New Delhi, July 22
The Indian security establishment is in a tailspin over the not-so-covert message conveyed by the just-concluded visit of Pakistan’s hardliner clergy-politician Maulana Fazal ur-Rahman after terrorist strikes at the Vaishno Devi shrine yesterday and the Akhnoor Army camp today.

The perception in the top security echelons here is that Maulana Rahman came here with the message: “Deal with us, not with General Musharraf; because only we can deliver.”

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan leader came here with an agenda of his own, which was the corporate decision of the Muttahida Majlis Amal - the six-party conglomeration which is running the government in Pakistan’s NWFP and is sharing power in Baluchistan. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan is the MMA’s key constituent.

Well-placed security sources here said the Katra and Akhnoor killings, which took place at a time when Maulana Rahman was still in India, conveyed two messages, primarily. One, that Pakistani terrorist outfits would continue to kill Hindus, the fidayeen attacks would continue against the security forces and the “jehad” would continue.

“It was basically an iron hand in velvet gloves,” a senior official commented.

The second, and a more important message, is that cross-border terrorism against India would continue as long as the fundamentalist clergy in Pakistan decrees, no matter what Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf or the USA say on the subject.

With the Katra and Akhnoor killings, Pakistan’s terror network, patronised by the clergy, has demonstrated its strike potential. In the Akhnoor attack, the Northern Army Commander, Lt-Gen Hari Prasad, has also been injured.

The two attacks, particularly the Katra one, are being viewed here as symbols and acts of “controlled aggression”. The message is that if terrorists could strike at Banganga at the base of the Vaishno Devi shrine, they could have gone 10 to 12 km up also and targeted the shrine itself.

With these attacks, Maulana Rahman has increased his bargaining power manifold and conveyed that he can negotiate from a position of strength. Maulana Rahman is believed to be the patron of three major Kashmiri militant outfits, including the Harkat-ul Ansar, and the Harkat-ul Jehad-e-Islami (HUJI).

The Katra and Akhnoor killings also indicate to the USA and the West that Pakistan’s militant-clergy power is not confined to Pakistan, but ranges across South Asia. “I would not be surprised if Maulana Rahman visits Bangladesh in the coming weeks,” said a senior security official.

The security establishment here is baffled at the following questions:

* What was the real purpose behind Maulana Rahman’s India visit which materialised at the invitation of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind?

* Why did the Sangh Parivar leaders like RSS chief K. Sudarshan and VHP leaders Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Mr Vishnu Hari Dalmia meet Maulana Rahman?

* Was Maulana Rahman’s visit an overt message that it was a clergy-to-clergy contact between India and Pakistan? Did it convey the message: “We, the clergy, are decision-makers in Pakistan and we regard your clergy as decision-makers in India”? Was it a clergy-to-clergy offer?