Prepare an iron-clad case against Pak. terrorists

By Kuldip Nayar

I seldom watch Pakistan TV news. It is more biased than Doordarshan's. The other day, I was horrified to listen to Pakistan's reaction to the Jaish-e-Mohammed's attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly building in Srinagar. The TV said that it was India's own doing. Believe me, what it meant to convey was that the Indian security forces stole a car, filled it with explosives, drove it to the Assembly building and killed 30 innocent men so as to give Pakistan a bad name. Since nothing was said about the three terrorists who were killed inside the building, I presume that they also belonged to the Indian security forces.

Such tales have not been told for the first time. Islamabad has concocted them all these years to cover up its complicity in the attacks across the border. The surprising part is that the Pakistan government machinery is not tired of repeating the same version, knowing well that even its own people take it with a pinch of salt. To the consternation of the Musharraf government, the Jaish-e-Mohammed owned the responsibility. By the time it went back on it at Islamabad's prodding, the damage had been done. Both Washington and London had come heavily on the terrorists for their crime in Srinagar.

Even otherwise, the denial had no meaning. The Jaish-e-Mohammed's representative rang up a few newspaper offices at Srinagar to claim the responsibility. Below is what the Srinagar correspondent of The Asian Age said in his dispatch: ``Is this The Asian Age office?' asked the caller, while I am talking to a source on the other telephone on returning to the office, still chasing the story on Monday's sensational suicide attack at the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. After I have assured him he has got through to the right number, he tells me he is from the Jaish-e- Mohammed and is calling to inform me that the suicide attackers belong to this organisation. `Why did you do it?' I dare to ask him, after, of course, briefly describing to him the pathetic scene at the Assembly entrance. `Because we wanted to teach this puppet regime and those who protect its members - the traitors - a lesson,' comes the prompt reply''.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, was correct in expressing his exasperation to the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, that despite such attacks, Pakistan was telling the world through television interviews that it had no terrorist groups operating from its territory. The External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, personally told Mr. Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, how Pakistan was still training, arming and sending terrorists across the border. The Jaish-e-Mohammed has its headquarters in Islamabad and operates from the Pakistan soil. Masood Azar, who was released from the Jammu jail in exchange of passengers hijacked to Kandahar heads the organisation and he makes no bones about the ``jehad'' against India.

New Delhi has dossiers on the Jaish-e-Mohammed and other terrorist organisations based in Pakistan. Every bit of their activity, their training camps, their ways of operation, their sources of income and the like, along with the photographs, should be made public. The U.S. has quickly assembled an impressive evidence against Osama bin Laden and his organisation, the Al-Qaeda. India should do likewise on the terrorists operating from Pakistan. The governments all over the world should be supplied with full data, which our intelligence agencies and other official organisations have been collecting for years. The material should convey how India has suffered at the hands of terrorists.

I personally think that a special session of Parliament be convened to discuss terrorism. It affects us the most. Mr. Jaswant Singh, who has met heads of key countries within a week - a tremendous achievement - should tell the two Houses about the response he has had from the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and France to his plea for a concerted action against terrorists, guided and sheltered by Islamabad.

The Home Minister L.K. Advani should also utilise the occasion to release the much-awaited White Paper against the activities of the ISI. We must build up international opinion in our favour.

Washington did not take New Delhi seriously when the latter pointed out that terrorism committed in India today would be committed elsewhere tomorrow. It considered terrorism in India an internal problem. That the U.S. has woken up and it has promised to eliminate terrorism from all over the world is a welcome development. But Washington must also remember that this is not the time to settle personal scores. This is the time to analyse what breeds fanaticism and how the people and countries, which have got involved for pecuniary, political or religious gains, can be punished if not retrieved. There should be no victimisation. Otherwise, we shall give terrorists the rationale to evoke sympathy. In a world which comprises different interests, our preferences and prejudices should not prevail. The concern should be global.

The real meaning of what the terrorists did in New York or Srinagar should not be lost the midst of preparations for action. They struck at the World Trade Center because it represents U.S.'s economic power. They struck at the Assembly building in Srinagar because it represents the democratic, secular ethos of the Jammu and Kashmir State. If one were to go deeper, one would find that terrorism is the creation of those who want to impose a particular way of life, a particular point of view, or a particular type of governance where people have no say, much less participation. Really speaking, it is the question of freedom and values.

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