The responsibility for the December 13 strike is yet to be established. The present likelihood is that it must have been by one of the threePakistani components of bin Laden's International Islamic Front For JehadAgainst the US and Israel, namely, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) or theHarkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) or the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) carried out partly inpursuit of their over-all objective of merger of Jammu & Kashmir withPakistan and the "liberation" of the Muslims in other parts of Indiaand partly as a reprisal for India's links with Afghanistan's Northern Alliance,which they blame for the humiliation inflicted on Pakistanis belonging to theseorganisations in Afghanistan.[This piece was written before the disclosures byPolice Commissioner, New Delhi, and the home minister L.K.Advani, that the saidattack was a combined operation of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad-- ed.]