EDITORIAL
Metering
power
One does not know
why, but every time the Government talks of
reforming the electric supplies, curbing losses
and making supplies regular and efficient one has
the impression that somebody is telling white
lies at the top of this voice. And when there is
talks of so many crores having been provided by
this central agency or that to facilitate this
effort one grows certain that it is all to
generate means to spend the allocation. If that
sounds uncharitable the PDD and the wider
governmental agency has itself to blame. For
years this State has been living with pilferage
of half the amount of electricity it gets and
little has been done to curtail it. It is alleged
that most of the thefts are taking place with the
connivance of the authorities. Authorities to the
highest levels and said to be fully aware of it
all. Some would go to the extent of saying that
all are sharing in the takings. In any case it is
clear that the Government has taken few measures
to ensure that there is no theft of electricity.
And practically it
the honest tariff payer who is cheated while the
sly operators both among the authorities and the
consumers have a nice time stealing, selling and
underpaying for the power consumed. There is an
impression that the department actually
encourages its employees to get entrenched at
their posting instead of keeping them on
tenterhooks. This is a natural breeding ground
for vested interests, influences and all
undesirable activities inimical to any efficient
management of power. The result has been that all
the previous efforts like installing meters,
introducing checking etc. come to naught. Under
the circumstances it appears that the new scheme
of digital metering, that was announced by the
State Chief Secretary recently is to be
introduced in 50 select sections in all the 28
divisions of the State to evaluate its effect,
would suffer the same fate. Besides this auditing
the scheme also envisages digital monitoring at
all receiving stations. All that would cost a
hefty 150 to 200 crores. Given the fact that the
total electricity revenues are just a little more
than that, the expense would seem obscene as just
an evaluatory exercise.
However, it would
be a welcome thing it is a serious step towards
better regulation of the electric supplies. The
frequent cuts and the general unrealiability of
the supplies on the top of it have forced the
consumers to the wall. They would be amenable
even to a total privatization of the supplies if
only it would ensure regular and assured
supplies. One can say with a modicum of certainty
that the public would welcome realistic revisions
in tarrifs or drastic changes in the whole
management of the electric supply if adequate and
regular supply of electricity were ensured.
Similarly the introduction of test auditing of
the electricity would succeed only if the areas
that are so covered receive a fuller and adequate
supply as an incentive. The public may not mind
paying a little more, or getting their supplies
audited if there is some advantage in it like an
assured supply at optimal voltage. Without that
the reforms would be mere tinkering with the
problem. Or, excuses to expend the allocations.
Like the habitual lair telling some more of the
lies!!
Girl
power
Thankfully one has
nothing but commendations to list in this talk of
power of another kind! The recent graduation
results of the University have confirmed what the
earlier ones of the matriculation and plus-two
examinations indicated-that the eve is on a long
and heady march in this State taking the lead
over the usual 'leaders' the boys. It is not a
mean feat that two of the first three science
positions, and eight of the first ten positions
in the B.Sc/B.A. examinations have gone to the
girl candidates. In fact, the topper Prithvi
Chand looks almost an odd man in the all-woman
list of the toppers. This is a hugely commendable
turn of events, given that boys still outnumber
the girls in enrollments by a long measure. The
female literacy is a good 15 percentage points
below that of the males and the taboos though
fading are still present in their vestiges. Nor
can it be said that the discriminations have all
been needed thought there is a clear change in
the thinking. The results, which the toppers
credit primarily to the encouragement of their
parents and families, indicate that the attidues
are changing.
Another thing that
is worthy of note is the better performance of
the out-of-city college. All the three science
positions have been clinched by the Government
Degree College, Kathua while the newly
established college at Rajouri has made a huge
gain in securing two positions. This should be
enough to break the myth that living and studying
in a city is necessary for a better performance
and proves that student of mettle would shine
even when they do not have the advantages that a
city offers. The topper Prithvi Chand is from a
Below The Poverty Line family. His father is a
laborer, who did not have enough money to pay for
his son's college fees. It looks something like a
film-sequence of the nineteen-sixties where
Rajinder Kumars studied under street-lamps and
secured top positions. But then life has always
been way behind the art and films and what we see
on-screen today may be true of a time twenty
years hence.One can still be thankful that those
dream themes are coming true for two weaker
sections of the society, the poor and the women.
