[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 189 (Friday, November 30, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TEN YEARS AFTER THE MUMBAI ATTACK, PAKISTAN IS STILL OBSTRUCTING 
                                JUSTICE

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                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 30, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this week marks the ten year 
anniversary of the most horrific terrorist attacks in India's history. 
In 2008, the city of Mumbai became a warzone when ten terrorists 
attacked hotels, railway stations, cafes, and a Jewish community 
center, killing 166 people. We still mourn the loss of so many innocent 
lives, including six Americans. But justice for this awful attack has 
yet to be served. The one obstacle: Pakistan.
  Pakistan is already well known for helping give birth to the Taliban 
and providing safe haven for international terrorists like Osama bin 
Laden and al-Qaeda' s central leadership. But Pakistan has held a cozy 
relationship with terrorists that predates September 11, 2001 and 
undoubtedly continues to this day. The Mumbai attack and Pakistan's 
response provide amble evidence.
  The Mumbai attackers, all Pakistani citizens, belong to Lashkar-e-
Taiba, or LeT. This group--which is designated as a terrorist group by 
the United States, European Union, India, and the United Nations--does 
not act without approval and support from Pakistan's Inter-Services 
Intelligence Directorate (ISI). The LeT and ISI have been joined at the 
hip since the 1980s, first working together to fight the Soviets in 
Afghanistan, then in fighting India in Kashmir. After 9/11, when LeT 
was found to be closely working with al-Qaeda and the Taliban, 
including training and sheltering senior al-Qaeda leaders like Abu 
Zubaydah, Pakistan claimed to have outlawed the terror group. But it 
never arrested LeT's leader, Hafiz Saeed, and the group was allowed to 
continue operating under its supposed charity wing, Jamaat ud Dawa.
  Pakistan's true policy towards LeT became clear after the Mumbai 
attack, when multiple ISI officers were specifically implicated in 
organizing and supporting the 2008 assault. Pakistani investigators 
have even admitted that LeT was responsible for the attack and that it 
had been planned and prepared for at LeT training camps within 
Pakistan. But the Pakistani government refused to cooperate in India's 
investigation and only temporarily took action against LeT, briefly 
closing their offices and dismissing charges against the group's 
leader. Today, LeT and Hafiz Saeed are actively involved in Pakistani 
politics under the Jamaat ud Dawa front and inciting new generations of 
violent extremists.
  Ten years after the Mumbai massacre we know with absolute certainty 
that Pakistan's status as a ``counterterrorism partner'' is an absolute 
joke. Thousands of terrorists use Pakistan as a base to fundraise, 
recruit, and train for their ongoing war against India, America, 
Afghanistan, and the wider world. Terrorism is Pakistan's foreign 
policy. It is time we stop subsidizing it with American's tax dollars.
  And that's just the way it is.

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