Tariq Khosa blames leT for 26/11, ignores ISI
Sensational as they maybe, there was little material in former Pakistani top investigator Tariq Khosa’s recent revelations, about how the 26/11 terror attack was planned in his country, that India didn’t already know or at least suspect. Still, the additional verification provided by Mr Khosa is welcome for it surely adds more weight to India’s long-standing argument that the attack was indeed conceived and executed from Pakistan.
Moreover, Mr Khosa is not just any talking head who Pakistan may choose to write off as some sort of an ‘Indian agent’; he was chief of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency Tariq and in that position, had led Pakistan’s probe into the 26/11 attack. In his article in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Mr Khosa lists seven pieces of evidence, as gathered by his probe team, that point to Pakistan’s involvement. While Mr Khosa and also Dawn newspaper deserve full credit for publishing such a bold article, it is important that the commentariat in India not get wholly carried away by the sum and substance of the article. Two issues need to be flagged in this context.
First, Mr Khosa does not mention the nefarious role of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency which, we know, masterminded the attack. Pakistani-American David Headley, who is currently serving a prison term for his role in 26/11, had confessed that he took direct orders from the ISI as well as the leT to survey the target areas before the attack. Headley’s story has been backed-up by his co-conspirator Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Proof of the ISI’s involvement in 26/11 has also come from the testimony of Zabiuddin Ansari, the Indian Mujahideen operative who was the local handler of the Pakistani terrorists and is currently in the custody of Indian security officials. Mr Khosa mentions only the leT in his article but leaves out the well-known fact that thejihadi outfit has long been the ISI’s handmaiden.
The second issue here is the false equivalence that Mr Khosa and other Pakistani officials have sought to frame between Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and alleged India-sponsored terrorism such as the 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts and the unrest in Balochistan. While there is no doubt that the perpetrators in the first case must be brought to justice, the argument that Pakistan may be holding back on the 26/11 trial because there has been little progress in the Samjhauta Express case is facile. Also, let us not forget that the US sanctioned an leT operative for his role in the 2007 blasts.
As for Balochistan, the problem is that Pakistan refuses to accept that there is a genuine insurgency in that State that has nothing to do with India and almost everything to do with ISI brutality and atrocities in the region. It’s, of course, convenient for Pakistan to blame India for fuelling the insurgency in Balochistan but there is no reason why Indian should accept this false narrative and tag itself as guilty of terrorism. It has fallen into this trap before at Sharm-el Sheikh and now must be careful.