New Delhi, June 12
India will provide to Pakistan “irrefutable evidence” about the increasing activities of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and various Pakistan-based ultra groups in Jammu and Kashmir to sabotage the coming assembly elections in the state when the joint anti-terror mechanism between the two countries meets here on June 24.
Pakistan high commissioner to India Shahid Malik has confirmed that the panel would meet on June 24. This would be the third meeting of the mechanism that was formed in September 2006 after a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana on the sidelines of the NAM Summit.
Sources said the Indian side would furnish evidence about cross-border linkages to various terror incidents, including Ajmer and Hyderabad, which occurred in India. The attention of the Pakistani side would also be drawn towards reports with Indian intelligence agencies that the ISI proposed to double the financial aid to terrorist groups in Jammu and Kashmir in the run up to the assembly elections.
The reports with the Indian agencies have also suggested that the ISI had assured the Pakistani political establishment that it would ensure that pro-Pakistani elements and parties stayed away from the democratic exercise.
India is keen to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the state. The appointment of seasoned bureaucrat N.N. Vohra as the new Governor of Jammu and Kashmir is being seen as a significant effort in the direction of persuading all sections of the people in the state to participate in the electoral exercise. Recent attempts by ‘jehadi’ elements to cross the Line of Control (LoC) have also been a matter of concern for the Indian security forces.
The anti-terror mechanism would meet at a time when the new government in Pakistan has at every level expressed its keenness to cooperate with India in fighting terrorism and improving bilateral relations.
