AT long last the US has acknowledged that the Mumbai attacks had been planned in Pakistan and executed by its nationals at the instance of ISI. The latest indictment of four alleged Pakistani masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, including two men linked to Islamabad’s security forces, is a ‘major development’ in the case. But, it is interesting that there is no direct mention of Pakistan’s government or its security forces in the Mumbai mayhem. Maybe,the US is not yet keen to upset Pakistan as the later is still facilitating its forces to attack the Al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan. Anyway, by charging four people of Pakistani origin the US has in principle accepted that the Mumbai attacks were the brainchild of Let terrorists instigated by ISI officers.
In response to the US indictment, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday categorically stated that the Inter Services Intelligence was not involved in the Mumbai terror attack. However, he admitted that Islamabad has sufficient evidence to prosecute masterminds behind it. It will be interesting to see how far Pakistan proceeds against the people involved in the heinous act. But it is unlikely that Pakistan will act against the masterminds as they happen to be their own loyalists.
The indictment described Major Iqbal, a resident of Pakistan as one of the masterminds, who allegedly directed and funded months of reconnaissance in Mumbai by Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, who has pleaded guilty. However, the US and Indian anti-terrorism officials allege that Iqbal was a serving officer in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
This claim was further substantiated by a report published in The Washington Post.
It may be recalled that Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman caught after the 26/11 assault on Mumbai, had noted in his testimony that “a Major General Saheb” had visited him and fellow attackers while they were undergoing training. Kasab further communicated that the officer came accompanied by Hafiz Saeed, the ideological leader of the Lashkar-e-Toyeba which associates flagrantly with the ISI. Innumerable former Kashmiri terrorists also recall dealing with a “Brigadier Saheb” or a “Colonel Saheb” in Pakistan-run training camps.
There is no doubt that the United States has long been wary of the ISI’s role in the Afghan war and attacks directed against India but it has been adopting the policy of wait and watch in order  to achieve its own objectives in the region. It is felt that the US is reviewing its stand, keeping in view Pakistan’s wholehearted support to Jihadis against its forces in Afghanistan. The recent shift in US policy in the region is being attributed to  Pakistan’s ever increasing support to Afghan insurgents fighting its men. Incidentally, the recent attacks on its officers in Kabul by Taliban insurgents have all the ingredients of ISI complicity. The development has alerted the US administration forcing it to review the entire policy. Even the officials posted in the war-torn country had  been demanding a major shift in the US position on Pakistan.
Not surprisingly, the US has now indicted Pakistan but the question arises: would it take any action against the so-called rogue country? No. The reason being is its complicated situation in Afghanistan. The fact remains that the US has utterly failed to wipe out Taliban, apprehend or kill the Al Qaeda remnants especially Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Umar despite the support of other countries. It is another matter that while on the one hand Pakistan  is its important ally, on the other the country is a ringleader of terrorism.
It is ironical that whenever India contemplates any military action against Islamabad, American highups immediately call up New Delhi to exercise restraint. This is followed by the visits of Hallbrooke and Hillary Clinton who chant the same mantra in both countries. Instead of asking India to rap the offender on the knuckles the US is asking it to open the peace doors. Would  the US have exercised the same restraint if the Mumbai-type attacks had taken place in Washington or New York? No, never! The dual role clearly indicates that the US is not addressing the genuine interest of India but watching its own interests.
Keeping in view  Islamabad’s open, clandestine support to terror organisations operating in India, Afghanistan and other countries the US- lead NATO forces should have long back extended war beyond Afghan borders and taken it  inside Pakistan. Maybe, it is not doing so for the fear that the incursion might prove as costly as the invasion into Iraq.
It’s  time for the US to stop giving billions of dollars, latest fighter planes and arms and ammunition to Pakistan till it stops support to terrorists fighting against India and NATO forces in Afghanistan. As a matter of fact, Pakistan is right now itself the worst sufferer of religious extremism as hardly a day passes without reports of bomb blasts and killings of hundreds in many parts of the country. Unless the US stops aiding Pakistan, there are least chances of Islamabad’s withdrawal of support to the Jihadi terror network.
Moreover, it is a good time for Pakistan to admit that their spy agency is way too sympathetic to Al Qaeda and other jihadists. Maybe Pakistan should take a hard look at their own spy agency and get rid of the people who are helping A