LibriumArcana.Games

WEDNESDAY 26 NOVEMBER

2120 local time (1550 GMT): Gunfire starts at the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station when at least two gunmen storm the crowded terminal, firing indiscriminately. Many of the deaths and injuries occurred in this attack.

Operations at Nariman House on 28 November
Troops raided Nariman House early on Friday

2120-2200: Gunmen raid the Cama and Albless Hospital, shooting indiscriminately. One attacker is captured here.

2120-2200: Gunmen seize control of the Nariman House business and residential complex. Police surround the complex, which houses the Jewish Chabad Lubavitch outreach centre.

2120-2200: Gunmen storm the Cafe Leopold and open fire on diners, causing numerous causalities.

2120-0100: Gunmen storm the Oberoi-Trident hotel, where about 380 people are staying.

2120-0100: At least seven gunmen enter the lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where about 450 people are staying, and begin firing. Large fire reported.

2250: Gunfire reported at Times of India offices.

THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER

0100-0400: Indian army in running battles with militants at the two hotels. Small groups of guests manage to escape.

0245: A group calling itself the "Deccan Mujahedeen" claims responsibility for the attacks.

0400: Standoff continues at the Jewish outreach centre.

1030: Army says it is doing room-by-room searches of Taj but explosions still heard at both hotels.

1630: The Indian navy says its forces have boarded a cargo vessel they believe to be linked to the attacks.

1630: Indian PM delivers speech to the nation saying the militants will not escape and blaming "external" elements.

1640: Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari speaks of the need for strong measures to eradicate terrorism.

FRIDAY 28 NOVEMBER

0230: Gunfire and loud explosions still being heard from the Taj and the Jewish centre, Nariman House.

0730: Commandos are dropped from helicopters on to Nariman House and begin a sweep through the building.

1100: Indian commandos take full control of the Oberoi hotel and release hostages.

1300: Indian commandos report 30 bodies in one Taj hall.

1500: Mumbai police report that five hostages inside the Jewish centre have been found shot dead.

1800: Indian security forces say they have secured the Jewish centre. Eight Israeli or dual Israeli-US citizens have been killed and two gunmen.

1830: Security operations still continue at the Taj although there is much less gunfire.
SATURDAY 29 NOVEMBER

04:30: Renewed explosions and gunfire are heard from inside the Taj.

0730: Fire breaks out on the lower floors of the Taj. Shortly afterwards Indian television reports that the siege is over.

0850: Indian police declare the Taj Mahal siege over, with the deaths of three gunmen.

New details have been slowly emerging about the early stages of the Mumbai terror attacks. Much of the information has been gleaned after the capture of one of the militants involved, as the BBC's Prachi Pinglay reports from Mumbai.

The story of the Mumbai terror attacks likely began when a private fishing trawler with five crew members set sail from the Arabian sea off the coast of Porbandar in India's western Gujarat state on 13 November.

Sometime during the next 12 days, the trawler was taken over at sea by at least 10 young men, aged between 20 and 23 years, carrying backpacks and bags, according to sources in the Mumbai police, coastguard, and commandos.

Investigators still do not know what the men were sailing on and where they were coming from when they took over the trawler - though suspicion has fallen on the Pakistani port city of Karachi.

What they do know is that the men tied up one of the crew in the trawler's engine room, and slit his throat. The abandoned trawler was found by Indian coastguard ships more than three nautical miles off Mumbai.

GPS co-ordinates

When coastguards boarded the vessel, they found the dead crew member, plus a satellite phone and GPS tracker that possibly belonged to the trawler's crew.


Investigators say that Kasar has told them that their work was to 'take hostages for safe passage'

Investigators told the BBC that the tracker showed "a return mapping for Karachi", leading to speculation that the men who attacked Mumbai had planned to return in the same trawler.

A ferry doing about 20 knots can cover the 506-nautical mile distance between Karachi and Mumbai in a little over 24 hours.

After abandoning the trawler, the men opened the inflatable dinghies they were carrying and sailed into Mumbai waters early on 26 November, a little more than 10 hours before the attack, investigators say.

