Pakistan’s provocation calls for befitting reply

Just a day ahead of the foreign secretary-level talks with India, Islamabad has once again provoked New Delhi by meeting Kashmiri separatist leaders. In India for foreign secretary-level talks on June 4-5, Pakistan foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani held parleys with hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Hurriyat Conference faction led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Coming despite clear signals from New Delhi to avoid such interactions, the meeting makes it amply evident that Islamabad’s patronage to anti-India militants continues unabated and it does not want to let go any opportunity to foment trouble in the Valley with separatists’ help.

While Pakistan’s open parleys with separatists may be a ploy to keep the Kashmir issue alive, foreign affairs experts see Jilani’s latest move as an obdurate attempt to deflect attention from the role of Pakistan’s Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The confession made by arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal confirming Pakistan’s involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was likely to come up during the two-day foreign secretary-level talks. Pakistan has so far remained elusive and defiant over the state role in the attack, but Jundal has provided a definite fillip to India’s stand. He was present in the control room in Pakistan from where the carnage was monitored and directed and confirmed the role of ISI in it.

New Delhi should not remain silent to such provocations, but register a strong protest against Pakistan’s interference in India’s internal affairs. India may be ready to move on all tracks to bring about a qualitative change in the relationship, but when one side resorts to outrageous machinations, everything else tends to go down the drain. This is what Pakistan should be made to understand. India should make it clear that no progress on the composite dialogue process between the two countries can be made unless Islamabad hands over the perpetrators of 26/11 to India for trial and dismantles terrorist camps on its soil.