It was widely publicised in our media recently that Pakistan’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Naseer Khan Janjua (Retd), had passed on sensitive intelligence to his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, that Lashkar-e-Tayyaba had slipped 10 terrorists into India for a major strike. As a result, counter-measures were taken on Monday, the day of Mahashivratri, across the country. Especial emphasis was laid on tightening security for Parliament House, major religious centres, key installations across the country, as well as prominent landmarks in leading urban centres, besides crowded market places in the metros.
Probably some of the heightened watch will continue for a period. Such was the orchestration of the news about official Pakistani help, it appears that the Indian side is seeking to prepare the ground for taking further steps to break the logjam on foreign secretary-level talks. The talks were meant to have been held about the middle of January but the plan received a setback on account of the Pathankot attack barely a fortnight before the proposed talks.
Scepticism began to be voiced in many quarters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had committed himself to too forward a position on Pakistan through his surprise visit to Lahore to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but there wasn’t enough forthcoming from the Pakistan side as reciprocation. Mr Sharif was either unwilling or unable to take matters forward. Delhi then tried to make much of the fact of some superficial arrests being made in Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot case, but had to drop down to lower registers when it became evident that no progress was being made in Pakistani efforts to apprehend those involved in Pathankot.
Nevertheless, the general atmosphere of positive expectations from Islamabad continued to be maintained here. This mood went down with the terrorist attack in Pampore in the Kashmir Valley. When asked, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar indicated to the media last week that Islamabad must first take steps on terrorism before his own visit to Pakistan (to start laying the road for comprehensive talks envisaged as a consequence of Mr Modi’s surprise stopover at Lahore) could become feasible.
The question thus arises, is the so-called intelligence-sharing at the level of NSAs the sop India is looking for? The interesting thing about such an exchange is that nothing need exist on the ground and the rabbit of a grave threat can be pulled out of the hat to meet demands of a diplomatic contingency. The Centre should engage in a thorough-going debate in Parliament to find endorsement for its moves on Pakistan. That will help bridge the credibility gap.
