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Our hands are clean: Pakistan

Shah Mahmood Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said his government would act against any group or individual based in this country if there was evidence of their involvement in the Mumbai attacks, even though its ability to deliver on the promise was in doubt after a retraction of an earlier decision, evidently under pressure from the Army, to send the ISI chief to New Delhi.

At a press conference here, Mr. Qureshi, who returned home from India on Saturday morning to attend an urgent Cabinet meeting on the fast deteriorating situation between the two countries, emphasised that the Indian leadership had not blamed the government, and was only suspecting “groups or individuals.”

Pakistan’s “hands are clean, we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said, asserting that his government attached “the highest importance to good neighbourly relations with India [that are] essential for regional peace and stability.”

Mr. Qureshi said it was of the utmost importance that the tensions between the countries be defused, and he appealed to the Indian and Pakistani media to act “responsibly,” calling for an end to “finger-pointing” and “hasty conclusions.”

An ambiguous statement by Mr. Qureshi at the press conference that the Cabinet had appealed to the people to stay “calm and united” and rise above their political differences “so that Pakistan is ready for any eventuality” set off speculation that the government was not ruling out a strong reaction from India.

Earlier in the day, the Inter-Services Intelligence too briefed Pakistani and Western media that it expected an “escalation” in tensions on the eastern border and that the “next 48 hours are crucial” as India was expected to formulate a plan of action in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

“They’ll have clarity of thought and we’ll have clarity of the situation in next 24-48 hours,” one of the officials said.

The officials who briefed the press did not rule out the possibility of an “eyeball to eyeball” situation between the two militaries, and journalists were told that comments by Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee were “threatening” and implied that the Pakistani intelligence agencies were involved in the attacks.

In remarks that seemed aimed at putting pressure on the U.S., the security officials said that in case the situation worsened, they would not hesitate to pull back soldiers from the western frontier, where the Pakistan Army is carrying out operation against the Taliban, to deploy them along the eastern border.

The Foreign Minister added to the speculation, saying “Pakistan must hope for the best, and plan for the worst.” He added, “You know what worst means.”

But there was also a line of thought that the Cabinet appeal to the people could be part of a government attempt to get the support of all political forces for any drastic step it may need to take within the country against one or several militant groups if evidence came up of their involvement in the Mumbai carnage.

Mr. Qureshi said the Cabinet had decided to take into confidence all political parties on the “evolving” situation.

“The situation is serious, let us not fool ourselves. When our neighbour and the people of India feel [the Mumbai attacks are] the 9/11 of India, as a responsible elected government we cannot be oblivious to the gravity of the situation,” he said.

Earlier, the government clarified that a “representative” of the ISI would visit India in connection with the investigations into the Mumbai attack, and not the Director-General as was announced on Friday.

A senior government functionary told The Hindu that the decision not to send Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, ISI chief, was made at 1.30 a.m. on Saturday at a meeting between President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

That there could be a change in the government’s decision was evident when the military spokesman distanced the Army from the announcement by the Prime Minister’s office that the ISI chief would go to India.

Mr. Gilani was by then in Lahore, where he was scheduled to spend the weekend. But as the negative reactions — not just from the military but also from opposition parties and the media — began to pour in, Mr. Gilani was summoned back to the capital immediately for a meeting with President Zardari and Gen. Kayani, at which it was decided that the ISI chief would not travel to India.

By then, government spokesmen had already called newspapers asking them not to lock their front pages as a major development was expected.

In the morning, the Prime Minister’s office announced that a special Cabinet meeting had been summoned to discuss the Mumbai attacks and its implications for Pakistan and the peace process with New Delhi in the light of the Indian government’s accusations.

The Prime Minister dispatched a special plane to bring Mr. Qureshi from New Delhi for the meeting.

Late on Saturday night, President Zardari, Mr. Gillani and Gen. Kayani were reported to be in a meeting, their second in 24 hours, this time to discuss the “security situation” in the country and the preparedness of the Pakistani forces to meet a possible military strike by India.

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