NEW DELHI: US Sen. John Kerry visited India yesterday and put fresh pressure on Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks, saying its powerful spy agency must be brought under control.
Ahead of talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kerry said Pakistan’s Inter Services-Intelligence (ISI) must stop operating independently of the government and end its links with militant groups.
“We would like to see an ISI that is reforming and brought completely under civilian control,” Kerry told the Indian Express. Kerry said the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, which India accuses of planning the Mumbai attacks, was set up by the ISI to fight Indian rule in Kashmir.
“They formed it and they know they formed it. But they didn’t know that the LeT would graduate into an enterprise of its own,” Kerry said, adding the ISI was not linked to Mumbai attacks “unless at some lower level.” Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari tried to put the ISI under the control of the Interior Ministry in July but hastily reversed his decision after protests from Pakistan’s military establishment.
In theory the ISI works under the control of the prime minister but in practice its functions are mainly run by Pakistan’s pervasive security setup. After talks with Indian leaders, Kerry said there was “strong evidence” that the Mumbai gunmen came from Pakistan and urged Islamabad to take legal action against the LeT. “We all know it was planned. It was planned over a period of time. We all know they (attackers) came from Pakistan and we understand the training that took place in that regard. So, there is strong evidence.
“I think it is imperative for Lashkar-e-Taiba to be taken on, the top leaders and anybody who is implicated in this attack needs to be properly prosecuted. It seems to me that is the real measure and the test here.” “In the United States, our intelligence agency is obviously held accountable, not just to the administration that runs it but also to the United States Congress and, through the Congress, to the people,” Kerry told reporters after meeting Singh. “It is imperative that the intelligence service of Pakistan not be able to make its own choices or operate outside of the standards that we have a right to expect,” said Kerry, a Democrat and the designated head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is close to President-elect Barack Obama.
Kerry said Washington’s assistance to Pakistan will depend on its “behavior” in dealing with militant outfits. “It is very important indeed that the assistance that we’re providing over the course of the next months be tied to (Pakistan’s) behavior,” Kerry said.
