The Hindu : Front Page : Pakistan silent on NSA accusation

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Monday, Jul 14, 2008
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Pakistan silent on NSA accusation

Nirupama Subramanian

Minister sees no impact on peace process
U.S. gets tough with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan chose to remain silent the day after National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan’s allegation that the ISI was behind the Kabul Indian embassy bombing.

There was no official reaction to the potentially explosive allegation, and his statement that it was India’s case to the world that the ISI must be “destroyed.” Mr. Narayanan also said if things continued in this manner, there would be no choice but to “retaliate in kind.”

The only comment to the top Indian official’s remarks came from Defence Minister Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar, in response to a question on Express News, a private television channel.

Significantly, the Minister said while it was “inappropriate” of India to make such an allegation “without any proof,” it would not have any effect on the India-Pakistan peace process.

Mr. Narayanan’s remarks came on a day when the U.S. also ramped up pressure on Pakistan, reportedly making a similar charge that Pakistani security agencies were backing Taliban and Al Qaeda.

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Pakistan on Saturday in what seemed to be an unscheduled visit, and apparently did some tough talking in his meeting with Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

The News reported that Admiral Mullen made the one-day visit to share evidence of American claims that “responsible elements within the country’s security agencies were giving comprehensive support to Taliban and Al Qaeda elements.”

According to the report, the evidence shared by the U.S. official, who was accompanied by CIA officials in his meetings, was “non-specific,” and the Pakistan government “refuted it using specific facts.”

According to a report in the Dawn, Admiral Mullen conveyed Washington’s growing frustration with Pakistan’s inability, or unwillingness, to act decisively against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants hiding in “safe havens” in the tribal areas in the north-west frontier, from where they are known to mount cross-border attacks in Afghanistan.

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