That is the real empowerment not the doles and
evolvements, which usually breed inefficiency and
sloth.
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Men,
Matters and Memories
Tight rope getting
tighter for Musharraf
By M L Kotru
The tight
rope is getting tighter for Pervez
Musharraf, the Paki-stani military
dictator, to walk on. Even as he is
desperately trying to hang on to his
fraudulently acquired democratic
credentials, the military leader is faced
with a major threat from Al-Qaeda, the
Taliban and the religious right.
Musharraf and his drum-beaters may in the
past have wanted the world to believe
that the Al-Qaeda and Taliban were hiding
in Afghanistan, denying in the process
that their massive movement across the
border into Pakistan. But the truth as it
confronts the General now is sharply at
variance with what he has been claiming.
The
message from the Taliban came
uncomfortably closer from home when the
Al-Qaeda men, harboured in Waziristan
region of NWFP, killed ten Pakistan
soldiers. Given the General's propensity
to cover up such killings - he did it so
glaringly during his Kargil misadventure
when deaths of scores of Pakistani
soldiers went unreported - it is
surprising that this time over he chose
to make a song and dance over the deaths
in Waziristan. The message was very
clear. The General, who normally claims
that he can beat back on Indian challenge
even in conventional warfare suddenly
seems to have discovered that he is ill
equipped to fight the Al Qaeda and
Taliban sheltered in Pakistan. He saw in
the killings an opportunity to get the
Americans to cough up more help.
Surprising that Musharraf didn't know how
well or poorly the Al-Qaeda-Taliban axis
is equipped. He seemed to have suffered a
memory loss. For days, even after
September 11, his Army commanders and ISI
operatives were actively collaborating
with the terrorist axis and were indeed
incharge of training and operations. But
this did not prevent Interior Minister
Lt. Gen. Moinuddin Haider from saying
that "Al-Qaeda-Taliban are hiding in
houses of Pakistanis who reside in tribal
areas.... The fugitives are hiding in the
houses of those Pakistanis who had joined
the Taliban against the Northern Alliance
(In Afghanistan)." Haider was
quickly joined in the chorus by
Musharraf's Press Secretary Maj Gen.
Qureshi in asking for "modern
equipment and funds from the Americans to
fight the emergencies Al-Qaeda and
Taliban in Pakistan. The obliging's
Americans, have promptly, promised five
frontline helicopters, three
reconnaissance aircraft and the latest
spying system and another ten million
dollars in cash to help the General in
his manoeuvres in Waziristan.
Meanwhile,
Musharraf has also "confessed"
that his efforts to win over the tribal
leaders hosting the Al Qaeda and Taliban
have been succeeded. He claims that he is
negotiating with the tribal chiefs. The
tribal chiefs have argued that given the
large number of Afghans living on the
Pakistani side of the border it is hard
for them to identify the families who
harbour the terrorists. Curiously, the
Pakistani authorities who have always
held that they do not have access to
tribal agency areas quote tribal leaders
saying that it is difficult for them to
tell friends from foes in their region.
Uzbeks Tajiks, Turkmenians and Pakhtoons
looked very much like the Chechen who are
said to have killed the Pakistani
soldiers. In other words the tribal
leaders are pleading their inability to
identify the men Musharraf's soldiers
want.
The
duplicitous role of Musharraf in tackling
the terrorist menace stands exposed when
on the one hand he wants extra American
help to fight Al-Qaeda and Taliban in
North West Frontier Province on the other
he chooses to remain silent on Persistent
reports that Al-Qaeda and Taliban
continue to pour into Kashmir via
Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Richard
Armitage the US Deputy Secretary of State
has once again repeated the charge that
terrorists continue to cross into Indian
Kashmir from PoK but Musharraf looks
quite unmoved. He justified the Pakistani
volte-face in Afghanistan, disowning
Al-Qaeda and Taliban, but repeats the old
one about "the freedom struggle
being waged in the Valley by
Kashmiris". He says that there will
be no U-turn on his Kashmir policy; in
other words, he says Pakistan will
continue to pursue its old policy there.
