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The limits of finger-pointing

The Mumbai police chief's claims about the Pakistani provenance of the July 7 terrorist explosions have prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party to make the completely over-the-top demand that New Delhi sever diplomatic relations with Islamabad. BJP president Rajnath Singh seems to have conveniently forgotten that, to its credit, the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government never once considered such an extreme step despite the provocations of Kargil, the hijacking of IC-814 to Kandahar, or the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament. To use the Mumbai police claims to discredit the India-Pakistan joint mechanism against terrorism is equally irrational. If anything, the mechanism announced in Havana in September provides the proper and potentially the most effective institutional forum for India to press home its case with Pakistan. This is not to suggest the mechanism is a magic wand that would lead automatically to the arrest and extradition of senior Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders like Azam Cheema. The point is that taking extreme steps like breaking diplomatic ties and suspending the peace process is even less of a baguette de fée. India will have an opportunity to test out a new instrumentality for cooperation when intelligence officials from the two sides meet in November and there is no reason to prejudge the outcome.

The evidence New Delhi marshals must be verifiable and solid — and not based solely on custodial interrogations and pseudo-scientific procedures such as narco-analysis and brain-mapping. It is important to recognise the possibility that the truth about the Mumbai blasts might well be more layered and complex than what conventional political discourse about `ISI involvement' suggests. It is common knowledge in Pakistan that the would-be assassins of President Pervez Musharraf themselves had an `ISI link' at some point in their terrorist careers. While it defies common sense that General Musharraf or the Pakistani GHQ could order a dramatic terrorist attack in Mumbai with fingerprints so easily identifiable, the possibility of rogue elements operating within the Pakistani establishment cannot be ruled out. At any rate, the Indian side needs to allow for this, in devising its own strategy towards Islamabad and also in counselling the General about the danger of not decisively acting against terrorism. While seeking a shutdown of all terrorist activity inside Pakistan, the Indian Government must get its own house in order. The fact that the LeT is able to motivate young Indians to plant bombs in their own cities is a cause for serious concern. No amount of finger-pointing will solve this particular problem.

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