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| Pak Army scuttled British plan of sending ISI Chief to India for scaling down tension | | Behind the veil | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Dec 2: Would the tension between Islamabad and New Delhi, following the terror strike in Mumbai in 2008, have eased to some extent had the ISI Chief, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, visited India? This question has assumed new interest among the Indo-Pak scene watchers after the WikiLeads disclosure has revealed that the Pakistani Army authorities prevailed upon President Asif Ali Zardari not to send Pasha to India.
The whistle blower website, WikiLeads, has claimed that the then British Foreign secretary, David Millband, had called Zardari and suggested to him to send Pasha to New Delhi as he could "calm down" tensions with India following Mumbai terror attack. Zardari had agreed and had welcomed the suggestion because he too was for scaling down the level of tension in the subcontinent.
As soon as the top Army functionaries got the wind of the British plan they persuaded Zardari against sending Pasha to New Delhi. And when Millband and the then US envoy to Pakistan reminded Zardari about the need of sending Pasha to India he did not convey to them the opposition to the plan from the Pakistani Army top brass. Instead Zardari told the British Foreign secretary that no doubt the new ISI leaders were "straightforward" and their roles were proscribed by the constitution it would take time for real conversion. This indicated that Zardari did not want to risk sending Pasha to India and suggested to Millband that the National Security adviser, Durrani, could go to India as he occupied a higher post than Pasha.
It also indicates that despite an elected Government in Pakistan where every issue is supposed to be handled within the ambit of the constitution the Army continues to enjoy unbridled powers. Even the President of the country has no alternative but to play the second fiddle to the Army. Zardari wanted the tension to get defused and agreed with Millband that Pasha could do the job nicely as he alone could convince New Delhi that the ISI had no role behind the Mumbai terror attack. But as a helpless spectator before the Army Zardari could not but implement the Army's direction and avoided sending Pasha to India. What is intriguing is that the WikiLeads disclosure had not dilated on the reasons that prompted the Pakistani Army authorities to prevail upon Zardari against sending Pasha to New Delhi.
Reports indicate that possibly the Pakistani Army did not want the ISI chief to get influenced by the Indian leaders, the Army top brass and intelligence agencies. The Pakistani Army seem to be opposed to a peace treaty with India and if India and Pakistan agreed on a border ceasefire in 2003 it was possible only because Gen. Pervez Musharraf was in power not only as President but as the Army Chief also. In addition to this the top Pakistani Army authorities did not want the ISI chief to emerge as a peace broker the role that should have been entrusted to either the Army chief or to some Army commander.
Security experts are of the opinion that had Pasha been allowed to visit India he could have exchanged notes with his counterparts on the Mumbai terror attack which have brightened the possibility of scaling down the level of tension. Once the level of misgivings and misunderstandings between the two sides were diluted New Delhi could have been motivate for reopening the channels of composite dialogue. It could not materialise because the Pakistani Army authorities wanted to convey to Zardari that the Army in Pakistan was a step higher than the ISI and the political establishment. |
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