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Hindu Rights Group Demands Urgent Action

A leading human rights group focused on South Asia, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), rebuked Islamist terrorism and the comprehensive failures of the Government of India in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Mumbai over the last several days. Failure of India's intelligence agencies, absence of a national vision to fight domestic terror and failed states at its borders are all to blame for India's bouts with violence, the Foundation said today.

"India stands at a crossroads today as its people demand a secure future free of terror," said Swaminathan Venkataraman, a member of the HAF Board of Directors. "Americans join Indians globally in their outrage and dillusionment over the Indian government's inability to protect its citizens and combat the domestic and international origins of terror."

As reports continued to arrive today, the Pakistani connection is clear. The HAF viewed reports of the Pakistan spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), connection to the attacks as further evidence that Pakistan has not abandoned its proxy war against India with the twin aim of diverting attention from its domestic failures and wresting control of India's state of Jammu and Kashmir. Several reports indicate that the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a terror outfit banned by the U.S. State Department that enjoys the patronage of the ISI, coordinated the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan's ISI and al-Qaeda militants may also be seeking to shift international focus from failed efforts to rein in the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces at the Afghanistan border by creating tensions in India, foundation leaders maintained today.

Suhag Shukla, Esq., HAF's Managing Director said that the current Indian government's failure to respond coherently to several recent terrorist attacks is self-inflicted. The Manmohan Singh government policy of ruling by appeasing divergent domestic interests led to the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), leaving intelligence agencies without the means to effectively disrupt and prevent attacks, Shukla added.

"That only Iraq has suffered more casualties from terror attacks is a matter of national shame and emergency actions is required," said Shukla. "We call upon the Government of India to restore its intelligence agencies with the means to fight terror and calls upon Muslims and Hindus in India and internationally in eradicating Islamist terror from within its midst."