US continues to shield Pakistan on terrorism

[Guest guest]

US continues to shield Pakistan on terrorism

 

 

CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

 

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,(YEAH RIGHT) 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.