, including the Lashkar, which have been fighting forces in Kashmir since 1989.

India broke off talks with Pakistan after the Mumbai assault, in which 166 people were killed, and is pressing Pakistan to dismantle Lashkar's infrastructure and training camps.

Another big attack in India could trigger Indian retaliation in Pakistan and draw the nuclear-armed neighbours into a conflict that could also derail US hopes of stabilising Afghanistan.

Pakistani authorities have put seven Lashkar members on trial for their links to the Mumbai violence while the Lashkar founder, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who India says was the mastermind behind the Mumbai assault, was briefly put under house arrest.

Authorities also closed offices of the group's humanitarian wing, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, and took over its network of projects.

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