An abandoned dinghy has been recovered in the sea off one of the many fishing colonies which dot the city's coast.

One of the top investigating officers told the BBC that the gunmen - nine were eventually killed and one arrested - split up into four groups and took the city's rickety black-and-yellow Fiat taxis from the fishing colony at Cuffe Parade to some of the locations they planned to attack.

See a detailed map of the area

They say the men left grenades or bombs inside the taxis before they got out. The taxis exploded soon after, killing two drivers and one bystander.

Locals look at a fire as it burns at Taj Mahal Palace
Militants split into groups, attacking a number of locations

The first round of attacks took place around the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or the Victoria Terminus railway station, when gunmen entered the platforms and fired on people indiscriminately.

They walked out of the station after the carnage, and shot three policemen and fired at journalists gathered near a cinema to record the event. Then they took a police van and drove off.

A flat tyre forced the gunmen to abandon the police van. The men then stole a Skoda car and drove towards the seafront Marine Drive, just as the other groups of gunmen were attacking a cafe, two luxury hotels and a Jewish cultural centre.

As the Skoda took a zig-zag route through the streets of Mumbai, the men inside opened fire in several locations - including at the Cama and Albless hospital for women and children.

Police say they intercepted the Skoda on the seafront and shot at it, killing one of the gunmen and arresting the other.

Twenty-one-year-old Azam Amir Qasab, who police says hails from Pakistan's Punjab province, is now the investigators' key to unravelling the planning that went into the attacks.

'Senseless violence'

Commandos who fought early pitched battles with the gunmen in the two luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident, say that the lithe attackers moved quickly from room to room and climbed up and down floors to throw them off tracks.

The gunmen set fire to curtains and threw grenades to distract the commandos, according to federal commando chief JK Dutt.

"We found a lot of unexploded grenades inside the hotel. They damaged a lot of property. It was senseless violence," he said.

They also found lots of dry fruits, Indian and American currency, ammunition and fake Mumbai college student identity cards in the bags the gunmen had left behind during the attacks.

"We are checking whether the gunmen had any local support. But what we are sure is that they were not from India, and had trained in and were carrying stuff - AK-56, AK-47 and 9mm revolvers and hand grenades possibly of Chinese make," said an investigator.

The investigators say that Kasar has told them that their work was to "take hostages for safe passage". He also told them their aim was to "create an international incident, and anything big in Mumbai would be noticed all over the world".

The mood at Monday morning prayers at the 124-year-old, green-painted Keneseth Eliyahoo synagogue in Mumbai was grim as members of the city's Jewish community paid homage to the six people who lost their lives in the attacks that hit the city last week.

Moshe Holtzberg at Monday's prayer meeting
The dead rabbi's son moved the congregation to tears
The outreach centre of Chabad Lubavitch - a New York-based orthodox Jewish organisation - in a nondescript building in a crowded and grubby sliver of a lane in Mumbai, was taken over by gunmen who held hostages before Indian commandos rappelled down to the building in helicopters and cleared it out.

Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, were among the six people who died in the attack at Nariman House. The couple, who moved to India in 2003 from Brooklyn, New York, offered lodging and ran a kosher kitchen for Jewish travellers out of the four-storey building.

Their son, Moshe - who turned two on Saturday, three days after the attack - survived, along with his maid Sandra Samuel and family cook Zakir Husain.

At the prayers Moshe, cradled in his grandfather's lap, cried out "Ema!" (mother).

"Everybody at the prayer was crying. These are very tense times for our community, which has never faced anything like this before," says Reena, a Mumbai Jew.

'Sense of discomfort'

About 90% of India's approximately 6,000 Jews live in Mumbai and the neighbouring suburb of Thane. It is a low-profile community which since the attacks has been avoiding the media.

I tried to get in touch with a prominent Jewish community centre and vocational training institute in the city, but they would not even reveal their locations, let alone allow me to speak to the people who run them.

"There is certainly a sense of discomfort. There is a feeling that community members could be under threat," says Ruth Krishna, a Mumbai Jew and former hospital administrator.

The community has seen its numbers dwindle fast in India from around 30,000 in the early 1960s.