This is borne out by the ground reality
along the LoC. Infiltration may have
dropped but it is continuing. The
Washington Post as well as London Daily
Telegraph have reported this fact, the
Telegraph in more specific terms with an
eye-witness account by its reporter. It
says that despite Islamabad's crackdown
on extremist groups, they continue to
operate with impunity. On its report from
PoK the Telegraph said that contrary to
official denials it had come upon ample
evidence of continuing extremist activity
in the region and found that the
militants of Osama bin Laden's network
were "prospering amid unflagging
popular support." Among these men in
PoK were members of the Harkatul
Mujahideen and Al Qaeda driven out of
Afghanistan by US forces.
The
Telegraph dispatch said that in the
remote highlands Musharraf's authority
carried little weight. It quotes a Harkat
activist, Shabir Ahmad Madani saying that
the Pakistani Army won't dare come across
the Valley (in PoK) to close us down. He
claimed that his groups had sent
"all our Afghan friends" to
Kashmir. Contrary to the impression that
Islamabad wants to give to Washington and
others in the alliance against terrorism,
the Telegraph report categorically States
that the remote regions on Pakistan
occupied Kashmir are rife with militant
activity, with the "jihadi groups
openly advertising military
lessons". The Musharraf Government
according to the Telegraph appears to
have little control over such
organizations which are answerable only
to "senior mullahs". Villagers
near the spectacular Nanga Parbat
mountain, according to the London paper,
said that the Al-Qaeda fighters preached
in the bazars about the need for
self-sacrifice and struggle.
Interestingly the report notes that the
road leading to the Line of Control near
Kupwara in Kashmir Valley, frequently
used by the infiltrators bound for India,
was being paved by Pakistani military
engineers with the help of local
villagers. The report quotes a jeep
driver. Nasir Ali, who claimed that he
had helped several jehadis across over
into India. "Hundreds have entered
Kashmir in the last several months. In
some cases they left their new,
four-wheel drive vehicles with us and
rode further into Kashmir with our
trucks." Nasir Ali told the
Telegraph reporter.
Washington
may have agreed with New Delhi that a
dialogue with Pakistan is only possible
after India is convinced that terrorist
infiltration across the LoC has stopped
by the ground reality continues to
suggest that the proposed
"permanent" stoppage of
cross-border terrorist infiltration is
far from being implemented by the
Pakistani military ruler. Musharraf has
indeed assured . Washington that he will
dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in
PoK but is obviously unable to deliver on
the promises in the face of the defiant
stance of the mullahs and some of his own
colleagues in Military high command. The
patent inability of the General to halt
infiltration along the LoC belies hopes
nursed by some that the General, fearing
international isolation, may be mulling a
U-turn on his Kashmir policy making a
workable solution to the vexed problem
possible. But it is pointed out that the
intense opposition from the Jihadis and
those who support them in the military
will deter Musharraf from taking any
positive step in that direction. That may
be one of the reasons why Musharraf has
lately become very student in Kashmir.
Egged on
by men like the Jammat-e-Islami chief
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the jehadis of
various hues have warned Musharraf that
he will not be allowed to abandon the
Kashmir jihad. Salahuddin, the Hizbul
Mujahideen chief and the so-called head
of the United Jihadi Council, has come to
haunt Musharraf very much like a
Frankenstein. Saluhuddin has other
reasons, like the open defiance of his
leadership by the Hizb commanders in the
Valley, to feel frustrated about but then
he has been able to enlist the support of
religious right which has yet to forgive
the General his back-stabbing of Al-Qaeda
and the Taliban.
As the
Washington Post has noted, turning off
the terror tap may be far easier than
trying to change Pakistan's preoccupation
with Kashmir. The paper has said that
within the military that has steered
Pakistan's Kashmir policy and now
controls its Government, the ban on
infiltration is seen as a tactical move
rather than a policy shift.
To that
extent one must admit that while
Musharraf continues to repeat George
Bush's anti-terror mantra he is
determined to pursue his Kashmir agenda.
The curious thing is that the recent G-8
meeting spelt out the group's
determination to deny the networks of
terror and their suspected
state-promoters any access to know-how as
also to the materials needed to make the
use of massdestructive weapons. Read
alongside the G-8's view that it agrees
that "Pakistan must put a permanent
stop to terrorist menace with emanates
from territory under its control."
