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| There are people for Indo-Pak hostility: Gen. Masood | | Is ISI behind Samjhauta train blasts | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, FEB 20
Lt. Gen. (Retd) Talat Masood, well-known Pakistani political and defence analyst, has said that there are people who have "always opposed India Pakistan cooperation and have always supported hostility". These are the people who have been pursuing a terrorist agenda ever since the independence in 1947, he insists.
Participating in CNN-IBN's 'Face The Nation' programme, Lt. Gen. Talat Masood stated that he did not think it was the Kashmiri militants this time who were the cause of the problem. "I think there are certain groups which have taken upon themselves, the role of saying that they are the champions of whatever their aims and objectives are. These people have no loyalty to any country or to any religion", he maintained.
The programme was organised at a time when the Indo-Pak peace process was on fire, literally. Sixty-eight people on board the Samjhauta Express were charred to death, both Indians and Pakistani nationals, when two coaches of the train caught fire after explosions set off by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). India and Pakistan both call it an act of terror and both say they will not let this incident derail the peace process.
The question thrown up at the programme: "Will the Samjhauta Express blasts irreparably damage Indo-Pak friendship?" On the panel of experts to try and answer the question were Lt Gen (Retd) Talat Masood, B Raman, former Director, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), social activist, Teesta Setalvad, and former Foreign Secretary Shashank.
The former High Commissioner to Pakistan, G Parthasarthy, had said that Pakistan plays with fire and gets its fingers burnt. So is that what has happened this time too? To this Lt Gen Talat Masood said: "That may have been a situation of the past, but nothing like this will happen now because the government of Pakistan is now fully determined to fight terrorism as are the people of the country. There is no place for these terrorist organisations in the country and no one wants a situation like this to arise. Pakistan is very sincere about trying to fight terrorism. There are certain situations that are beyond the country's control like the borders in Pakistan are very disturbed. There are certain terrorist organisations in both the countries that are not coming under the control of the governments".
Is there a common enemy? B Raman said that there were common enemies of the civil society of India and Pakistan. He blamed the military mindset of Pakistan which had crushed democracy in the country. "The common enemy is the ISI in Pakistan and all those who are breeding terrorists and using them against India", he said.
Is the ISI behind the Samjhauta Express blasts? Answer from Raman ran thus: "Every action which takes place on Indian terroritory behind which there is a jehadi organisation, there is an ISI hand. Jehadi terrorists organisations are being fed and fattened by the ISI and we Indians are not the only ones who are saying it. Hamid Karzai says it, the US is saying it, Negroponte also said it".
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