Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service New Delhi, December 9
India is closely monitoring the ongoing raids by the Pakistani authorities on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and expects Islamabad to go beyond “tokenism” by cooperating fully and transparently with New Delhi in bringing to book the perpetrators of the audacious attack on Mumbai.
Top officials in the South Block were in a ‘wait and watch’ mode today, busy collecting every bit of input and information coming in from Pakistan on the crackdown by Pakistan’s security and intelligence agencies on the terrorist outfits.
“It’s too early to react. The nature of the action is still not clear though we have witnessed this kind of action by the Pakistani authorities in the past also,” sources said, hoping Islamabad would this time move beyond “tokenism” and take concrete and meaningful action against the suspects behind the Mumbai incidents.
Asked to spell out specific actions India had sought from Pakistan, the sources said as the first step, Islamabad should hand over fugitives wanted by India for major terror strikes in this country.
They were not impressed by the detention of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi by Pakistan, saying it was nothing as compared to what had been demanded by New Delhi.
Defence and foreign affairs experts, meanwhile, were of the view that India must tread cautiously while maintaining relentless pressure on the civilian government to act forcefully against the terrorist groups, operating from its soil. They observed that Islamabad should not be allowed to get away merely by taking ‘cosmetic measures’ under the US and Indian pressure.
US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, had already confirmed that Washington believed the attack on Mumbai was planned on Pakistani soil, and LeT had been named by the US and Indian officials as the prime suspect.
India also made clear that it believed elements of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), were involved in the Mumbai attack.
So, from India’s perspective, Pakistan’s 2002 crackdown on LeT has not stopped terror attacks from Pakistani soil.
And, India will likely remain skeptical about Pakistan’s bona fides over anti-Indian militants operating on its turf until it is satisfied that such groups have been properly accounted for, dismantled and destroyed.
According to strategist expert C. Uday Bhaskar, the civilian government in Pakistan was trying to respond to the concerns of India in the last 36 hours but “it is like two steps forward, one step backward.’’
He was of the view that a deep power struggle was on between the civilian regime in Islamabad and the army and India would have to see in the coming days whether Islamabad would maintain the pressure on the terrorist groups. “We have often seen in the past that they have backtracked on their commitments…we have to see whether there is certain degree of transparency in the trial of those arrested,’’ Bhaskar added, while pointing out that the Pakistanis have still not handed over Osama Bin Laden to the US and also not conducted a trial in the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.
The Pakistan High Commission here has, meanwhile, denied that Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik has been recalled to Islamabad for carrying an urgent message to New Delhi, saying media reports in this regard were untrue.
Asked to comment on the Islamabad’s reply to the Indian demarche, high commission sources said though they were not in a position to share everything in detail, Pakistan had expressed readiness to be part of a joint probe into the Mumbai attack. Pakistan has also conveyed to India that it was ready to conduct a trial under the Pakistani laws of those wanted by India in connection with terror strikes since they happen to be Pakistani citizens, provided New Delhi could provide evidence against them.