Consider also the US decision dubbing the
Babbar Khalsa and the international Sikh
Youth Federation as "specially
designated global terrorists". All
this put together would suggest a serious
international awareness and commitment to
end terrorism in all its manifestations.
But the US, for its own reasons, somehow
appears to soft-pedal Musharraf's
continuing transgressions. It bodes ill
for the future of the war against
terrorism. India cannot sit back as a
mute spectator for long.
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Yours
Randomly,
Footing the balls rather
wildly!.....
Dr R L Bhat
This
Sunday saw the football fe-ver rising to
a crescendo, reach-ing a crisis and
ebbing only with the ending of the
tourney. Brazil created history; Asia too
created a history. While it was meet that
the stars should register records of
their own, the spectators too leaped on
to the lighted screens with their fervor,
their wild celebrations and thumpings in
unison to encourage the teams and their
pet stars. The television channels not
only showed the hyped stars with weird
getups strutting after the balls like the
primitives running for life, but also
expended good film-length to show the
fans dancing in joy, throwing away kisses
and clothes and rushing to celebrate the
victories. While the national victories
of the two hosting nations Japan in the
initial rounds and Korea right into the
semis, were tinged with national fervor,
the enthusiasms were more dispassionate
and general. Thankfully the dejections,
were restricted to the privacy of the
dressing rooms of the loosing teams while
only happiness’s rained down from
the screens, big and small. For the space
of the month the world had gone happy.
Wildly.
Indeed, if
there is one word to describe it all it
would be ‘wild’. Some may say
that in one word it was
‘football’. They would be right
if they spoke of only the ball that was
being kicked around. If you look beyond
the ball and the foot, and take the total
picture into view, the twenty two men
chasing it and the thousands looking at
the chase, frenzy not football would be
your word. To be fair ‘this fury is
fast becoming the fate of all the ball
games around. It is no longer the game
but the instinct, the instinct to kill
all opposition and score and win that is
the defining point in the games of this
day. While we saw the mirth of the
winners exceeding all bounds, it is
reasonable to conclude that the unseen
dejection of losers has been as acute and
as intense. The men are not players but
crusaders of national and personal pride.
They are no longer games there but
full-scale wars that have to be won at
all costs. Thus when Bill Shanky declared
at the very start of the cup that ‘
Football isn’t a matter of life and
death -it is more important than that!'
he spoke of the raging sentiment.
But is
that what the sport was meant to be? Is
it to be more for winning than anything
else, the play, the spirit, the
camaraderie? The haughty stars, the
furious fans, the fun, pervading
everything is not something that can be
taken in lightly without the adrenaline
coasting high. Of course, the adrenaline
and all the other activating hormones are
what the games are reputed to stimulate.
They are supposed to activate, to charge
and rejuvenate staid bodies and minds.
But that is all old-fashioned. This
adrenaline is more a killer’s potion
than the potentiating infusion. This fury
is not an enhanced level of activation
but a menacing rage. The ferocious
pugnacity that one associated with the
boxing ring is now seen unfolding on
every international pitch. Every trainer
aiming at those arenas is a virtual slave
driver who would not stop at anything.
And thus are born international
celebrities, say those who know these
things. Nor is this intense drive and
concentration restricted to the sports
and sportsmen., it is a virtual norm for
all endeavors.
Thus one
could easily put the intense studies
needed to score in a normal competitive
exam in the same category. The
quintal-thick general knowledge books
that are the routine reading for a civil
service aspirant, the endless pages of
fine print that a medico-engineering
entrant and the rigors that are mandatory
for this achievement are no less taxing.
The same goes for the other entrances and
competitions. Indeed, when one sees the
lean boys and girls making to the top
slots there, along with pride and
appreciation, is an inevitable horror at
how much they have gone through.
All this
is normal, of course in our age and time;
here anything less is abnormal. Probably,
it is inevitable since the line and
length has gotten greatly extended in all
fields. It, however, leaves one
discomfited and gasping. And when the
high achievers go off the binge, or the
society begins to show cracks in its
psyche, rather too commonly one cannot
but think that the slave drivers, and
concentration-mongers are the ones to
blame.
