ISI should be roped in to tackle terror: Expert

As India and Pakistan gear up to hold the second meeting of their joint anti-terror mechanism, a security expert on Tuesday suggested that the Inter-Services Intelligence be roped in to tackle the menace.

Describing Pakistan's ISI as "a powerful pillar" of that country's establishment, the expert said, "It could be realistic enough to hold dialogue with the ISI and aim at a new set of confidence building measures and mutual cooperation."

In a forthcoming book Transnational Terrorism, its editor Chintamani Mahapatra said New Delhi "should have woken up to the reality of the existence of a powerful pillar of Pakistan's ruling establishment" like the ISI.

Mahapatra, a professor of international affairs at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, recommended opening of a dialogue with the ISI for a "diplomatic solution of a quasi-military problem."

At the meeting of the joint terror mechanism slated on October 22, India is likely to raise with Pakistan the issue of the recent Hyderabad blasts.

Prior to this crucial conference, meetings on conventional and nuclear confidence building measures will be held on October 18 and 19 respectively.

Maintaining that lately "questions were being raised in Washington about the trustworthiness" of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in regard to the war against terror, Mahapatra asked whether "India should rely too much" on the US backing for him due to Washington's own compulsions.

Referring to the power and influence of ISI in the Pakistani establishment, the expert said this organisation was "unique in the sense that unlike in other countries, both democratic and Communist, it has evolved into a government within a government in Pakistan."

"It has no democratic control because of weak political institutions, lack of democratic governance and lingering periods of military rule in that country.

And, ironically, even the Pakistan Army seems to have had not much of a control over this agency," Mahapatra said.

Elaborating on the ISI role in creating, training and financing the Taliban to take on Soviet troops in Afghanistan, he said, "Nonetheless, it was not practicable to isolate ISI since it has good intelligence information on terrorist training camps, a large number of which were operating under its sponsorship or surveillance."

He said "it was clear that Musharraf was not a willing and pleased partner of the US in the latter's war against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He was under pressure to follow Washington's instructions."

When the Pakistan president replaced the ISI chief and purged some Islamic fundamentalist elements from important positions, it was "actually cosmetic," he said.

Mahapatra said the US should now realise that there was lack of adequate cooperation from Pakistan in fighting terror and strongly recommended that New Delhi should take the bull by the horn and work towards involving ISI directly into anti-terror talks.