The Pakistan Army has now come out with a new version of their spin on terror.



After blaming the Americans and Indians, and Afghans, and everybody else under the sun, the Generals finally admit their links with terrorist groups. But no, the Generals would have us believe, they do not support any terrorist group.



This new declaration came in response to the harsh rebuke from the Americans, especially those in the military establishment, recently. In a Senate Hearing, early this month, Chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford point blank said that ISI was tied to terrorist groups. More than anything else, this statement strengthen India’s argument at various international forums about Pakistan’s association with terrorist groups.



Although this is not the first time a senior US military official has made such an accusation against Pakistan. In 2011, US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, had told the US Congress that the Haqqani Network was a ``veritable arm`` of Pakistan Army. But with President Donald Trump expressing a hard-line approach to tame Pakistan for its intransigence, General Dunford’s statement indicates the mood in Washington. This was confirmed further by US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, at the same hearing, slamming the ISI and stating that it ran its own foreign policy. This was a clear acknowledgement of what has been known otherwise that ISI works on its own.



In response, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, director general Inter-Services Public Relations, came out with this new version: `There's a difference between support and having links. Name any intelligence agency which does not have links…the links can be positive``. The General has reaffirmed in clear terms that there would be no change in the attitude towards their agents—the terrorist groups.



This is what India has been saying all along—the Pakistanis, especially the Generals refuse to accept reality and live in a dangerous world of fiction, threatening the lives of not only those who live in the neighbourhood but also within the country.



India has not missed a chance to drive home this point at the UN and other international forums. The Indian diplomats and political leadership termed Pakistan as a ``Terroristan`` or the land of terrorism and said that unless Pakistan abjured from its continuing policy of supporting terror and terrorist leaders, there would be no peace in the region or in the world.



These statements came close on the heels of the BRICS declaration, which making a radical departure from the past, named Pakistani groups like the Haqqani Network, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and others. The signatories included China which, for years, have been fiercely, illogically, resisting India’s bid to ban Jaish and its leader, Masood Azhar.



Not that the civilian leadership and governments in Pakistan could be absolved from their share of their blame. On many occasions, the civilian leadership is in complicit with the diktats of the army, especially when it comes to India but there are occasions when the civilian leadership have no control over what the army does. But most often, the civilian leadership, willingly or otherwise, is quick to abdicate its responsibility when it comes to containing terrorist groups.



For instance, at a Senate meeting last month, the Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, said the responsibility of hunting down banned outfits rested with provincial governments, knowing fully well that even the federal government do not have full authority to do so. Early last year, Supreme Court-appointed panel, enquiring into terrorist attacks that killed over 78 people, including several lawyers, in Quetta, accused the then Interior Minister and his department of colluding with extremist elements by not responding adequately to the inputs received from security agencies. The report stated that “the Ministry of Interior is without clear leadership and direction; consequently, it is confused about its role in combating terrorism. The Ministry’s National Security Internal Policy is not being implemented…Proscribed organisations continue their illegal activities and new terrorist organisations are proscribed after long delays. Some terrorist organisations have still not been proscribed or prosecuted, even when their statements acknowledging terrorist attacks are broadcasted and printed” .



The Interior Ministry is not alone in the crime. The provincial government of Punjab allocated over Rs 6 billion to terrorist mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s outfit in 2013, less than five years after the Mumbai attack. Saeed is the main accused in the terrorist attack that killed over 160 persons. Other provincial governments have also been lax in checking the growth of terrorist groups like LeT which have been buying properties in several districts across the country. For instance, LeT has not only built new infrastructure in Lahore but also in other districts of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Similar has been the story of Jaish which has a stronghold in Bawahalpur and has expanded its base of operations to Karachi and other areas. Other terrorist and extremist groups have bought properties to set up their operational centres. All these purchases have been done with the knowledge and approval of the local administration.



In short, if the civilian leadership wanted to curb the activities of these groups, it could have done so. It is therefore not a question of capabilities, as the Foreign Minister told a Washington audience, but a willingness to treat terrorists as enemies.