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| Jihadis stall Indo-Pak peace process | | Will Pak put Islamist militants out of business? | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI: Terrorists have disrupted the peace process in South Asia. Unlike Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, widespread violence has not yet erupted between India and Pakistan. But given the two countries' history, their war of words should not be allowed to escalate unattended.
A recurrent theme that often annoys many Pakistanis, is the need for Islamabad to put Islamist militants, the jihadis, truly out of business. As New Delhi postponed the next round of India-Pakistan talks in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Pakistan gave no indication that it was willing to move in the direction of shutting down jihadi groups based in the country.
Pakistan's official response to India's allegations about the complicity of Pakistan-based groups in the Mumbai attacks has been technical, not politically substantive. The Pak Foreign Office spokeswoman argued that India had not conveyed "anything in writing or talked of any evidence". That is hardly the point of contention at this moment.
India has not yet found conclusive evidence of Laskhar-e-Taiba's involvement in the Mumbai attacks. And it may be true that the attacks might have been the handiwork of a homegrown Indian terrorist group. But extremist rhetoric cannot be disavowed by rhetoric about need for proof of a specific group's responsibility for specific attacks against India.
Just as Lebanon is paying the price of tolerating and co-opting Hezbollah without securing a commitment of renunciation of violence from the group, Pakistan risks responsibility for the actions of non-state actors it gives free rein. Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, secured international legitimacy in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States by becoming an American ally in the global war against terrorism.
The Musharraf regime has, over the years, taken some steps against Al Qaida operatives seeking refuge in Pakistan. The Pakistan Army has paid a heavy price in fatalities at the hands of terrorist sympathisers in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.
But Pakistan is far from rooting out terrorism from its soil. There is a clear reluctance about moving against anti-India groups. That these groups share an ideology and worldview with Al Qaida does not seem to alter the Musharraf regime's perception of these groups.
With such policies, why should anyone be surprised if Pakistan gets blamed for tolerating or supporting terrorists? Osama bin Laden's reported decision to add Hindus to his traditional harangues against Zionists and Crusaders indicates that the Al Qaida chief understands the value of aligning his views with those of Pakistani jihadi groups.
The recently released video of Shahzad Tanveer, one of the suicide bombers involved in last year's attacks in London, spoke of his training at an Al Qaida training facility in Pakistan. Such connections between Pakistani groups and global terrorists should worry Gen. Musharraf, who was himself a target of terrorists not long ago.
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