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Investigation of the Mumbai attacks has led to the arrest of the head of a Pakistani Islamic organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba. The attacks, carried out by masked gunmen, resulted in nearly 180 deaths and have been declared by the Indian political elite as India’s “9-11”. Pakistan’s newly elected government is extremely fragile, facing pressure from it’s powerful neighbor to the south, as well as it’s main Western benefactor, the United States. The attacks have predictably led to a racheting up of tensions between India and Pakistan, after some years of relative peace. Now, India’s Prime Minister has demanded the total elimination of the “epicentre of terrorism” in Pakistan. US Senator John Kerry, a close aide to President-elect Barack Obama, has urged the Pakistani government to take on both Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as ISI, the controversial intelligence agency that is alleged to have ties to many militant organizations. In response to these growing pressures, Pakistan has placed Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, under house arrest and is moving to ban a charity called Jamaat-ud-Dawa that is thought to be a front for Laskher-e-Taiba. While Lashkar-e-Taiba played a prominent role in fighting Indian rule in Kashmir with help from the Pakistani government, the charity apparently played a leading role in providing relief to the tens of thousands of Pakistan’s latest earthquake victims.

GUEST: Sajjad Burki, President of PACT, Pakistan American Council of Texas, and representative of Pakistan Tehreek i Insaf . For more information, visit www.insaf.pk.