For bringing permanent Indo-Pak peace, the Obama administration must push Pakistan to hand over Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists responsible for the Mumbai attacks and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to India, a former top White House official has said.
Besides helping the two countries pave the way for a constructive dialogue on Kashmir, the United State needs to disrupt the Lashkar's fundraising and planning, said Juan C Zarate, who was the deputy assistant to the US president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism from 2005 to 2009.
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Besides helping the two countries pave the way for a constructive dialogue on Kashmir, the United State needs to disrupt the Lashkar's fundraising and planning, said Juan C Zarate, who was the deputy assistant to the US president and deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism from 2005 to 2009.
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The focus should be on unearthing names and disrupting cells outside Pakistan that are tied to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which involves pressuring Islamabad for the names of westerners who may have trained at Lashkar," he wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.
He said the Obama administration must push Pakistan to hand over LeT terrorists responsible for the Mumbai attacks and Dawood Ibrahim to India, in order to bring permanent peace between the two countries.
He said the Obama administration must push Pakistan to hand over LeT terrorists responsible for the Mumbai attacks and Dawood Ibrahim to India, in order to bring permanent peace between the two countries.
'Lashkar wants to derail peace talks'
Currently a senior advisor at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank, Zarate warned that LeT would try to derail the future Indo-Pak talks.
"The group does not want peace talks to resume, so it might act to derail progress. Elements of the group may see conflict with India as in their interest, especially after months of unrest in Kashmir. And the Pakistani government may not be able to control the monster it created," he wrote.
"The group does not want peace talks to resume, so it might act to derail progress. Elements of the group may see conflict with India as in their interest, especially after months of unrest in Kashmir. And the Pakistani government may not be able to control the monster it created," he wrote.
'India's superior forces threaten Pakistan'
Photographs: B Mathur/Reuters
A war in South Asia would be disastrous, he said. In addition to the human devastation, it would destroy efforts to bring stability to the region and disrupt terrorist havens in western Pakistan, he said.
"Worse, the Pakistani government might be induced to make common cause with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, launching a proxy fight against India. Such a war would also fuel even more destructive violent extremism within Pakistan," he wrote.
"In the worst-case scenario, an attack could lead to a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. India's superior conventional forces threaten Pakistan, and Islamabad could resort to nuclear weapons were a serious conflict to erupt," Zarate said.
"Worse, the Pakistani government might be induced to make common cause with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, launching a proxy fight against India. Such a war would also fuel even more destructive violent extremism within Pakistan," he wrote.
"In the worst-case scenario, an attack could lead to a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. India's superior conventional forces threaten Pakistan, and Islamabad could resort to nuclear weapons were a serious conflict to erupt," Zarate said.
'Bhutan meet set stage to restart talks on Kashmir issue'
Photographs: Mian Khursheed/Reuters
Noting that LeT is a Frankenstein's monster of the Pakistani government's creation 20 years ago, Zarate said Lashkar holds the match that could spark a conflagration between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. The US should be directing political and diplomatic capital to prevent such a conflagration.
The meeting between India and Pakistani officials in Bhutan this month -- their first high-level sit-down since last summer -- set the stage for restarting serious talks on the thorny issue of Kashmir, Zarate wrote.
"Washington has only so much time. Indian officials are increasingly dissatisfied with Pakistan's attempts to constrain the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and remain convinced that Pakistani intelligence supports the group," he wrote in the Post.
The meeting between India and Pakistani officials in Bhutan this month -- their first high-level sit-down since last summer -- set the stage for restarting serious talks on the thorny issue of Kashmir, Zarate wrote.
"Washington has only so much time. Indian officials are increasingly dissatisfied with Pakistan's attempts to constrain the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and remain convinced that Pakistani intelligence supports the group," he wrote in the Post.
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