India serves demarche on Pakistan (Mumbai terror attacks)
NEW DELHI: The High Commissioner of Pakistan Shahid Malik was called to the Ministry of External Affairs on Monday evening and served a demarche which asked Islamabad to take “strong action” against those responsible for the Mumbai terror strikes.
IN CUSTODY: Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Amjad Amir Kamaal, the only gunman arrested during the counter-offensive by the National Security Guard commandos, is undergoing treatment at an undisclosed location in Mumbai. This handout photo has been released by the police. Mr. Malik was informed that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by elements in Pakistan and told that Islamabad’s actions “needed to match the sentiments expressed by its leadership that it wishes to have a qualitatively new relationship with India,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prakash.
The decision to summon Mr. Malik was taken at the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister on Sunday and the sentiments expressed in the demarche are more or less on the lines of the observations last week by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Despite the chill in Indo-Pakistan ties, sources here doused speculation of a troop build-up on the western borders. They also maintained that no decision had been taken so far on cancelling the Indian team’s cricket tour to Pakistan.
“Mumbai was a serious development. The response has to be measured and calibrated and in keeping with the status of India as a responsible power,” they said. “We have decided that we will collate all the information, piece together the picture and then act,” the sources added, while pointing out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had not named Pakistan for the attacks while External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said “certain elements” in Pakistan appear to have backed the terror strikes.
There was no move to send additional troops to the borders with Pakistan, they said. The troop activity on the western borders was what normally took place this time of the year in the form of small exercises and unit rotations. Even if tensions were to rise, the new war doctrine obviated the need to march thousands of troops from distant cantonments to the border as was the case during ‘Operation Parakram’, the troop build-up that had taken place after the Parliament House attack in December 2001.
This was because the Army now relied on the doctrine of ‘Cold Start’ under which troops would be rushed to the border to link up with those already there instead of the slow and steady accumulation of firepower and men that used to take place earlier.
Sources said India recognised that there were at least four competing centres of influence in Pakistan – the democratically elected government led by Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the jehadi elements. “Today each is trying to influence the course of the nation. Sometimes, some of them may converge. On other occasions, they may clash,” they said.
On the cricket tour, the sources said, an advance team would be sent to assess the security situation. In normal circumstances, the tour might have taken place but presently “we cannot be sure.”