Jewish outreach centre
Heavily-armed militants stormed the centre as part of last week's attacks

Most have migrated - by one estimate, more than 50,000 Jews from India live in Israel today. Many of them have married outside the community in India, leading to further depletion in numbers.

The first Jews - Bene Israel - arrived in India about 2,000 years ago. Later, they arrived from what is now Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other Arab countries.

In Mumbai, the community has nine synagogues, and runs a number of schools, a prominent community centre and an organisation running vocational courses. Most of the Jews here are employed and a few run small businesses.

The attack on the centre has thrown an unwanted spotlight on the community.

"It does not feel good at all. This was like a bolt out of the blue. I am an Indian first, and I am married to a Indian Hindu. I wear the Star of David, and I have never even thought of hiding it. But suddenly I am feeling conscious that I am wearing it. I am feeling vulnerable," says Reena, who was born in India.

"Indian Jews have never faced anti-Semitism, we have never been persecuted. India and Israel enjoy the best of relations. But I felt hurt by the way the rabbi and his wife were killed. As an Indian I have to be careful of terror attacks anyway. And now it seems as a Jew I have to be doubly careful."

Despite differences elsewhere, the Jewish community here is close to Muslims, closer than to Hindus, and has traditionally lived in Muslim-dominated neighbourhoods like Byculla and Dongri, and shared business ties. The majority of students in Jewish-run schools in Mumbai are Muslims because they are located in Muslim-dominated neighbourhoods.

"That is why we never believed we could become a target, though for many years some people have told us to be careful," says Jonathan Solomon, a community elder, who runs a nearly 100-year-old family-owned law firm in central Mumbai.

"We are not a part of the Middle Eastern animosity between the two communities. We are far away from all that.

"This is a very traumatic moment for the community. We have been targeted once and the terrorists have succeeded. That makes us vulnerable as soft targets."

The chief minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra has offered to resign amid criticism of the handling of the Mumbai attacks.

Vilasrao Deshmukh said he was awaiting a Congress party decision. His deputy, RR Patil, has already resigned.

Correspondents say there are calls for more resignations amid questions over the response to the attacks, and whether all the gunmen have been found.

Attackers targeted multiple locations from Wednesday, killing at least 172.

On Monday, Mumbai began to return to normal with markets and schools open and heavy traffic on the streets.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened cross-party talks on setting up a federal agency of investigation after the attacks.

The attacks have increased tensions with Pakistan after allegations that the gunmen had Pakistani links.

See a detailed map of the area

Islamabad denies any involvement, but India's Deputy Home Minister Shakeel Ahmad told the BBC it was "very clearly established" that all the attackers had been from Pakistan.

Indian Minister of State of External Affairs Anand Sharma described the attacks as a "grave setback" to the normalisation of relations with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Pakistan to co-operate.

"I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation and that is what we expect," she said during a visit to London.

'Moral responsibility'

Mr Deshmukh told a press conference on Monday: "I have offered to resign. If the responsibility of the attacks is on the chief minister, then I will go."


CAPTURED GUNMAN
Azam Amir Qasab
Suspect named as Azam Amir Qasab
21 years old, fluent English speaker
Told police he is from Faridkot village, in Pakistan's Punjab province
Said the attackers took orders from handlers in Pakistan

Muslims refuse to bury militants

Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday, saying he took "moral responsibility".

His successor, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, said he was "disinclined" to take the post but had done so to "answer the call of duty".

The BBC's David Loyn in Delhi says the resignations are not likely to be the last, with public anger now of a different order to what it has been during previous terrorist incidents.

Our correspondent says the latest revelation, in police reports, that personal belongings of 15 men were found aboard an abandoned ship from which the attacks were launched has raised questions as to whether all the gunmen have been found.

Only 10 militants have been identified, one of them captured alive. Quoted by a private TV channel, survivor Azam Amir Qasab apparently confirmed that there were 15 attackers.

How Mumbai attacks unfolded
Questions have been asked about India's failure to pre-empt the attacks, and the time taken to eliminate the gunmen.

