New Delhi
4 October 2006
"How else can we ask Pakistan for information about terrorist acts
except through a mechanism like this ..? [It] is yet to take off, we have to test it, and we
will test it," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday told reporters aboard Air India
One on his way back home from South Africa but foreign policy analysts and observers
tracking India's engagement with Pakistan are neither amused nor convinced.
Where is the mechanism? they wondered, pointing out that the intelligence agencies
have been kept in the dark about its composition and the Ministry of External Affairs is
not any wiser now than it was at the time of signing of the India-Pakistan Joint Statement
on September 16 at Havana in Cuba on the sidelines of the 14th NAM Summit.
"We already have a home secretary-level mechanism to take up such matters but
everytime we draw a blank. What makes the government think that this new mechanism
will succeed?" Mr G Parthasarathy, a former High Commissioner of India to Islamabad,
wanted to know. "This mechanism will work only if there is a willingness on the other
side to cooperate, otherwise this mechanism will be an escape route for Pakistan," he
added.
A former director of Intelligence Bureau, Mr Ajit Doval, echoed similar sentiments.
"Sharing of denied knowledge to an adversary without being convinced of his motives for
using that information is totally non-professional. This knowledge, which also implies
gaps in knowledge, would be of tremendous operational value to the adversary for
refining their operations and for operating from a higher level of deniability," he said.
"Having said that," he pointed out, "if you do not share information, they will accuse you
of not having any evidence and of making motivated allegations."
Officials have told reporters in select briefings that New Delhi will present to Islamabad
the names of Pakistani nationals suspected to be involved in the Mumbai train blasts
along with related evidence through the joint anti-terrorism institutional mechanism
recently agreed upon by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President General Pervez
Musharraf at Havana in Cuba.
Meanwhile, the "Dawn" newspaper published in Pakistan quoted United States
Ambassador to Islamabad Ryan C Crocker as saying, "India should communicate with
Pakistan by having direct contact instead of talking about the Mumbai train blasts in the
public .... We hope that both the countries would keep all their channels open to rectify
their misunderstandings", suggesting that statements making accusations would serve
no purpose.
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