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Indian “intellectuals” and bleeding heart liberals have zealously believed that “dialogue” alone can address the animosity of the Taliban and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) mentors towards India. Perhaps, they have forgotten about the Taliban-ISI nexus to destabilise India through terror attacks.
The liberals were proved wrong when 75 American Cruise Missiles targeted Taliban and Al Qaeda strongholds in Afghanistan on August 20, 1998.
The Americans accidentally did India a favour. Instead of eliminating Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar, the cruise missiles destroyed an ISI camp in Khost, training terrorists of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen for terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
A few months later, the then ISI Chief Lt. General Ziauddin met the Taliban “President” Mullah Mohammad Rabbani and asked him to provide 20-30,000 “volunteers” for “Jihad” in Kashmir. Mullah Rabbani startled Ziauddin by offering 5,00,000 volunteers for this effort! Throughout the hijacking of IC 814 in December 1999, the Taliban was guided by ISI handlers, who took charge of the three terrorists released by us.
POST-IC814 TERROR
One of them, Omar Saeed Sheikh, proceeded to kill American journalist Daniel Pearl. Shortly thereafter, with the help of the then ISI Chief Lt. General Mahmud Ahmed (later fired at the instance of the Americans), Sheikh transferred $100,000 to Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers.
Maulana Masood Azhar, another recipient of Indian generosity during the hijacking, soon met Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Kandahar and organised the December 13, 2001, attack on our Parliament.
The third released terrorist, Mushtaq Zargar, now arranges cross-LOC infiltration from Muzaffarabad. Post 9/11, the Taliban, its Haqqani network affiliates, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, have targeted Indian workers and consulates across Afghanistan, culminating in the July 2008 attack on our Embassy in Kabul, and the subsequent attack on our Embassy officials in October 2009.
DESTABILISING GOVERNMENTS
Illusions that the Taliban would be reasonable partners in a dialogue for national reconciliation in Afghanistan have been shattered by revelations of the Mullah Omar-led Quetta Shura's involvement in the assassination of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani.
The ISI has a long-standing tradition of destabilising elected governments and meddling in elections within Pakistan.
Former ISI Chief Lt. General Asad Durrani revealed in Pakistan's Supreme Court that, during the 1990 elections, the ISI had provided “logistic support” to a Right-wing alliance, the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), and even received funds for the IJI from a Karachi businessman, Younas Hamid.
Durrani subsequently revealed, during investigations led by Interior Minister Major General Nasrullah Babar, that on the instructions of then Army Chief General Aslam Beg, a small proportion of funds collected for the 1990 elections was given to politicians like such as Ghulam Mustafa Khar (uncle of Hina Rabbani Khar), Hafeez Pirzada and Mairaj Khalid.
The bulk of the money collected from businessmen, according to Durrani, was deposited in the “K Fund” of the ISI, to finance external operations. .
. Durrani's predecessor, Lt. General Hamid Gul, who fancied himself as a strategic genius, met his Waterloo when he tried to dislodge President Najibullah's forces from Jalalabad, just after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Durrani's successor, Lt. General Javed Nasir, a fundamentalist of the Tablighi Jamaat, earned an even more notorious reputation.
When ISI involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts was established and Pakistan faced threats of further American sanctions, Nawaz Sharif was forced to fire Nasir, who has recently been indicted by the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague and faces charges of having violated UN sanctions by providing weapons to Muslim elements during the Bosnian civil war.
OSAMA AND TERRORISM
The names of subsequent ISI chiefs constitute a veritable “Rogues Gallery” of people involved in terrorism. General Ziauddin's activities have already found mention.
His successor, Lt. General Mahmud Ahmed, now like Nasir, a bearded activist of the Tablighi Jamaat, had to be fired by General Musharraf at the behest of the Americans, for his close ties to the Taliban, and other radical Islamic groups. General Kayani's tenure as ISI Chief saw Osama bin Laden finding haven in Abbottabad.
His successor Nadeem Taj, a Musharraf protégé, had the dubious distinction of also being eased out because of his hard-line Islamist propensities.
It was during Taj's tenure that the ISI's links with the 2008 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul was established. His successor and present ISI Chief, Lt. General Shuja Pasha, commenced his tenure with the 26/11 terrorist strike by the Lashkar-e-Taiba on Mumbai.
Pakhtun leader Mahmood Achakzai remarked: “There will be peace in Afghanistan within a month, provided the ISI stops exporting terrorism to that country.” Against this reality, does “dialogue” stand a chance?
The author is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan. >blfeedback@ thehindu.co.in
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