This month
gone, changed the meaning of two common
phrases: 'thundering thighs' did not mean
the shapely things on the fashion rumps
and ‘3-R’s’ no longer
meant reading writing and arithmetic-they
denoted the Brazilian stars and their
powerful limbs! It is easy to laud the
Brazilians for the new twists; it is
gratifying to admire the sheer muscle and
stamina but it is nice to remember that
the extremes of behaviors as well as
ready-to-shatter psyches are all bred in
this frenzied fuzzy of the slavish drive
and devotion. When the ex-England captain
says that ‘football is not about
scoring goals--- it is about winning',
you know the far-reaching implications.
And when you see the young fans throwing
all caution and clothes to winds in the
passionate fervor you know how infectious
the suggestions can get.
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MEN
AND MATTERS
Musharraf backtracks,
Vajpayee digs in
From B L Kak
Gen.
Parvez Musharraf has hard-ened Mr Atal
Behari Vajpayee’s standpoint on the
withdrawal of troops from the Jammu and
Kashmir border with Pakistan. The Indian
Prime Minister dug in only after the
soldier-President of Pakistan
backtracked. Mr Vajpayee would possibly
have adopted a friendly posture if Gen.
Musharraf had chosen the path of
reconciliation. Clearly, the Pak military
ruler’s about-turn on ending
cross-border infiltration has forced the
Vajpayee Government to put on hold a
planned military de-escalation along the
western border.
New
Delhi’s ‘go-slow’ policy
even in respect of the Indo-Pakistan
border in Rajasthan and Punjab has been
necessitated by Gen. Musharraf’s
inconsistent behaviourial system. The
withdrawal of troops from Rajasthan and
Punjab had to be slowed down, simply
because Gen. Musharraf backtracked on his
assurance on ending cross-border
terrorism.
Did Gen.
Musharraf convey to US Deputy Secretary
of State, Mr Richard Armitage, that he
would act and stop cross-border terrorism
and shut down training camps that exist
in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir
(PoK) when the two recently met in
Islamabad? That Gen. Musharraf was keen
to pursue his Kashmir agenda became amply
clear with his statement: "First of
all, I don’t call it cross-border
terrorism. There is a freedom struggle
going on in Kashmir. What I said is that
there is no movement across the Line of
Control. There was no talk of anything
else. I have made clear that a response
is required from the Indian
side…"
New Delhi
cannot be faulted for its decision to
maintain the existing troop deployment
along the western frontier, particularly
in Jammu and Kashmir, in view of Gen.
Musharraf’s volte face, as was
evident from his recent utterances in his
interviews to Newsweek and BBC. New
Delhi, which had withdrawn its ships from
seas close to Pakistan, named its new
envoy to Islamabad and granted permission
to Pakistan International Airways (PIA)
flights to fly to and from India, seems
to have been forced to wait for some more
time before initiating specific measures
to restore normalcy at the border.
If British
Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw,
perceives a significant risk of conflict
in the Indian subcontinent despite
reduced tension between India and
Pakistan, the US Government has let it be
known that the crisis, though showing
signs of abating, "is not yet
over". Mr Jack Straw said in London
the other day: "With a million armed
men on either side of the Line of Control
is a high state of readiness, the risks
of a conflict are still
significant". On the other hand, in
Washington, US Secretary of State, Mr
Colin Powell, did reiterate the Bush
administration’s interest in staying
engaged in efforts to end hostilities
between India and Pakistan.
Clearer
than this has been the message from New
Delhi: No plans, at this juncture, to
pull back Indian troops even partially in
Jammu and Kashmir. As the Government of
India does not rule out the possibility
of desperate attempts by the anti-India
elements and agencies across the border
to sabotage the Assembly elections in
J&K, the Udhampur-based Northern
Command has been forced to put on hold
the planned pullback of troops from the
Line of Control (LoC) and International
Border (IB).
The
de-escalation of troops from the LoC and
withdrawal from Kashmir has been ruled
out until the completion of poll process
in J&K. Further steps by New Delhi to
scale down its military posture on the
western front are linked to tangible and
measurable progress in dismantling the
infrastructure of terrorism on
Pakistan’s soil. In fact, the
Vajpayee Government has once again
conveyed to Washington and London that
India merely wants "a permanent,
irreversible and comprehensive"
attack on sources of terrorism in
Pakistan.
