New Delhi, December 20
Convinced that the terrorist infrastructure as well as logistical support to anti-India elements by ‘para-state apparatus’ remain unchallenged in Pakistan, the government is mounting a major diplomatic offensive to expose Islamabad over its duplicity in dealing with terrorism.
As part of the initiative, the government has convened a two-day meeting of about 150 Indian heads of missions here on Monday.
According to official sources, the meeting is expected to be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The government is likely to give a detailed power presentation to the Indian envoys on the complicity of elements in Pakistan in the Mumbai terror attack and how Islamabad was trying to hoodwink the world community by taking cosmetic measures against the terrorists operating on its soil.
The Indian ambassadors will be told by the country’s leadership to convince their host countries that Pakistan would continue to harbour terrorists, posing a danger not only to India but to the world at large. Applying intense pressure on Islamabad was the need of the hour if the world was to get rid of terrorism as Pakistan had become the epicentre of the menace. The diplomats will also interact with top officials of the external affairs ministry as well as security and intelligence agencies.
The Prime Minister is understood to have today discussed with his senior ministerial colleagues the situation arising from Pakistan’s defiant attitude in the face of mounting evidence about the involvement of elements in the neighbouring country in the Mumbai attack.
It is becoming quite clear to New Delhi that Pakistan is in a denial mode and would refuse to see reason in New Delhi’s demand that it stop the misuse of its territory for terrorist activities, given the fact that there were multiple centres of power in the neighbouring country,with each pulling in a different direction.
In fact at a conference here today, Mukherjee hinted at the Pakistani establishment's backing to terrorists who struck in Mumbai and said such strikes could be carried out with impunity only when the safety of the handlers of attackers had been assured.
Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist who was caught alive during the terror attack in Mumbai, had given to investigators a chilling account of his handlers. “The impunity with which these attacks are carried out is possible only because of the safety the handlers have been assured,’’ he said.
Mukherjee had also done some tought talking yesterday in his address to a convention on South Asia. He said “the Mumbai attack is the latest instance of how sub-regionalism, regionalism and multilateralism are directly threatened by non-state actors with the aid of para-state apparatus. In the face of the gravest of provocations perhaps, the time has come now to fine-tune India’s priorities.’’
A tough-talking Mukherjee said the repeated appeals by India to Pakistan over the years to ensure that it did not provide any support to terrorist activities and dismantled the terrorist infrastructure had been ignored, despite Islamabad’s assurances. “If a country cannot keep the assurances that it has given, then it obliges us to consider the entire range of options that exist, to protect our interests and our people from this menace.’’
Noting that the internal security situation in Pakistan was deteriorating, he said power had fragmented landing in many hands, leading to the emergence of multiple centres of power. This had been reflected in attempts at cross-border infiltration as also in the increase in ceasefire violations, climaxed by the Mumbai terror attack. “It is also true that the issue of terrorism within Pakistan is deeply embroiled in the internal politics of that country.’’
