India helping Musharraf fight terrorist networks

* Meeting decides India needs ‘strong’ Pakistan
* Intelligence ‘assets’ ordered not to take advantage of instability in Pakistan

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: India has quietly geared up the intelligence operatives it has in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran to help President Pervez Musharraf fight terrorists.

According to a top intelligence source, this ‘practical’ step has been taken to aid the president in restoring peace and stability to Pakistan. The source said the decision to activate Indian ‘assets’ in support of the Pakistan regime was taken in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) held a day after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Rawalpindi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired the meeting.

The meeting concluded that a “strong and stable Pakistan” was need of the hour for peace within India, and decided that President Musharraf was battling the same terrorist groups that have spread sleeper cells throughout Jammu and Kashmir and inside the Indian hinterland. It said the same groups are also behind the instability in Afghanistan.

Don’t take advantage: Subsequently, Indian ‘assets’ in and around Pakistan were ordered to lie low and not make things difficult for the Musharraf regime. They were directed not to take advantage of Pakistan’s current phase of instability and try to help wherever possible without jeopardising themselves.

The source said it was a good omen for the region that the nuclear rivals perceived terrorist groups, particularly the Taliban and other extremists, as common enemies, and were seeking their elimination as fast as possible. He said India has doubled its forces along its border with Pakistan to not only bar any spillover from Pakistan, but also to push back any terrorists that may try to escape the crackdown ordered by Musharraf after Benazir’s death.

However, the source said that even though India was working for peace and stability in Pakistan, there might still be some elements within the Pakistan Army and the establishment who wanted to aid the terrorist cause.

Meanwhile, security analysts here agree with the Indian government’s strategy to be friendly towards Musharraf while looking for a probable democratic settlement in Pakistan. They, however, advocate extreme vigilance and close watch over developments to quickly discern adverse implications on India. They say security expert Bharat Karnad was apt in dubbing Pakistan a “cushion for India against Islamic extremists”. They also want Pakistan to recognise that the menace of fundamentalism is a homegrown affair.

Dr Smruti Pattnaik, incharge of the Pakistan Desk at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), says Benazir’s death was a wake-up call. “It is time the Pakistani state reorients its policy to fight its own war on terror inside its territory,” she said.