New Delhi: The US-India 48-hour deadline is working. Pakistan on Monday closed down a prominent terror camp run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, and arrested
top LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. ( Watch )
In an operation backed by army helicopters, Pakistani troops swooped down on the Shawai camp outside Muzaffarabad, and after a scuffle, picked up Lakhvi from among a group of men. While the operation was confirmed by Pakistan army officials, there has been no official reaction from India.
However, privately, government sources said Pakistan needed to "do more". In Washington, the US said there were "some positive steps".
It was the first concrete step from Pakistan to address Indian concerns about terrorist groups like Lashkar, or even to arrest LeT's operational leaders. According to reports, around eight LeT operatives have been picked up. The Indian government will continue to ask for Lakhvi to be tried in India, while maintaining its demand to arrest other LeT commanders like Muzammil and Zarrar Shah, named by the terrorist nabbed in Mumbai.
The Pakistani action, coming after days of immense bellicosity with India and lusty demands for "solid evidence", has clearly come under the influence of US pressure. Given the nature of the Mumbai attack and the confessions of the arrested terrorist, there was little doubt in the minds of US, Indian and other international investigators about who exactly were involved.
In fact, by the time US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice arrived in Delhi, she had with her names and camps of those involved in the attacks, corroborated by US and Indian officials.
India would not have been able to achieve such outcomes by itself, given its lack of levers with Pakistan. But India was very careful not to engage in precipitate action, because it could have threatened the fledgling civilian government, opening it to another military coup, which India did not want.
However, Indian officials said the real action needed to be against the ISI, because closing down a couple of LeT camps was not enough, as long as the ISI retained the ability to create more such outfits. The LeT shares an umbilical relationship with the ISI. Besides, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa remained untouched, though in a separate report, the police chief in Pakistan's Punjab ordered that all religious bodies of banned outfits should be closed. It's unlikely the JuD will be closed because its charity work and schools are popular in Pakistan.
The LeT was banned in 2001 and its chief Hafiz Saeed placed under house arrest after the Parliament attack. But six months down the line, Saeed was out making incendiary speeches against India and recruiting jihadis. Even last Friday, Saeed was at Muridke, delivering a vitriolic speech against India and US.
Further, in an attempt to get India to climb down from its state of anger, the defence committee of the Pakistan cabinet (which is the civilian version of Musharraf's military NSC) asked all Pakistani departments to "act on" information shared by India on the Mumbai terror attacks, adding that Pakistani soil would not be allowed to be used for any "terrorist activity".
It renewed its "offer of full cooperation with India, including intelligence sharing and assistance in investigation as well as setting up of a joint investigative commission", said an official statement. However, it stressed that "all actions taken will be within the ambit of Pakistani law".