A report in the Hindustani Times newspaper said a militant from the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Toiba arrested and questioned in February told intelligence services he had inspected the five-star Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi-Trident hotels, which were among targets attacked last week, and several other buildings in December 2007.

Quoted by his interrogator, the militant said he had passed on information to the group's operational commander. Lashkar-e-Toiba has denied involvement in the attacks.

Also, Reuters news agency quoted Damodar Tandel, head of Maharashtra's main fishermen's union, as saying he had warned the government about attempts to bring RDX explosives to Mumbai by sea but no-one acted on the information.


I looked back to see the waiter who was serving me getting hit by a bullet
Shivaji Mukherjee
Mumbai attack survivor

Eyewitness: Mumbai survivors

The violence which began on Wednesday night finally ended on Saturday morning, when Indian troops killed the last of the gunmen at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.

"I have gone by my conscience and put in my papers," Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil was quoted by news agency Press Trust of India as saying.

Public anger has been building up against Mr Patil ever since media reports that he made light of the terror attack by saying that such "minor incidents do happen in big cities".

Mumbai protests

On Sunday, Prime Minister Singh held a cross-party meeting in Delhi.

Indian prime minister on anti-terror plans

Mr Singh was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying he planned to increase the size and strength of the country's anti-terrorist forces.

While the vast majority of victims were Indians, at least 22 foreigners are known to have died, including victims from Israel, the US, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Thailand and France. One Briton, Andreas Liveras, was also killed.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Mumbai on Sunday to protest at the perceived government failures.

Police continued on Sunday to sift through the debris in the Taj hotel.

They are also questioning the one attacker who was captured alive to try to establish who masterminded the assault.

The siege of Mumbai may be over, but the political casualty count is mounting. As senior ministers resign their posts in the face of public outrage over what many see as the authorities' inability to protect the country from terrorist attacks, India's political parties are girding themselves for an election year that promises a bruising battle over security. The local media may have branded the storming of some of Mumbai's most iconic sites as "India's 9/11," but the nonpartisan unity displayed by U.S. politicians in the wake of the 2001 attacks is nowhere to be seen in India's political arena. And Indian TV is blaring a chorus of public anger and recrimination, much of it directed at the country's bickering political classes.
Related
Stories

* Angry Mumbai Wants Answers, Changes
* Inside the Taj: Tracking Down the Terrorists

More Related

* An ’Untouchable’ Leader for India?
* India’s Nuclear Brinksmanship
* India’s Voters Torn Over Politician

Sunday's resignation by Home Minister Shivraj Patil — who was already under pressure over the series of bombings that hit India's cities earlier this year — was followed by that of R.R. Patil, Home Minister of Maharasthra, the state of which Mumbai is the capital. R.R. Patil had been widely denounced for telling reporters on Saturday that the attacks were a "small incident that could happen in big cities." The state's Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, was next in the firing line, lambasted on television and even by fellow politicians for insensitivity after he was seen blithely touring the burned Taj Mahal hotel with a movie director. Deshmukh tendered his resignation to the ruling Congress Party, with which he is affiliated, and will likely be replaced this week. More heads are expected to roll in the coming days. (See pictures of Mumbai the morning after the siege.)

But sacrificing a handful of top officials may not save the Congress Party and its allies from a drubbing at the state polls. The opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has leaped at the opportunity to leverage the threat of Islamist terrorism and government security failures to its advantage as voters prepare to go to the polls in key state elections later this month. Just days after the terrorists occupied ritzy hotels and killed some 195 people, the BJP printed posters in New Delhi proclaiming itself to be the party that would have prevented such attacks. The turnout for state polls in New Delhi on Nov. 29 was considerably higher than expected. When India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, chaired an all-party crisis meeting this weekend to discuss the nation's security situation, his direct rival in the BJP, the 82-year-old L.K. Advani, failed to show up because he had duties campaigning in the western state of Rajasthan.

