Neoavatara

Pakistan makes a move… December 8, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/world/asia/09pstan.html?_r=1&hp

Pakistani authorities have arrested the operational leader of the Pakistani-based militant group suspected of conducting the Mumbai attacks, a senior Pakistani security official said Monday.

Zakiur ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the supreme operational commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, came as Pakistani troops raided the primary LET camp within Pakistan.   Mr. Lakhvi was arrested in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-held Kashmir, according to Pakistani television reports.

In the past Pakistan has arrested Haffiz Muhammad Saeed, the head and ideological director of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and now the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the charity wing of the militant group, but later released him.

The question now is what happens to Lakvi.  Would the Pakistanis actually consider turning him over?  That would take Pakistani-Indian relations to an entirely new level; a new level of trust and cooperation could occur, because Indians would finally see that Pakistanis understood the repercussions of terrorism.  However, the repercussions within Pakistan are unknown, and highly volatile.  Only time will tell.