US Defence
Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, as well as
British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw,
have been clearly told that cross-border
infiltration must be stopped by Pakistan.
India, in fact, wants Washington to
sustain pressure on Gen. Musharraf to
disband the training camps for terrorists
and the sources of their financing. Yet
another message from New Delhi to the
international community: Proposed
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir
will be a fundamental test of Gen.
Musharraf’s sincerity in abandoning
terrorism as an instrument of state
policy.
Will
Pakistan avoid the temptation of
disrupting the elections in Kashmir
through violence and create conditions
for a political reconciliation within the
State? A precise answer to this question
cannot be expected here and now. One will
have to wait until the commencement of
poll process in J&K. Meanwhile, India
is for assurances from the United States
that it would not turn its back on the
sources of terrorism in Pakistan, once
the threat of war in the subcontinent
recedes as India takes de-escalation
measures.
Pakistan
has summarily rejected the idea of joint
patrolling and modalities of monitoring
the movement of terrorists along the Line
of Control. Lt. Gen. (retd) Harbhajan
Singh has explained that it is
unimaginable for Pakistan to agree to
joint patrolling in J&K where the two
sides have been shooting at each other
for 50 years. His finding: The Pakistan
side is an active abetter in facilitating
the infiltration. His recommendation:
There are three areas where steps need to
be taken to ‘turn off the tap’
of terroriusm-(a) the source-the
terrorist camp-headquarters and holding
areas in Pakistan/PoK, (b) holding areas
close to the LoC and movement across it,
and, (c) inside J&K.
Just
lessening of the movement across the LoC,
Lt. Gen. Harbhajan Singh has opined, is
"a ruse and trick to get the USA off
its back and gain some respite from
Indian troop deployment". It is not
practicable to place soldiers at every
yard of the LoC 24 hours a day. A great
portion of the LoC is inhospitable. Lt.
Gen. Harbhajan Singh has aptly epitomized
the scenario: "If it were possible
to effectively monitor cross-border
movement, the terrorist problem would
have been tackled long ago!" The
Americans could not check infiltration in
Vietnam in spite of using a number of
unique means like defoliaging areas,
sensors to detect human sweat levels of
infiltrators and the Israelis are unable
to seal off their borders.
Equally
valid, strong point made by him relates
to the terrorists, who are, undoubtedly,
much better armed, highly trained,
motivated and swell organised. Even the
local terrorists in J&K, he insists,
are a force to reckon with. Even if there
is reduction in infiltration, the
terrorists already in J&K can pose a
considerable danger. Hence, the
suggestion from Lt. Gen. Harbhajan Singh:
"It is, therefore, so essential to
ensure that the population on our side of
the LoC is not alienated, so that the
terrorists get little help, sanctuary and
information about security forces from
the locals. Terrorism cannot sustain
itself without local support, and it is
difficult to fight terrorism without
cooperation from the locals".
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Exodus
of Al Qaeda activists to PoK
By D R Ahuja
A steady movement
of the re-maining Al Qaeda and Taliban activists
is observed during the last few weeks from
Afghanistan towards PoK. These activists from
Paktika and Pakhtia provinces of Afghanistan are
seen crossing through Nangarhar, Kunar and North
East Badakshan into PoK. Al Qaeda made extensive
logistic arrangements for this arduous tourney
through the unhospitable terrain. The move
appears to be due to intensified pressure of
allied military offensive against the Al Qaeda
activists in Afghanistan. While some of the
activists are joining the Kashmiri terrorist
groups in the PoK others are seen moving towards
Middle East and Europe. Some of these Al Qaeda
activists have been arrested, while entering into
Saudi Arabia and some European countries.
Already these are
1000 to 2000 Al Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan.
