Pakistan Arrests Two Terror Leaders

Pakistan is cracking down on the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, suspected of being behind the Mumbai attacks—arresting two senior leaders, operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, top operations official Zarar Shah, along with 20 more militants arrested at offices for the group. But diplomats are calling the arrests a relatively easy first step and say the bigger question is what Pakistan will do about Lashkar’s parent organization, Jamaat-ud-Dawa. A senior official told The Wall Street Journal the crackdown against Lashkar “could be expanded to other areas and eventually include Jamaat.” The Bush administration has its own ideas for punishing Lashkar, asking the United Nations to put several prominent Pakistanis on a financial blacklist for supporting the group. "This could mark a paradigm shift," said Christine Fair, a South Asia expert at Rand Corp. "It would really send a chill down the spine of Pakistan's security services."