Date Written : Dec 22, 2001
India has recalled High Commissioner Vijay Nambiar from Islamabad because Pakistan has not yet responded to the demands made in the demarche of December 14 - a day after the terrorist attack on Parliament - asking for action against the terrorist outfits Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
It can be said that given the public mood and general outrage in India following Dec 13 attack on Indian Parliament, the government was under pressure to take a step like this. This step can at the most be called as a symbolic step to tell Pakistan that India is running out of patience. Even US may not give much significance to this since it is concentrating on its war on terrorism, but at the same time is well aware of the terrorism being supported from the Pakistani soil, not necessarily by the Musharraf government.
Instead of recalling Indian HC it would have been better if India would have scaled down the Pakistani embassy staff in India, some of previous staff being previously involved in spying for ISI. The ISI agents may still be touch with few of the existing Pakistani embassy staff.
The Indian government has also decided to terminate the Samjhauta Express between Amritsar and Lahore, and the bus service between Delhi and Lahore, from the New year day of January 1 2001. This was to give time to those who had travelled recently to return home. Has Indian government checked whether all tourists from Pakistan who have arrived earlier, returned back OR that the tourists have turned into terrorists. Many Pakistanis are illegally staying in several Indian cities, not necessarily coming by train or bus, but from the porous borders. Out of the illegal Pakistani nationals, several of these work closely with criminal gangs based in Dubai and then get promoted as Al-Qaida fighters to carry out Jihad against non-muslims.
India's decision came a day after US President Bush froze assets of LeT and a Ummat Tameer-e-Nau (UTN), suspected of having links with the Al Qaida. more
In its fact sheet, the White House has said that the LeT was one of the three largest Kashmiri separatist groups fighting against India and had conducted a number of attacks against Indian troops and civilian targets in Kashmir since 1993. Few Indian analysts say that it is wrong to call LeT and JeM as "Kashmiri separatist groups" since they have a base in Pakistan. It is true that these and other terrorist groups are part of the larger network of Al-Qaida and are based in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). But is part of Kashmir not illegally occupied by Pakistan? Is Indian government sure that LeT has not established its bases in Indian part of Kashmir and other parts of India?
Read : Lashkar-e-Toiba bases near Mumbai?
Further in its fact sheet, the White House has said that LeT was suspected in eight attacks in August that killed nearly 100 mostly "Hindu Indians".
We hope that Vajpayee Government catches the signals from the 25-page report issued by White House, titled "The Global War On Terrorism: The First 100 Days" and interpret it correctly.
Agreed that every Indian is angry after the attack on the Indian Parliament, but the Vajpayee Government needs to be cautious in its 'approach' and then take a 'appropriate' action. Merely showing its displeasure by recalling HC may not serve the purpose of tackling terrorism. Now that US troops have their presence in Pakistan and President Bush is pressurising Musharraf government to act against terrorists, India should help Pakistan to jointly fight terrorism instead of fighting each other.
It is still a long way to go till the terrorism gets wiped-off. Terrorism has taken enough lives all-over the globe. This menace of Terrorism needs to be ruthlessly dealt with. Terrorism is the enemy of Human civilization, Islamic Terrorism being the worst form of it.
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