ABSTRACT
The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), with the active and comprehensive support of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), orchestrated the Mumbai attacks.1 It is important to know about the functioning of the LeT before delving into the details of the Mumbai conspiracy. The organization’s origin, evolution, strength and its relation with governmental organizations has been widely discussed and debated by various governments, world media and academia. However, mystery still surrounds the history of the organization, its present functioning and its humanitarian as well as horrifi c operations.2 There are many academic works on this subject, mostly by Western scholars, where disagreement persists on almost every subject about the organization.3 For the purpose of this chapter, I have tried to rely as much as possible on authentic news reporting, government reports, court materials and authenticated personal interviews. Using these sources, I have tried to dissect the LeT by way of cross-checking available information and by using conventional knowledge to arrive at a conclusion. I have not taken the service of anonymous sources for the simple reason that those sources would certainly reduce the credibility of the study.
