Pakistan's reversal of a decision to send the head of its intelligence service to India is a political own goal, following the offer made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Mr Gilani, whose democratic government is the first in Pakistan for almost a decade, made the offer to show full co-operation with the Indian investigation. But now a lower official from the Inter Services Agency (ISI) will come instead. The decision damages Pakistan's case that all of the military organisations of the state are now under democratic control - a case put strongly in a BBC interview when their foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told me there was now "consensus" among all of the institutions of the state to act against terrorist groups. By coincidence it was on Wednesday, hours before the Mumbai incident began, that the Pakistani government scrapped the political wing of the ISI.
Pakistan's reversal of a decision to send the head of its intelligence service to India is a political own goal, following the offer made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Mr Gilani, whose democratic government is the first in Pakistan for almost a decade, made the offer to show full co-operation with the Indian investigation.
But now a lower official from the Inter Services Agency (ISI) will come instead.
The decision damages Pakistan's case that all of the military organisations of the state are now under democratic control - a case put strongly in a BBC interview when their foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told me there was now "consensus" among all of the institutions of the state to act against terrorist groups.
By coincidence it was on Wednesday, hours before the Mumbai incident began, that the Pakistani government scrapped the political wing of the ISI.
... "These sources have said NATO and the US command have been told that Pakistan would not be able to concentrate on the war on terror and against militants around the Afghanistan border as defending its borders with India was far more important," Geo News quoted senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir as saying. He also said the sources had briefed the media that the decision not to send the ISI chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha to India was taken after Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee used a very aggressive tone with Pakistani officials on telephone after the Mumbai attacks. ...
... I do think that it's very possible that al-Qaeda is deeply involved and possibly using one or two of the Pakistani/Kashmiri groups as a surrogate to have trained these Indian militants. Now I think the strategic reason for that is because al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban are very hard-pressed in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan. They're facing the Pakistani army onslaught from the Pakistani side, and they're facing a rain of U.S. missiles from U.S. forces in Afghanistan falling in the tribal areas killing twelve people. And I think that the strategic option for them here was to create a diversion. And no better diversion could be created in this region than an Indo-Pak escalation and a near-war situation between India and Pakistan. And I think that's what they've tried to create. And I fear very much that the leaders of both these countries -- you know, if they continue these accusations against each other -- are going to be falling into the trap that al-Qaeda is setting for them. ...
Now I think the strategic reason for that is because al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban are very hard-pressed in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan. They're facing the Pakistani army onslaught from the Pakistani side, and they're facing a rain of U.S. missiles from U.S. forces in Afghanistan falling in the tribal areas killing twelve people.
And I think that the strategic option for them here was to create a diversion. And no better diversion could be created in this region than an Indo-Pak escalation and a near-war situation between India and Pakistan. And I think that's what they've tried to create. And I fear very much that the leaders of both these countries -- you know, if they continue these accusations against each other -- are going to be falling into the trap that al-Qaeda is setting for them. ...
