Global Policy Forum

By Chidanand Rajghatta

Under intense pressure from India and the United States and scrutiny from the rest of the world, Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf has ordered the closure of the ISI wing that deals exclusively with terrorist groups in Kashmir, according to reports from Islamabad.

In a significant scaling down and reorientation of its Kashmir policy, widely seen as adventurist, Islamabad will be shutting the tap on outlawed terrorist Pakistan-based terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

However, it will continue to provide moral and diplomatic support – but not military training or supplies -- to "indigenous" Kashmiri groups like Hizbul Mujaheddin, provided such groups purge themselves of all non-Kashmiri Muslims.

General Musharraf is believed to have given these assurances to Washington through the offices of the US ambassador in Islamabad in an effort to forestall a threatened war by India and punitive measures by Washington.

"The decision has been made to cut off support to all non-indigenous groups in Kashmir," US officials were quoted as saying in the New York Times, which first reported the story out of Islamabad.

The officials said Musharraf believed that the change in policy would "cause a scaling-down of the freedom struggle, but will not be its end." He also felt that "lowering the level of insurgency is not too high a price to pay for protecting the country" against attack by India.

US officials in Washington confirmed that Musharraf has begun acting on his word, although Islamabad is keen not to appear as if it is cracking down on extremists at US bidding, and even less at India's.

"They need to do it for their own sake. These groups have been active in Pakistan too," a State Department official said, suggesting the action is self-prescription for Islamabad to cure itself of the extremist infection.

Indian officials have been more skeptical and say they would rather wait and see what effect the proposed actions at the ground level.

A senior diplomat told this paper that indications so far were that camps and terrorists continued to flourish in Pakistan's eastern sector and there was no let-up in their activities despite reports from Islamabad that they had been asked to fold up.

But there is a general feeling of relief here that the tensions in the region have begun to subside following the Pakistani action. The administration is now waiting to see how things unfold in Kathmandu, where they believe "it will be a good idea for senior Indian and Pakistani officials to meet," even if there was no prospect yet for a meeting of the two leaders.

Officials said there was no pressure or proposal from Washington for such a summit meeting. The administration is still considering sending a senior official, most likely Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, to the region.

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