Pak Army and ISI Hit India Hard Civilian Government's Peace initiative being thwarted
Gopal Misra from New Delhi:

The Kargil history appears to be repeated between India and Pakistan, when the then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was talking peace with his Indian counterpart, Atal Bihari Vajpeyi, but his Army Chief Musharraf had sent army to occupy a part of Kashmir in the high areas of Kargil.

The present Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who presides over a delicate coalition government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League, is on an official visit to Washington. He has reassured the US Congressmen and other top policy makers that Pakistan and India are making good progress for better cooperation. However, Pakistani army has already embarked upon an anti-India mission undermining the civilian government. Its undercover agents are exploding bombs in various parts of the country killing innocent people and its army is deliberately violating the already established Line of Control in the state Jammu-Kashmir.

While Gilani was optimistic about on going efforts for better relationship between the two neighbours, ISI is believed to have masterminded blasts in India's two major metropolises, Banglore and Ahmedabad killing nearly 50 people and injuring over 100. According to Indian government sources, India's major towns are on the ISI hit list. Just before these incidents this week, ISI agents put a human bomb in front of the Indian Embassy at Afghanistan. Among those killed in the explosion-included India's defense attaché at the diplomatic mission.

During this visit, Gilani has also invited two major Indian corporate, Messrs. Ambanis and Essars to the round table conference being held to attract investments in Pakistan. Earlier, Salman Farooqi, deputy chairman of the Pakistan Planning Commission, had visited New Delhi and Mumbai to invite India's top investors, Messrs. Tata, Reliance, Essars and Suzlon to invest in power sector in Pakistan.

It has become almost a known fact that on the issue of the peace process between India and Pakistan, Gilani's civilian government is at loggerhead with its military establishment. The civilian government has so far failed to rein in the dreaded ISI. In fact, its efforts to put the ISI under the Interior Ministry headed by Rehman Malik, a close confidant of the PPP co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, has boomeranged. The government under the pressure of the army had to issue an early morning clarification at about 3 a.m. only next day that the ISI notification is being misinterpreted; the agency would continue to report to the Prime Minister.

The ISI is an India-centric agency, although on paper it reports to the Prime Minister, it is a state within a state. It gets direction from the army headquarters. It is yet to be ascertained whether this time new army general will topple the civilian government or President Musharraf would make a comeback. He is keeping a low profile, but he may only be bidding for time to make a comeback. It may be recalled that as army chief, Musharraf had ignored Sharif's efforts to work for peace with India; and now the same future awaits to Gilani, who is on a much weaker wicket. Both ISI and Pakistani army may not sack the Gilani government immediately, but it may ignore the civilian government to embark upon its anti-India mission.

It is quite well known that ISI has successfully evolved a network in India through underworld in various parts of the country in connivance with intelligence agencies of Bangladesh. The ISI-Bangladesh nexus was achieved during the Begum Zia's regime. Begum Zia has been ousted from power, but this nexus continues to flourish. However, under the pressure of India and USA, the present caretaker government in Bangladesh has recently enacted a strong legislation against terrorists. It has also promised to destroy the terrorists' camps in Bangladesh. ISI through its underworld and Afghan connection has already hit Indian cities of Banglore and Ahmedabad. Just before these anti-India actions, ISI had planted a human bomb to attack Indian embassy in Kabul. When the US intelligence agency, CIA, gave proof of the ISI mischief in Kabul and its close relationship with the terrorist outfits in Afghanistan and other parts of the world, Gilani had no explanation to offer.

Pakistan watchers do not rule out more bloody skirmishes on the India-Pakistan border, if not full confrontation, between the two countries. In spite of the claim of a civilian control on ISI, there is no abetting in its anti-India approach. It continues nefarious jihad against India. The Pakistani defense establishment is keen to get rid of the civilian government. A confrontation with India may help Musharraf's army to sack the civilian face of the present Pakistani establishment.