Advani's move drew criticism from India's press, but the Congress Party may yet suffer. Results in New Delhi are awaited, while more elections follow later this week in Rajasthan and the vast central state of Madhya Pradesh. Defeats for the ruling party now would augur poorly for general elections, to be held next May. "We may take a beating," says Congress Member of Parliament Milind Deora, who represents the affluent South Mumbai constituency, which bore the brunt of the terrorist attacks last week. The ruling party replaced outgoing Home Minister Patil with the much-respected Finance Minister P. Chidambaran. But like the government's proposal on Monday to recruit 500 new commandos to an élite counterterrorism unit, the reshuffle seems a little too late.

Still, despite the BJP's rush to seek political advantage from the government's failings in Mumbai, it remains unclear how much traction the opposition party and its allies can gain. During their last term in power, some of the worst religious riots India has ever experienced occurred in the state of Gujarat in 2002, leaving thousands dead. A year before that, an audacious terrorist attack had seen MPs come under fire inside India's Parliament building. Some of the BJP's right-wing allies, such as the Shiv Sena, an influential Hindu-nationalist party in Mumbai, have a reputation for unleashing thuggery as standard political practice and, until last week, the specter of "Hindu terror" had been in national headlines following explicit threats by nationalist leaders and revelations that Hindu extremists had been behind a wave of terrorist attacks initially blamed on Muslims. "What would they have done had they been in power [during last week's attacks]?" asks MP Deora. The BJP reaction, he suspects, could have fanned religious extremism and deepened inter-communal hostility in the country, further imperiling security.

"Everyone is smart enough to know the BJP didn't exactly cover itself in glory when it was in power," says Manoj Joshi, a prominent journalist. If they benefit from the situation, reckons political analyst Jyotirmaya Sharma, "it will not be because [the BJP] has done something right, but because the Congress has done everything wrong."

The prevailing mood suggests that both parties may be on slippery ground in a country frayed by the ravages of terrorism. The slogan for NDTV's round-the-clock coverage declares "Enough Is Enough," and many see that message as extending to politicians. When controversial BJP leader Narendra Modi offered monetary compensation to all the families of security personnel killed in action in Mumbai, he was firmly rebuffed by the wife of the city's slain antiterrorism chief Hemant Karkare. When the state of Kerala's Chief Minister, a member of the Congress Party, went to pay his respects to the family of a fallen commando on Sunday, he was barred from entering the house by the soldier's father. These moments of anger convey a growing public sentiment that the security crisis demands an end to the cynical games of Indian politics. "When the anger and hysteria subsides, questions of governance will come to the forefront," says Sharma. "Whoever fails to deliver will have to go."

Azam Amir, the terrorist who was held by the Mumbai Police, has made some striking revelations regarding the Mumbai terror attacks.

Azam has disclosed that the Pakistan Navy had trained the terrorists in boating and swimming to carry out the attacks in Mumbai. Azam was arrested on Wednesday from Girgaum Chowpatty in an encounter with the police. Ismail Khan, an accomplice of Amir, reportedly died in the gunbattle.

Sources say Azam has also revealed that people from gangster Dawood Ibrahim's gang helped the terrorists from Karachi in organising the attacks.

Reports suggest that the planning for the terror attacks in Mumbai had begun almost a year ago in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Azam has reportedly told the police that around 20 Pakistan nationals were trained in PoK to carry out the attacks. The training in PoK went on for almost five-and-half months, during which the terrorist were taught the use of sophisticated arms and ammunition.

At the end of the five months training, all terrorists were given a months leave and were ordered to gather in Karachi after the break for training in boating, rowing and swimming by the Pakistan Navy.

They were then handed over some CDs and maps of the Taj and Oberoi hotels. The CDs and maps also had pictures of important rail stations like VT. At the end of this training a batch of 10 terrorists was set off for India via the Indian sea route.

Mumbai Police expects more details will come out during the course of their investigations.

India has summoned Pakistan's high commissioner to lodge a formal protest over the attacks in Mumbai.

Indian officials have repeatedly said in recent days there is evidence the militants behind attacks that killed nearly 200 people had Pakistani links.

Islamabad has denied involvement and warned against letting "miscreants" inflame tensions in the region.

India's new home minister has vowed to "respond with determination and resolve" over the crisis.

