THE arrest of Abu Jundal alias Zaibuddin Ansari, a Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) operative and the man believed to have handled the 26/11 Mumbai attack from a Karachi control room is a big success for India. Indian-born Abu Jundal, who is suspected of helping to plan the militant rampage through Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people and wounded more than 300, was purportedly one of the main handlers of the 10-man hit squad including Ajmal Kasab. Hailing from Beed in Maharashtra, he is alleged to have issued instructions by telephone to Islamist gunmen as they stormed two luxury hotels, a Jewish Centre, a restaurant and a train station in Mumbai. Ansari’s arrest is a significant development in unravelling the conspiracy behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Though it is a small step forward but there can be little doubt that other than helping tie up the loose ends of the Mumbai attack probe, details about the roles of various Pakistani agencies in the planning and execution of the attack may also emerge. Hopefully, the arrest of a valuable catch will go a long way towards exposing the role of Pakistani state actors in the 26/11 carnage. But keeping in view Pakistan’s reputation as a country in denial, it is unlikely to accept what Ansari says, in the same way it didn’t credit revelations made by Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist caught alive in Mumbai.
Indeed, it has long been clear that powerful figures in Pakistan’s intelligence services had much to do with the attacks. It is not therefore, without reason, that the arrested handler Abu Jundal has told his interrogators that the entire operation was overseen by a “waaris” of the “forces”, a possible reference to the Pakistani Army. He has also pinpointed the location of the LeT’s Karachi control room from where instructions went out to the Mumbai attackers. While these disclosures by Jundal could possibly nail the alleged involvement of Pakistani state actors in the 26/11 attacks, not surprisingly Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik did not bat an eyelid in rejecting India’s assertions, when he told media persons in Islamabad that no state institutions were involved in the Mumbai strikes.
So far, Pakistan has projected the Mumbai attacks as the handiwork of terrorists working entirely on their own. Time and again,the Islamabad establishment has taken refuge in baiting India while refusing to concede even an inch to improve relations with our country. Every time Pakistan finds itself in a tight corner, its government plays the old, frayed India card to divert attention from its criminal misdeeds. To that extent, Pakistani interior Minister Rehman Malik’s sabre rattling was only to be expected, although it makes little sense as to why he should have used Abu Jundal’s Indian roots to project the 26/11 conspiracy as one carried out by indigenous terrorists in the light of revelations made by the arrested handler. “Abu Jundal is an Indian; he has committed attacks in India,was caught in India. India’s own Taliban is emerging,” he is reported to have said.
It could be argued that Malik’s pathetic assertion is yet further evidence of Pakistan continuing to live in denial. It is true that Pakistan itself is a victim of terrorism while certain elements in the Pakistani establishments continue to believe in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. But that does not mean India or the rest of the world should feel persuaded to deal with Pakistan with sympathy and kindness. Both are unwarranted when dealing with a rough, terror-sponsoring state that deserves only collective contempt of those countries who value peace. Indian has repeatedly called on Pakistan to take action against the Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed. But on the country, Pakistan took the Jamaat-ud-Dawah off its terror list and rubbished the evidence provided by India linking Hafeez Saeed to the Mumbai attack. In May, U.S. Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton authorized a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Jundal’s revelations that two members of the ISI, both allegedly Majors in the Pakistan army were also in the control room overseeing the Mumbai carnage further exposes Islamabad’s role in the 26/11 attack, post David Headley’s arrest and confession. Moderates in India believe that the India/Pakistan dialogue process has “yielded some positive results.” This is palpably false as Pakistan has neither brought to book the perpetrators of the horrendous Mumbai attacks nor shut down the infrastructure of terror. Indeed, Rehman Malik’s statement some time back that non-state actor Ajmal Kasab should be hanged for his involvement in 26/11 is tokenism.
The question is whether Pakistan is willing to take any action against Hajeez Saeed, one of the masterminds of the operation who sent Kasab to Mumbai. Real action means giving up the use of terror as policy, which Pakistan’s generals are not willing to do. Malik stonewalls every Indian query with “where is the evidence”? As though the dossiers that India have given to Pakistan do not count nor does the Interpol red corner notice against Sayeed, or the United Nations Security Council list that has JuD as a terrorist organisation. It is obvious though not for the first time that Pakistan will continue to use its “non state” actors as its army in the proxy war against India.
The Indian charge has also been endorsed by the influential American intelligence analysts who have concluded that Pakistan will not desist from using terror as part of its statecraft, especially after captured LeT trainer Abu Jundal’s disclosures. They also point to Islamabad’s continued patronage of LeT chief Hajeez Saeed as one sign that Islamabad has embraced terrorism as official policy.
The truth is that Pakistan now stands stripped of the fig leaf that it had clutched on so desperately all these years while refusing charges of harbouring terrorists and sponsoring terrorism. All along it has played down the complicit role of the Pakistani state. The argument that only non-state actors were behind the massacre is no longer valid. Those who treat these non-state actors as assets and refuse to act against these terrorists despite overwhelming evidence are very much a part of the Pakistani state. As such, the evidence against Pakistani suspects behind 26/11 is mounting. Several detailed dossiers have already been provided to Islamabad. Yet, it continues to withhold critical evidence such as voice samples of 26/11 suspects. In such a scenario, it makes little sense for Islamabad not to cooperate in the 26/11 investigations.
Although one of the major players behind 26/11 has been nabbed, it could be years before he is sentenced and punished. Our law and order machinery is slow to move in such cases. Take the cases of Afzal Guru and Ajmal Kasab. Both were awarded death sentences but are still housed in Indian jails at the expense of taxpayers’. Even now, no one in India expects Abu Jundal’s confessions to make much difference to Pakistan’s procrastination in prosecuting those behind Mumbai attacks.
But Islamabad needs to recognise that concrete cooperation on its part would provide a huge filip to the bilateral peace process. The trust deficit would only erode the new-found bonhomie since well constructed foreign policy plans can easily go awry thanks to accident prone domestic politics. It is only recently that Pakistan has broken one of the country’s biggest political taboos by throwing open its borders for trade with India. This could alter the economic political and security landscape of the north-western subcontinent. Annual bilateral trade is expected to grow rapidly from the current figure of US$ 2.7 billion to US$10 billion by 2015 after restrictions are removed. The message for Pakistan is clear. It will have fewer friends if it continues the policy of using terror groups as an instrument of foreign strategic policy.
Experience shows that while optimism over movement in India/Pakistan relations can be especially fragile, there is no alternative to dialogue. On the other hand, terrorism remains a key concern. It can undo all good work to boost ties. In this scenario, it makes eminent sense for Islamabad to pursue a zero-tolerance policy towards Jihadi outfits operating from its soil. Asking for Ajmal Kasab to hang is all very well but he didn’t act alone.
It is absolutely imperative that Pakistan cracks down on safe heavens and terror camps besides bringing to book other perpetrators of 26/11. As Delhi and Islamabad keep their fingers crossed, Dr Singh must signal that contentious security issues are not taken off the table. Surely, no one expects the tangled problems of so many years to be resolved at one go, what is crucial is  a sustained process that will ensure that dialogue will continue even when things get difficult.