ABSTRACT

The Mumbai attacks were not simple isolated attacks, which could be developed and carried out overnight. They were not orchestrated by a new group, nor were the people involved with the crime obscure terrorists. When LeT terrorists stormed and attacked Mumbai, the terrorist organization had already completed 22 years of its bloody existence.1 The players involved with the strike, who came from different backgrounds, had various degrees of experience. For example, Hafi z Saeed and Zaki-ur Rehman had 22 or more years of experience in orchestrating terror plots.2 Other prominent LeT players, Zarar Shah, Sajid Majid, Muzmmil and Kahfa, all in their mid-30s, had 10 or more years of ‘full-time’ involvement with terrorist activities.3 Overseas plotters like David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana had been involved with LeT activities for at least six years.4 LeT’s 10 foot soldiers, the fi dayeen squad, who had participated in the Mumbai carnage, were all in their early 20s and had joined the organization a couple of years before the attacks.5 Finally, the army and ISI personnel of Pakistan, who guided the attack, belonged to the age group of 35 to 50, and were seasoned handlers of militant organizations.6 So the composition of the conspirators and attackers was robust. Join all the dots and the Mumbai plot would appear stranger than fi ction, which would easily fi t into a captivating Bollywood thriller.7