'New Delhi's focus is jihadi terror launched from Pak'

NEW DELHI: Violence perpetrated by Pakistan-based jihadi groups, sometimes with Islamabad’s support, remains the most lethal and politically volatile strain of terrorism in India, as compared to Naxalism and insurgency in the northeastern states.

“New Delhi focuses on combating jihadi terrorism launched from Pakistan, which complicates US government’s efforts to engage Delhi in a more vibrant intelligence dialogue without compromising relations with Islamabad,” a cable sent from the US embassy here in 2006 informed Washington just ahead of a meeting of the US-India counter-terrorism joint working group.

The secret cable, which is part of the latest set of documents posted on the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, referred to the series of terror blasts through 2005, including at crowded markets and the Jama Masjid in Delhi, Ayodhya, Bangalore and Varanasi, to warn that the new targets in Hindi heartland and the South “reflect a new and dangerous trend that bears close watching”.

The US embassy cable listed the reasons why India focused on jihadi terrorism more intensely than it did on Naxalism and the northeast insurgency. It argued that attacks by the Naxalites and the northeastern outfits were largely confined to rural areas and carried out without any active external support. “The Naxals lack support, which makes them a purely Indian problem...because Naxalites and northeast groups are treated as domestic issues, they are largely handled by the individual states in which these groups operate,” it noted.

Also raising the extra-territorial dimensions of terror, the US embassy revealed that the then national security adviser MK Narayanan had told the UK high commissioner in March 2006 that he was less worried about infiltration across the LoC than he was about Pakistani intelligence support for terrorist modules elsewhere in India.

The cable also acknowledged that the northeastern insurgents and now Pakistani terror groups maintained bases on Dhaka’s side of the India’s eastern border with Bangladesh. They “infiltrate the lengthy, unfenced boundary back and forth at will, owing to a combination of poor governance, conducive terrain and bribery”, it added.

Also sharing New Delhi’s concerns over Kathmandu becoming an ISI operations hub, given its soft border with India, the cable cited interlocutor accounts to claim that the Nepalese government had turned a blind eye to India’s complaints in this regard.

The US embassy memo also echoed India’s concern over the growing sophistication and lethality of the Maoists as well as its expanding influence across Eastern, Central and Southern India. However, it ruled out any ideological affinity between the Indian and Nepalese Maoists, saying that their relationship was purely commercial with the latter selling them weapons.

The cable further conceded that terror outfits operating in the northeast were small in number with a reach limited to the region. “This variant of terrorism, like Naxalism, attracts little attention from Delhi,” it added.
Talking about the Prevention of Money Laundering Act enacted in 2005, the US embassy missive wondered why the Act did not provide for confiscation of properties, including non-cash assets, that are intended to be used by an individual terrorist.

Even the new anti-hijack policy came in for criticism in the communication from the US embassy. While sharing features of this proposed policy, the envoy wondered how a foreign aircraft hijacked over Indian airspace would be accommodated. It also asked how the first responders would prioritise between timeliness and chain of command in trying to make difficult decisions.

While rating forensics in India as “weak”, the cable alleged that terror investigations and court cases relied mostly upon confessions, often obtained under duress. “These factors, along with a creaky and corrupt judiciary, contribute to cases lingering in the courts for years,” it said.