Author: Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
- Internet Edition
Date: October 5, 2001
URL: http://www.timesofindia.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=405772599
WASHINGTON: Despite continuing revelations
about Islamabad's complicity in terrorist activity, the United States continues
to shield Pakistan from terrorism charges in the hope it will turn a new
leaf, with the western media readily toeing the official line.
The latest disclosures came at a
Congressional hearing on Wednesday at which US intelligence analysts not
only spoke about Pakistan's official role in fomenting and bankrolling
terrorism but also addressed the connections between the Taliban and terrorism
in Kashmir.
"Pakistan has also used its position
and support to the Taliban to establish within Afghanistan a series of
training camps for Kashmiri terrorists. ISI personnel are present, in mufti,
to conduct the training," Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA chief of counter-terrorism
operations, said in a testimony before the House International Relations
Committee.
"This arrangement allowed Pakistan
"plausible denial" that it is promoting insurgency in Kashmir," he added.
Charles Santos, a fellow intelligence
analyst, told the Committee that Pakistan's support to the Taliban enabled
it "to relocate its training camps for Kashmiri separatists to Afghanistan,
benefiting from extremist networks in Afghanistan and providing Pakistan
with plausible deniability."
"Pakistani extremist groups have
functioned as umbrella organisations for other international terror groups
that sought shelter in Afghanistan," he added.
However, the disclosures, as also
the latest massacre in Kashmir, was just a blip in the US media's saturation
coverage of its government's war on terrorism.
Despite revelations that expose
Pakistan's lie that it is not engaged in terrorism, the Bush administration
has been coy about acting against Islamabad, preferring to buy out its
ally with promises of financial reward, without publicly seeking any commitment
of ending its role.
Not even the latest exposé
that Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf aborted a CIA plan of training
Pakistani commandos to nab Bin Laden has moved the administration from
its professed line.
The let's-coddle-Pakistan-out-of-terrorism
school has now been joined by some law-makers, including the influential
Senator Joseph Biden, who is now proposing a "Marshall Plan" kind of endeavour
to combat the terrorism menace in several countries in the region including
Pakistan. The term refers to a post World War II strategy under which the
United States infused large amounts of capital to rebuild war-torn Europe.
Indian officials and analysts are
aghast that such a plan could be considered without first getting Pakistan
to forsake its militarisitic thinking and forcing it to abjure terrorism.
"The last time they pumped in money during the Zia years, they saw the
results," one official who did not want to be named, said.
In its "International Campaign against
Terrorism," the administration has not even warned Pakistan once from desisting
from terrorism despite its own records showing unabated activity. The State
Department's Patterns of Terrorism report for the Year 2000 noted that
"Pakistan's military government, headed by General Pervez Musharraf, continued
previous Pakistani Government support of the Kashmir insurgency, and Kashmiri
militant groups continued to operate in Pakistan, raising funds and recruiting
new cadre."
"Several of these groups were responsible
for attacks against civilians in Indian-held Kashmir," it added.
The US media has been mostly credulous
with little critical examination or evaluation of Pakistan's role in breeding
terrorism. While there is incessant coverage of terrorism now in the United
States, coverage of terrorist incidents in India is still spotty. The latest
terrorist attack on the Jammu and Kashmir legislature got only marginal
coverage in the mainline American media, which has been trumpeting Pakistan's
readiness to join the battle against terrorism.
Some commentators are now beginning
to question US policy of coddling Pakistan and the belief that Musharraf
can be reliable ally. In a scathing op-ed comment headlined "An Ally's
terrorism" Washington Post's, Jim Hoagland wrote: "There has yet to be
a serious tangible act by Pakistan to break its alliance with terror and
earn the kind of trust the administration has ostensibly extended."
"Survival for him (Musharraf) means
seeming to go along with US goals while making sure they do not actually
get carried out. As a bonus, stroking Musharraf so openly makes the stronger
relationship Washington should be creating with India more difficult,"
Hoagland warned.
US officials maintain that they
are cognisant of Pakistan's activities and point out that the terrorism
report does express to increasing US concern "about reports of Pakistani
support to terrorist groups and elements active in Kashmir." The administration
will act on Pak-based terrorist groups too, they have promised.
However, senior officials also concede
that they have to treat Pakistan with kid gloves given the explosive combination
of religious volatility and nuclear weapons. Both Secretary of State Colin
Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage told the media on Wednesday that
the US has had to take Pakistan's delicate situation into consideration
while formulating policy.