They had sneaked into Pakistan during November
2001 and had taken shelter in various tribal
belts in NWFP and Baluchistan. It was
Tehrik-e-Nifaz-Shariat Mohammad leader Sufi
Mohammed who had given safe passage to the Al
Qaeda terrorists while he was returning to
Pakistan. Sufi Mohammad was arrested by the
Pakistan army and has been sentenced to 6 year's
imprisonment. There are already credible reports
that Al Qaeda terrorists stationed in these areas
are planning new attacks in Pakistan. Further,
there are disturbed signals that
Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Sipah-e-Sahba
and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are functioning under the
direction of Al Qaeda leadership. The activists
of these groups have jointly taken part in the
terrorist training with Al Qaeda at ALBA camp
during Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The newly
constituted alliance of terrorist is fully
capable of planning and carrying and potent
attacks on US and Western targets as the more
contralised led by Osama bin Laden. The ability
of this newly constituted alliance to achieve
deadly results was again displayed on June 14 in
Karachi when a car bomb exploded outside the US
Consulate. It is widely believed that attack on
Islamabad Church in March and the suicide bomb
attack in May at Karachi were all the work of
Pakistani supporters of Al Qaeda and Taliban. US
authorities see that Al Qaeda has made similar
efforts to re-group by merging with local Muslim
terrorist grouping in Africa, Middle East and
South East Asia. These make shift alliance more
decentralised than the network directed by Osama
bin Laden and thus may be more difficult for
outsiders to penetrate. It is more or less now
confirmed, according to US intelligence sources
that Osama bin Laden and his advisers have taken
refuge in the tribal belts of NWFP or
Baluchistan. These groups have been helped by the
middle rung officers of the ISI who had been
giving training to the different terrorist group
in various camps in Afghanistan during the
Taliban regime. These ISI officers admit that Al
Qaeda is still capable of making complicated
simultaneous attacks and is likely to launch
small scale operation in a short time. Only a
fortnight before the June 14 attack on US
Consulate in Karachi, US Commander Maj Gen
Franklin had said that US intelligence reports
indicate that the so-called Al Qaeda and Taliban
leaders were now hiding in Pakistan and were
plotting terrorist attacks including car and
suicide bombings to disrupt the peace in
Afghanistan.
A report in the
Washington Times from Morocco where 3 Al Qaeda
men, all Saudi nationals, were arrested last
month in connection with a plot to attack
American and British n aval ships in the straight
of Gibralter have disclosed to Morocco
intelligence men that Osam bin Laden had ordered
his men to 'disperse across the globe to
attack''. Believe it or not Pakistan which has
declared its support to the United States led
international coalition global terrorism has in
fact replaced Afghanistan as a command and
control centre for Al Qaeda. It is because the
ISI continue to help Al Qaeda and providing
shelter for communications, training and
logistics in the tribal area. After about 9
months of US-led operation in Afghanistan with
Pakistan's crucial support it appears that
coalition partners are beginning to doub t this
country's reliability. Americans complained that
Pakistanis are not fully cooperating in hunting
Al Qaeda men hiding in Miranshah, the
Headquarters of North Waziristan agency in the
frontier province of Pakistan. There were dozen
rocket attacks on the building where the
Americans were staying.
An important
question to be asked at his point is to what
extent the US-led coalition has succeeded in
smashing the network of global terrorism since
October 7 last year when the bombing of
Afghanistan was started. At that time, Gen
Musharraf had predicted that US-led operation
against Al Qaeda and Taliban would be short and
quick depending on correct intelligence. The
coalition depended, to a great extent, on
Pakistan for providing intelligence in his
September 19 address to the nation, Gen Musharraf
made it very clear that Pakistan was joining the
coalition to prevent India's entry into it. He
formed that Pakistan supported terrorist camps in
the country could be targeted if India joined the
coalition. In this address, he also tried to
reassure Jehadi groups that Pakistan's entry into
the coalition would not change its policy in
Kashmir.
The increasing
pressure on Pakistan by US, UK and EU to stop
cross-border terrorism in Kashmir may indicates
realisation among the United States and the West
that Pakistan has been trying to maintain its
pre-September 11 policy regarding terrorism under
the cover of its Kashmir policy. In other words,
there may be a realisation that Pakistan's
Kashmir policy is responsible for much of
terrorism in the world. That should explain why
there is increasing pressure on Pakistan to stop
infiltration into Kashmir from its side. This
pressure means that the international community
is not willing to believe in Gen Musharraf's
assertion that there is no infiltration.
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