CIA chief visited Pakistan 'to force changes'

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The Times of India - 4 December 2001

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=1538823206


CIA chief visited Pak 'to force changes' 

Chidanand Rajghatta
Times News Network (India)

WASHINGTON: Pakistan is being compelled to initiate wide-ranging
reforms, including changes in its strategic posture, under
unrelenting pressure from Washington to abandon its failed
militaristic policies, according to US officials monitoring the
fast-changing dynamics in the region.

The changes include purging the Pakistani establishment, including
its intelligence agencies, of radical elements, clamping down on
religious institutions advocating a perverted form of jihad, and
diverting resources, particularly US aid procured in lieu of
cooperation over the war on terrorism, to the social sector.

Islamabad is also being asked to re-evaluate its failed policies on
Afghanistan and Kashmir that has brought infamy on the country. CIA
Director George Tenet is the latest among a stream of US officials
who have visited Pakistan to ?persuade" Islamabad to initiate changes
in policy, including those concerning Kashmir.

In a not-so-furtive "secret visit" to Islamabad last weekend, Tenet
pushed for deeper intelligence ?cooperation? with the aim of getting
a better US oversight on Pakistani agencies, whose many maverick
operations - including Kargil -- have embarrassed even the moderates
in the Pakistani establishment.

Tenet?s visit will result in greater US intelligence and law
enforcement presence in Pakistan to keep track of jehadi elements and
organisations. Already, the FBI has been deployed in major Pakistani
airports to monitor the movement of jehadis and terrorists.

In the past, terrorists involved in major strikes in the west,
including the first World Trade Center bombings, assassination of CIA
personnel, and the embassy bombing in Africa, have moved freely in
and out of Pakistan. Pakistanis constitute the largest number of
foreigners arrested in the US following the September 11 carnage.
Pakistanis also constitute the greatest number of ?foreign fighters?
in Afghanistan.

The movement out of Pakistan of suspected jehadi elements is now
being severely curtailed following tightened security. US officials
say they want Islamabad to totally circumscribe militant activity,
and US intelligence agencies will seek even greater domestic
oversight once the hunt for Osama bin Laden is over.

US officials contest the view in some Indian quarters that Pakistan
is getting economic freebies without accountability.
?They are not getting anything free. There is plenty happening behind
the scenes,? one official said.

The $600 million aid package Washington has cleared for Islamabad
would almost entirely go towards the social sector spending, except
for a small portion for monitoring its borders with Afghanistan. At
the same time, Washington has agreed to help India monitor its border
with Pakistan to prevent terrorist infiltration.

Washington has carefully kept Kashmir out of the debate ?to give
Musharraf some domestic breathing space.? But privately, US officials
are advising Pakistan to break away from its aggressive and
militaristic Kashmir policy.

?We think the message has gone out that they are not going to able to
get Kashmir by force,? the official said, adding that ?it will be
some time before changes in the Pakistani policies begin to show.?
The administration, he said, was confident Pakistan would follow the
US prescription "for its own benefit and survival."

Pakistan?s argument that it is providing only moral and political
support to terrorists stands discredited after scores of jehadis from
ISI-backed organisations have publicly said they have fought in both
Afghanistan and Kashmir, moving from one place to another with ease.

Meanwhile shortly after Tenet?s visit, the Musharraf regime has begun
a survey and audit of the madrassas and their finances. According to
reports in the Pakistani media, Musharraf held a meeting on Monday to
frame new policies aimed at bringing more than 6500 madrasses into
the mainstream educational system.

?It was decided that audit of all the foreign-funded religious
schools be carried out and a mechanism be evolved to keep track of
funds being received from foreign sources.

"Syllabi of these schools would be reviewed and a component of
conventional subjects including Mathematics and English would also be
introduced so that students of these schools could be gainfully
employed after graduation,? Dawn newspaper reported.

[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. For more information see:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ]

 
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