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Mumbai attack - Pak admission: Cat and Mouse game |
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As Pakistan was giving final touches to its investigation report on Mumbai terror attacks, India feared that Islamabad would deny its involvement altogether. However, last week’s admission by the chief of the Pakistan Interior Ministry, Remhan Malik, took New Delhi by surprise – owning up, even if partly, the responsibility for the carnage. It is for the first time ever that a Pakistani leader publicly acknowledged that specific individuals and organizations based on its territory were actively involved in staging a terrorist attack on India. Pakistan’s longstanding State policy has been one of denial of responsibility for any terrorist attack in India. The remarkable Pakistani admission for marks the reversal of this State policy. By acknowledging the role of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and rolling out a list of names of persons who were identified by Mr. Malik to be involved in the Mumbai attack, Pakistan, by implication, has committed itself to proceeding against them. Any lacklustre action such as the one after the UN Security Council declared some individuals and outfits in Pakistan as terrorist entities, would betray the faith both in its investigation and its commitment.
Though the New Delhi has welcomes this positive response by Islamabad, it is unlikely that India will take Pakistan off the hook. India will have to wait whether Pakistan’s post-acknowledgement response is both effective and serious. Malik not only admitted to the terrorists using Pakistani soil to plan and launch the Mumbai attacks, but also unveiled more information about those behind the carnage and their modus operandi. So far, Islamabad was evasive in its response, and through media leaks sought to create the impression that in its view, the plan was hatched not in Pakistan but in some third country such as Dubai, Bangladesh and even the UK. The Pakistan High Commissioner was used to tell New Delhi that the plan was hatched in some other country. To delay the matter further so that the steam in the Indian campaign against Pakistan runs off and pressure on it from the international community dies down, Islamabad continued to press for more information although a copy of a comprehensive dossier based on Ajmal Kasab’s interrogation and other evidence culled from the leftovers by the eight terrorists shot dead, led all roads of conspiracy to Pakistan.
The open admission by Rahman Malik shows that India’s coercive diplomacy backed by US pressure has succeeded in forcing Pakistan to admit the guilt. Islamabad found no takers of its argument that even if those who planned the attack were based in Pakistan, they were the non-State actors on which the Government had no control.
India now needs to tone down its rhetoric against Pakistan and give it a chance to follow up on its admission. It needs to refrain from picking holes in Pakistan’s investigation report. It also needs to appreciate the pressure on the civilian Zardari-Gilani Government from other players in the establishment which are more powerful and, in some cases, even have a veto power. A constructive approach is needed to be adopted.
Pakistan has made some queries and made an offer of a joint investigation. So far, New Delhi has dismissed both these demands. Pakistan has also demanded Kasab that be interrogated by its sleuths. In this new situation, when pieces are falling back to square one anhy hostile attitude by India can take a toll of the sympathy New Delhi has generated by Pakistan’s initial refusal to cooperate. Instead, Pakistan will be seen as more sincere than New Delhi in attempts to unravel the truth.
The Pakistani admission is, of course, partly due to the pressure being built up by the Obama Administration in the US. The appointment of Richard Holbrooke as an envoy on Pakistan-Afghanistan, the message he conveyed during his first visit to Islamabad that it must deliver on its commitment to curb terrorism, the linkage of aid by the new US Administration to the satisfactory performance of Pakistan in fighting terrorists on its soil, the unilateral Drone attacks despite Islamabad’s protests and an open declaration by President Obama that the US forces would not hesitate to launch missile attacks inside Pakistan if there was actionable intelligence, leaves Pakistan with no alternative other than to cooperate with America on both the eastern and western fronts. India needs to take advantage of this Pakistani predicament and use wisely the carrot and the stick it holds in its two hands.
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