Evidence? It's with Pakistan

by G Parthasarathy

(December 11, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) As temperatures drop below zero in Washington, DC, there are two domestic subjects that dominate the discourse in America's national capital -- the economic meltdown and the transition to the Obama Administration.

Externally, however, the predominant focus of attention remains on the terrorist carnage in Mumbai, whose horrors reached every American home courtesy non-stop television coverage. A 'lame duck' Bush Administration is infuriated by the behaviour of its 'major non-Nato ally' Pakistan and Islamabad's attempts to obfuscate, confuse and divert attention away from its culpability in what is described as India's 9/11.

This outrage is tempered by the realisation that 70 per cent of supplies for Nato troops in Afghanistan come through Pakistan, where in the last few days the Taliban have struck even in Peshawar, destroying over 200 trucks carrying supplies, including American troop carriers. Thus, while Indian fury at Pakistani culpability is understood and acknowledged, the Americans never tire of counselling 'restraint'.

The Indian effort in Washington to spell out the implications of the international community failing to close down the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan has been sophisticated and measured. But a few facts need constant repetition so that the international community is not entirely led away by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's pleas for understanding actions by "non-state actors" based in Pakistan -- a euphemism for groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed. The most important of these considerations is that despite protestations to the contrary and demands for evidence, the Pakistan Government already has enough evidence about the terrorist attacks carried out by these groups in India.

The proposal for a 'Joint Investigative Mechanism' by Pakistan is laughable, as it will stall or deny culpability, as it has done on the presence of Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi, whose mansion I have, incidentally, personally driven past in 1999. India will have to bring out a White Paper detailing the evidence the world has from writings in the Pakistani media and by prominent Pakistanis like Ahmed Rashid, Amir Mir and Shuja Nawaz, which give details of the ISI nexus with terrorist groups.

On December 13, 2001, well-armed terrorists stormed India's Parliament House and were gunned down by alert security personnel. Investigations revealed that the terrorists had come from Pakistan and worked together with local contacts. India provided details of evidence it had, including wireless intercepts, describing how the group, comprising members of the Jaish-e-Mohammed led by Maulana Masood Azhar, had been in touch with handlers across the border, to the international community. Pakistan, however, accused us of indulging in a 'blame game' and feigned injured innocence. But, on March 6, 2004, Lt Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi, a former Director-General of the ISI and then Minister for Railways, told Pakistan's Parliament: "We must not be afraid to admit that the Jaish-e-Mohammed was involved in the deaths of thousands of innocent Kashmiris, the bombing of the Indian Parliament, (American journalist) Daniel Pearl's murder and an attempt to assassinate President Musharraf".

Pakistani protestations of injured innocence are not new -- Interpol investigations established that the ISI gave hijackers of an Indian Airlines flight a pistol at Lahore airport in 1984. The world must be made aware of these facts when Pakistan demands 'evidence' to prosecute Maulana Masood Azhar, when Gen Qazi's assertion confirms that Pakistan itself has evidence on the role of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in the attack on the Indian Parliament.

On January 13, 2001, LeT terrorists attacked the Red Fort in New Delhi. Shortly thereafter, LeT chief Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed boasted to a gathering of leaders of religious parties in Pakistan that he had unfurled Pakistan's flag in the capital of the country's past Muslim rulers! Sayeed's territorial ambitions include constant claims to Jammu & Kashmir, Junagadh and Hyderabad. Moreover, Sayeed's credentials as a terrorist can be easily gleaned from his writings in the Lashkar mouthpiece the Dawa. The parent organisation of the LeT, known as Jamat-ud-Dawah, is very well-funded, runs Islamic educational institutions and has cadre in Arab Gulf countries. It receives donations from within Pakistan and also from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed has been close to the family of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He is a self-confessed terrorist. India does not have to provide 'evidence' to Pakistan for Sayeed to be prosecuted.

Probably, the best description of the Lashkar's activities has been written by Pakistan's present Ambassador in Washington, Mr Hussain Haqqani, who acknowledges that the LeT is "backed by Saudi money and protected by Pakistan's Intelligence Services". He confirms that the Lashkar proclaim "Muslims ruled Anadalusia (Spain) for 800 years but they were finished to the last man. Christians now rule Spain and we must wrest it back from them. All of India including Kashmir, Hyderabad, Assam, Nepal, Burma, Bihar and Junagadh, were part of the Muslim empire that was lost because Muslims gave up jihad".

On Israel, Sayeed asserts, "Palestine is occupied by the Jews. The holy Qibla-e-Awwal in Jerusalem is under Jewish control." He further proclaims, "Jews, Christians and Hindus are enemies of Islam." It is this blind religious bigotry and hatred for Israel, India, the United States and the United Kingdom that led to Indians, Israelis, Americans and British nationals being singled out for massacre by the Lashkar terrorists in Mumbai.

Over the past four years the Manmohan Singh Government has let the country down by failing to highlight the danger posed by Pakistanis jihadi groups both internationally and domestically. This policy has to be drastically changed. There has to be a clear focus of attention on establishing not only the motivations and ideologies of groups like the LeT, but also their affiliations with Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front.

One decision for which the Government has, however, to be commended was its quick realisation that there was no point in negotiating with the terrorists and that the only way out was through commando action. But, the time has now come to make it clear that if the international community does not succeed in closing down the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan, including the LeT, JeM and the Muzaffarabad-based United jihad Council, India will be constrained to act on its own to ensure that the Mumbai outrage is never repeated. - Sri Lanka Guardian