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ISI 'ordered' to keep off jehadi outfits in J&K
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD, JAN. 2. Pakistan today declined to comment on reports that its President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, had ordered the Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI) to end backing the militant groups in Kashmir, while Western diplomats maintained that there was a big shift in the government's policy of supporting the ``jehadis.''
In response to a question on a report in the New York Times about the ISI being asked to stop supporting the ``jehadi'' outfits in Kashmir, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Aziz Ahmed Khan, said he was not aware of the report and development.
Quoting senior officials in the Musharraf government, the newspaper said the future support of the regime would go only to the Kashmiri groups with local roots that are not part of the ``jehad'' (holy war). The decision would end the armed activities of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Lashkar-e-Taiba.
A senior Western diplomat, while declining to comment on the veracity of the report, maintained that there was a discernable shift in the policy of the Musharraf government towards the ``jehadi'' outfits in the last few weeks.
``There is little doubt that the Pakistan government has launched a crackdown on the ``jehadi'' outfits and extremist religious organisations in the last few weeks. Today virtually all the top leaders of the militant outfits and religious parties are either under house arrest or detention.
``All I would like to say is to repeat the recent statement of the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, urging for more time to Gen. Musharraf. There is a lot of meaning in the statement of Mr. Bush'', the diplomat said.
The report in the New York Times was partly corroborated by a functionary of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. ``Yes it is a fact. We see a distinct change in the attitude of the Pakistan government towards the Pakistan based ``jehadi'' outfits. There is every possibility that we could be the beneficiary of the changed policy'', the functionary told The Hindu.
The New York Times said groups such as the Hizb would get ``moral and political'' support from the Pakistan government, but not military training and weapons. They would also be required to purge all non-Kashmiri Muslims, including the Arabs and Chechens who have fought in the groups behind the attack on Parliament.
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