Lashkar is a big organization with multiple arms and priorities and its leadership is undoubtedly divided over how much risk to take in pursuit of violent operations in India, particularly given the comfort and even wealth the group’s leaders enjoy from their unmolested activities inside Pakistan. If the boys in Mumbai had support from Lashkar, did the group’s leader, Hafez Saeed, who runs Jamat, know of the plan? If so, that would be a radical act that would likely mean the end of his charity’s tenuous legitimacy.
This type of absurdity is why Lashkar is such a problem. No one denies that Lashkar has been behind deaths of many people in India. In fact, it is part of their recruiting appeal.
So why is that it would take proof that they were behind the attacks on Mumbai to de-legitimacies the organization? Because it happened on TV? Because white people died in the attack?
The same thing could be said of Hezbollah. Someday they are going to kill a lot of people in the wrong country. But until they do, they have a sort of “legitimacy.” At least among the people who are not being killed.