Diplomats saw no ISI link in Mumbai attack

The cables also say President Zardari told the US ambassador that Nawaz Sharif’s brother had alerted Lashkar-i-Tayyaba to a possibility of UN sanctions over the Mumbai attack, allowing it to empty bank accounts before the sanctions. – Photo by AFP (File)

NEW DELHI: The WikiLeaks cables reveal that diplomatic missions in New Delhi believed there was no evidence to suggest an ISI link in the Mumbai attacks of Nov 26, 2008, and that a “major intelligence failure” had led to the strike.
The cables also say President Zardari told the US ambassador that Nawaz Sharif’s brother had alerted Lashkar-i-Tayyaba to a possibility of UN sanctions over the Mumbai attack, allowing it to empty bank accounts before the sanctions.
And another secret US cable dated as recently as Feb 22 this year said Pakistani authorities had told US officials that 26/11 suspect David Headley’s statements to American investigative agencies would be treated as “hearsay with little evidential” value in Pakistani courts.
In another cable, on Feby 16 this year, Tim Roemer, the US Ambassador in Delhi, told Washington: “The Indian Army’s Cold Start doctrine is a mixture of myth and reality. It’s never been and may never be put to use on a battlefield because of substantial and serious resource constraints.” It went on to call the army slow and lumbering, and unable to attack with an element of surprise.—Dawn/Times of India News Service