US warning puts Pak in a tight spot

Rarely has a country been brought under watch when the head of a major power is visiting its neighbour. Pakistan finds itself in that unenviable position today, given its status as a nursery as well as university of international terrorism.

In the weeks preceding the visit of US President Barack Obama to New Delhi due to commence next Sunday, senior US officials, including secretary of state John Kerry, have cautioned Islamabad to ensure that no terrorist incident traceable to Pakistan occurs when Mr Obama is in India. The reported warning becomes necessary because of the track record of our western neighbour and its capability to strike within India directly or through its agents. The record is that Pakistan takes pride in seeking to create terrorist episodes when a US leader is visiting New Delhi. Its purpose, presumably, is to highlight its grievance against India in respect of Kashmir, although these petty tricks have not advanced its cause.

In the run-up to the Obama visit, Pakistan has heated up the LoC and is going all out to infiltrate terrorists. No incident has taken place, but the arrangements are extremely tight. A major incident had occurred in Kashmir when President Bill Clinton had visited.

Such was the level of US concern that when Mr Clinton was to fly out to Islamabad after concluding his visit here, the US Secret Service had kept two identical planes ready to fool a would-be attacker about which one the American leader was flying in, and Mr Clinton had to camouflage himself in order to board his flight even as his Secret Service “double” boarded the stand-by aircraft to further the deception. Such are America’s friends in Pakistan. It should be noted that security has been very tight when US leaders have visited Afghanistan. But Islamabad has not had to be delivered warnings. The reason is that, for Pakistan’s security planners India is a case apart.

It has lately come to light that the US as well as UK have asked Islamabad to send Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa mastermind who orchestrated the attack on Mumbai in 2008, to India to stand trial or send him out to stand independent trial elsewhere as nationals of many countries died in the attack. LeT and JuD are both on the UN watch-list for terrorist organisations, as is Hafiz Saeed, their ideological mentor. And yet, Saeed is busy organising a “million march” in Karachi the day Mr Obama arrives in India, openly, without fear of Pakistan authorities moving against him.