Mumbai attack masterminds 'will never be brought to justice'

Their comments came a few days ahead of the expected verdict in the trial of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist gunman in the attack, on Monday.

Kasab achieved worldwide notoriety after he was caught on film, smartly groomed and heavily armed, stalking railway commuters at Mumbai's Victoria Terminus railway station.

The attacks, in which ten highly trained commandos sailed into Mumbai from Karachi, launched an audacious four day killing spree, and brought India and Pakistan close to war. Western diplomats feared an Indian retaliatory air strike would bring an immediate military response from Islamabad.

Seven men, including Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged military commander of Lashkar e Taiba, were charged on the eve of the attack's first anniversary.

Another of those arrested, Zarar Shah, is alleged to be the LeT's liaison officer for dealings with Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, while Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi is alleged to be the subject of American telephone intercept evidence.

Both men are charged with masterminding the attacks and being members of the proscribed LeT, while all have pleaded not guilty. Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik has said he remains confident that those charged will be brought to justice, but Indian officials and analysts believe Islamabad's military establishment will not allow any senior LeT figure to be convicted.

"They won't be brought to justice," said Vikram Sood, former chief of India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). "They fear this will come back to Islamabad, where it was planned or approved, and expose the links between the Lashkar e Taiba and the Pakistan government," he added Another former Indian intelligence officer, B. Raman, said:"There is a pessimism among professionals in the [Indian] intelligence and security agencies. Ultimately [those charged] will be released and the court will say there's insufficient evidence against them. Pakistan will never act against LeT because it is a strategic asset for use against India," he said.

Ajai Sahni of India's Institute for Conflict Management, said he believes some of the LeT commanders arrested, like Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi have been allowed to continue operating from jail.

Lashkar-e-Taiba's founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, has denounced the Pakistan government for its 'clampdown' on jihadi groups following the Mumbai attacks. Addressing 8,000 supporters during Friday prayers at Lahore's Jamia Qadisa, he said: "Today Indians are satisfied because our rulers are doing their bidding." He said his group Jamat-ud-Dawa, believed to be a front for Lashkar e Taiba, is the only one which could challenge American domination.