The Hindu : Front Page : India, Afghanistan behind unrest, says Pakistan

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India, Afghanistan behind unrest, says Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

Islamabad protests against Herat Consulate blast

Bush: who is controlling the ISI?
‘India, Afghanistan trying to destabilise FATA’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has hit out at India and Afghanistan for the troubles in its north-western frontier tribal areas and pulled up Afghanistan for a bomb blast outside its consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat on Thursday; three people outside the consulate were injured.

A Foreign Ministry statement said, “Pakistan holds the government of Afghanistan responsible for the safety and security of its personnel in its embassy in Kabul and consulates in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-i-Sharif.” Afghanistan’s Ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to “convey the grave concerns” of the Pakistan government.

The Ministry said it hoped Kabul would take its responsibility of protecting Pakistani nationals posted to the country’s diplomatic missions in Afghanistan “seriously.” The explosion came three weeks after a bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, in which four Indians, including a diplomat and the defence attaché, were among 60 people killed. Thursday’s explosions came as the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers were about to meet on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Colombo to discuss the deteriorating bilateral relations in the wake of the Kabul attack, for which New Delhi blamed the ISI.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have also escalated since then, with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai also accusing the ISI of terrorist attacks in his country, including the attack on the Indian embassy.

With the U.S. joining in the accusations — the CIA was reported to have presented Pakistan with evidence of its hand in the Kabul attack — Pakistan chose Washington as the venue to reiterate the charge that India and Afghanistan were both involved in “trying to destabilise” the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Rehman Malik, who functions as Pakistan’s Interior Minister, and an important member of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s entourage to the U.S., said on Wednesday the “time has come for us to reveal the facts and tell the world how outside forces are creating troubles in Pakistan.”

Minister’s claim

The Dawn reported he named India, Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, and the Chechens and Uzbeks as the forces fomenting trouble in the tribal areas. “India wants to destabilise FATA. What India and Mr. Karzai are doing must stop. They must stop this,” Mr. Malik, a confidante of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari said, appealing to the U.S. and other western countries to work on New Delhi and Kabul in order to ensure peace in Pakistan.

Mr. Malik, who has made these charges earlier, and as recently as last week, also reiterated his accusation that India and Afghanistan were responsible for the unrest in Balochistan. “One call from outside leads to the death of four people in Balochistan,” he told journalists.

The Dawn reported that Mr. Malik was asked if his statements were on the record. “Yes,” he said. “I’m not afraid of anyone.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistani media reported U.S. President George Bush, in his meeting with Mr. Gilani, bluntly expressed American reluctance to share intelligence with Pakistan because of concerns that ISI continued to maintain deep links with the militants operating in the tribal areas.

Defence Minister Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar, who was present at the meeting, told The News Mr. Bush expressed concern that certain elements in the ISI were leaking information to the terrorists before they could be hit by the U.S. or Pakistani forces. This was a cause of concern for the U.S., Mr. Mukhtar told the newspaper. “President Bush also asked who is controlling the ISI,” said Mr. Mukhtar, indicating this may have been a reference to the failed attempt by the Interior Ministry to take control of the ISI through a notification shortly before Mr. Gilani arrived in Washington.

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