See a detailed map of the area

At least 188 people were killed - including 22 foreigners - and more than 200 were injured after the attackers opened fire in several locations, including a railway station, a popular restaurant, a hospital, two hotels and a Jewish centre.

The attacks on the two hotels - the once luxurious Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi-Trident - and the Jewish centre resulted in nearly three days of running battles between elite commandos and the gunmen before the sites were secured.

'Avoid blame game'

India's foreign ministry said it had summoned Pakistan's high commissioner.

"He was informed that the recent terrorist attack on Mumbai was carried out by elements from Pakistan," the ministry said in a statement.

India "expects that strong action would be taken against those elements, whosoever they may be, responsible for this outrage," the high commissioner was reportedly told.

A spokesman for the Pakistani high commission played down the meeting, saying discussions were held in a "cordial atmosphere".

But there is no doubt India is slowly turning the heat on Pakistan following the attacks, the BBC's India correspondent Sanjoy Majumder says.

Following the attacks, the focus is on the lone gunman who survived and who is now in police custody.


CAPTURED GUNMAN
Undated photo of Azam Amir Qasab in hospital
Suspect named as Azam Amir Qasab
21 years old, fluent English speaker
Told police he is from Faridkot village, in Pakistan's Punjab province
Said the attackers took orders from handlers in Pakistan

Muslims refuse to bury militants
Pakistanis wary of Mumbai claims
In pictures: Mumbai aftermath

According to Indian media reports, Azam Amir Qasab is from Pakistan and linked to the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, or Army of the Pure. The group denies involvement.

India's Deputy Home Minister, Shakeel Ahmad, told the BBC it was "very clearly established" that all the attackers had been from Pakistan - echoing similar comments from other officials in recent days.

Indian Minister of State of External Affairs Anand Sharma called the attacks a "grave setback" to the normalisation of relations with Pakistan.

Pakistan's Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, has said his country "would itself take action against the miscreants if there is any evidence against a Pakistani national".

But he cautioned India against making allegations in the media. "The blame game should be avoided at all costs as (it) may affect the state of relations between the two countries," he said.

The White House says it has heard nothing to suggest the Pakistani government was involved.

"We have been encouraged by the statements by the Pakistanis that they are committed to following this wherever it leads," spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "We would expect nothing less of them in this instance."

'Deep shock'

Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram vowed to take action over the attacks.


HOW THE ATTACKS HAPPENED

Militants take over trawler at sea, then sail into Mumbai on inflatable dinghies

Militants head to attack locations in four groups by taxi

First attack on railway terminus
More attacks follow on a cafe, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre

How Mumbai attacks unfolded
Victims from all walks of life

"I want to assure the people on behalf of the government that we will respond with determination and resolve to the grave threat posed to the Indian nation," he told reporters.

"I recognise that there is a sense of anguish and deep shock among the people of India. This is a threat to the very idea of India, very soul of India."

The government is facing growing anger over its handling of the attacks and perceived intelligence failures.

Maharashtra state's chief minister on Monday joined his deputy and Mr Chidambaram's predecessor in resigning over the attacks.

According to reports, the personal belongings of 15 men were found aboard an abandoned ship from which the attacks were launched. This has raised questions as to whether all the gunmen have been found.

Only 10 militants have been identified, but, according to a private TV channel, Azam Amir Qasab apparently confirmed there were 15 attackers.


I looked back to see the waiter who was serving me getting hit by a bullet
Shivaji Mukherjee
Mumbai attack survivor

Eyewitness: Mumbai survivors

Questions have also been asked about India's failure to pre-empt the attacks, and the time taken to eliminate the gunmen.

A report in the Hindustani Times newspaper said a militant from Lashkar-e-Toiba arrested and questioned in February told intelligence services he had inspected the five-star Taj Mahal Palace and Oberoi-Trident hotels and several other buildings in December 2007.

Quoted by his interrogator, the militant said he had passed on information to the group's operational commander.

Also, Reuters news agency quoted Damodar Tandel, head of Maharashtra's main fishermen's union, as saying he had warned the government about attempts to bring RDX explosives to Mumbai by sea but no-one acted on the information.

