Pakistan accuses India of funding Taliban to create instability

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Monday once again showed that it has few parallels in over-the-top posturing when its interior minister Rehman Malik accused India of funding the Taliban.

In a claim that would evoke ridicule not just here but also in the western capitals as well, Mr Malik said he was ���convinced��� that India was among the ���hostile agencies��� that were backing the Taliban to create instability in Pakistan.

This comes after revelations by western security experts that troubles within Pakistan were being fomented by the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Al Qaeda and extremist outfits operating from its soil.

According to the US think tank Stratfor, the series of attacks by Tehrik-e-Taliban across Pakistan indicated that the militants retained capabilities to strike at will. The think tank is of the view that the new wave of attacks has made it apparent that the Taliban has more resources available in various parts of Pakistan.

But Mr Malik, as expected, chose to demonise India in an interview to a Pakistani news channel. ���There are certain hostile elements against Pakistan and there are certain hostile agencies which do not want Pakistan to be stable.���
He also made the extravagant claim that he has proof to validate his charges.

���If the interior minister of India or anyone else wants to confront me, I will be very happy to confront them because I know what I am saying,��� he added. Mr Malik had last week said that Pakistan has ���solid evidence��� of India���s alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Balochistan province and that this could be shared with Indian ministers or representatives at any forum of their choice. ���I invite their interior minister or anyone else (to come to Pakistan) and I will put on record all the material about India���s interference in Balochistan. I���ll prove it to the world,��� he had said.

With Pakistan continuously attacking India for its own internal problems, New Delhi is also concerned about the recently approved US aid package. Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor told a TV channel that India supported US efforts, but is concerned about Islamabad diverting US aid and military equipment against India.

���Our bitter experience over the last 25 years has been, ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, money gets poured in from Washington into Islamabad, and a colossally high percentage of it is actually spent, not on the purposes that Washington intends, but to buy tanks and planes and artillery aimed directly at India,��� Mr Tharoor said in the interview. He said India applauded the US for supporting Pakistan economically and for equipping Pakistan to ���overcome the homegrown horror of terrorism���.

He said India wanted peace with Pakistan. ���Pakistan needs peace as much as we do. When will they come to the realisation that it���s in their interest to end this unproductive approach,��� he asked.