World | Posted on Dec 13, 2008 at 07:45pm IST

Pak cracks down on terror groups

New Delhi: It is a crackdown unprecedented by Pakistan's standards. Never before has the Jamaat-ud-Dawa faced this kind of heat from the authorities. But what next?

"We expect Pakistan to do much more. We are ready to share any information with Pakistan. Pakistan has to dismantle the entire terror infrastructure," India's External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday.

However, Pakistani politicians are dismissive.

General Secretary of the PML(Q), Mushahid Hussain said, "There is no evidence that has been shared with Pakistan. It may be existng in South Block or in the Prime Minister's Office. Why is India shy of sharing this with Pakistan?"

The obfuscation and denial is only part of the problem. Pakistan President Zardari's ability to deliver anything beyond the current crackdown is in serious doubt because he no control over the powerful Pakistan army.

Nor does he have any access to Pakistan's most notorious instrument of state power - the ISI. It's widely believed that sections of the ISI have turned rogue, running their own security policy, colluding with groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the Tehreek-e-Taliban to destabilise their own government.

Former under-secretary-general of the United Nations, Shashi Tharoor says, "Is it being orchestrated at the very top of the Pakistani military and the ISI? Or is it merely being condoned? Is it taking place at the middle and senior levels but not at the very top? We don't know and we don't even know if Pakistan's government knows."

Lacking political or diplomatic leverage, South Block is now relying on the US.

United States Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte says, "It's imperative that these are thoroughly investigated and those responsible be brought to account. Efforts are on for investigating those responsible. All our diplomatic partners have responsibility."

This strategy could work as the US wants to stabilise Zardari's civilian government, cut the army to size and eliminate the infrastructure of terror. If that is the goal, India may have no reason to complain.

(With inputs from Shuchi Yadav and Achyut Punnekat in New Delhi)

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