Unlike other countries that have been the victims of frequent terrorist attacks, India has no discernible or coherent counter-terrorism strategy that focuses both on the causes of the threat and its prevention, the BBC's defence and security correspondent Rob Watson says.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is reported to have said he plans to increase the size and strength of the country's anti-terrorist forces.

Indian media reports detailing Pakistani links to the audacious Mumbai attacks have been met with deep scepticism in Pakistan.

"Why do they always blame us?" said an airline worker in the port city of Karachi, from where some of the gunmen are alleged to have set off for Indian shores.

"Any time something happens in India, they say Pakistan is behind it, but they don't come up with any proof."

A boutique owner agreed. "Everybody's out to get us," he said as his customers expressed fear that Indian agents would retaliate by striking Karachi.

Such blanket dismissals fail to acknowledge Pakistan's history of using Islamist militant groups to fight proxy wars against India in the disputed region of Kashmir.

One of these, Lashkar-i-Taiba, was blamed for the attack on India's parliament in 2001 that brought the two countries to the brink of war.

However, it denied that, as well as any involvement in the Mumbai atrocities ,which lasted three days and left over 170 people dead and hundreds injured.

Indian 'denial'

Whatever the case, Pakistanis say Indian accusations have become reflex actions that don't take changing realities into account.

"It is interesting that Indian security agencies failed to detect such a massive operation during its planning stage, but wasted little time in fixing the blame on some Pakistani group," wrote defence analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi in the local Daily Times newspaper.

"If they knew who was responsible, why could they not pre-empt it? India needs to face the reality of home-grown radicalism, and realize the futility of blaming Pakistan for its troubles."
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Foreign Minister Qureshi had hoped for a "warming" with India

Mr Rizvi expressed a widely held conviction here that India is in denial about its problems with indigenous Islamist groups that have surfaced in recent years - rooted, it's believed, in state discrimination and communal violence against Muslims.

And, say Pakistanis, India has got it wrong before.

The fire-bombing of the Samjhauta Express train between New Delhi and Lahore in February 2007 was first blamed on Pakistan, but later linked to Hindu extremists supported by an Indian army colonel.

'Brisk escalation'

At the official level, both the government and the military have also warned India against jumping to hasty conclusions, but otherwise their responses have differed.

Political leaders have gone out of their way to condemn the attacks and offer "unconditional support" in the investigation, promising to take action if any Pakistani link is established.

A conflict with India is the last thing they want after succeeding the military-led government of retired General Pervez Musharraf last year.

"I'm concerned because I could see forward movement, India warming up to Pakistan, constructive engagement," said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the weekend.

"Let us not fool ourselves, the situation is serious when people in India are calling this their 9/11," adding that he hoped the "hiccup" in relations would be overcome soon.

Pakistan's powerful security establishment, however, is more cynical.

Mumbai residents grieve near Nariman House, the scene of one of the battles with gunmen
As India grieves, Pakistan has offered "unconditional support"
Despite a peace process which began in 2004 it sees India as stalling on Kashmir, and it is convinced Delhi's allegations are aimed at trying to discredit Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).

"The Indians are taking the escalation level up at a very brisk pace," a senior security official said on Saturday.

He too pledged co-operation but said if India began to mobilise troops, Pakistan would respond in kind, even if that meant pulling soldiers away from fighting Taleban and al-Qaeda militants on its border with Afghanistan.

The different attitudes towards India were publicly exposed when political leaders were forced to retract a promise to send the intelligence chief to Delhi.

While President Asif Zardari described this as a "miscommunication," others blamed the government for failing to consult the military before making the unprecedented announcement.

Already the army's been taken aback by overtures to India made by Mr Zardari.

Most recently the president offered no first-use of nuclear weapons, ignoring decades of established policy.

The apparently off-the-cuff remark in an interview with Indian media astonished Pakistanis as much as Indians.

It remains to be seen whether this rift will grow under mounting pressure from India and the US, which fears that souring relations between the two rivals will hinder its attempts to encourage regional co-operation against Islamist militancy in Afghanistan.