How India is fomenting trouble in Pakistan via Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The ban of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) by the Pakistan Government last fortnight was a tacit admission to the situation having gone completely awry in the province.
For 17 months now, the BLA has engaged the battle-hardened security forces with an alarming successes. Every now and then, BLA activists slip through the security cordon that has been thrown around sensitive installations to blow up bridges, rail tracks, electricity towers and gas pipelines.
The BLA's firepower and its ability to undertake terrorist attacks with impunity had months earlier raised the spectre of a foreign power assisting the militant group.
Though several officials privately claimed that the Indians were fanning the discontent in Balochistan, they desisted from naming it publicly.
Such diplomatic niceties were cast aside in December when New Delhi accused the Pakistan Army of large-scale human rights abuses in Balochistan. Not only did Islamabad ask New Delhi to douse the fire of insurgency in its own backyard, President General Pervez Musharraf even told a TV channel that India was pumping funds into Balochistan to create mischief there.
New Delhi maintained a stony silence.
In late February, Musharraf presented Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on his visit here, documents detailing how India was using bases in Afghanistan to foment trouble in Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Till date, Afghanistan hasn't rebutted the charges.
Yet, as Islamabad battles insurgents, it is simultaneously under American pressure to improve ties with India and Afghanistan.
As one senior official told this correspondent, "Matters are improving and we are talking to the Afghans and Indians all the time. We, in no way, want to put roadblocks in the composite dialogue with India and do not want to annoy the Afghans and give them an excuse to run to New Delhi."
It is because of this geopolitical compulsion that no Pakistani minister or official is willing to go on record about India's destabilizing manoeuvres in Pakistan though there is no dearth of hints.
Some feel that the BLA and tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, whose tribe is at the vanguard of the armed movement, haven't been weaned away from the path of violence only because India has stoked their aspirations -- and helped augment their stockpile of weapons.
They say the BLA's demands are what most independent states encounter in their history. These include greater autonomy, a better share in the revenue accruing from the resources of the province, and a check on development projects, which threaten to alienate the tribals from their land.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed is a man who wears many caps: he is the Pakistan Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, the secretary-general of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, and widely regarded as Musharraf's close confidante.
A former editor of a major national daily, The Muslim, Mushahid knows a thing or two about the unrest in Balochistan.
It was a parliamentary committee headed by him that had recommended that the government grant greater rights to Balochs and ensure their province wasn't forgotten in the rapid economic development.
Mushahid did not shy away when asked in an interview what India was up to inside Afghanistan at his residence in Islamabad's upscale E-sector. Though the joke here is that the E is for Extremely Rich, Mushahid's own home is modest by Pakistani standards.
His phone keeps ringing as he takes calls from politicians of all ideological hues. Between calls, he talks about the great game India is playing inside Afghanistan and its possibility of destabilising the region.
Excerpts: Why should Pakistan complain about India having several consulates in Afghanistan?
They are two sovereign states. India currently has an extensive diplomatic presence in Afghanistan. It includes the Indian embassy in Kabul and another four consulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.
These Indian diplomatic missions serve as launching pads for undertaking covert operations against Pakistan from the Afghan soil. Particularly, the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad and their embassy in Kabul are used for clandestine activities inside Pakistan in general and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan in particular.
Are you alleging that the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is involved?
Indian diplomatic and RAW officials have significant ingress in the Afghan ministry of tribal affairs, and are exploiting it to conduct covert activities. Indian agents are instrumental in arranging meetings of tribal elders and Afghans with dual nationalities with Indian consulate officials in Jalalabad, and assisting them in spotting and recruiting suitable tribal elders from Jalalabad and Pakistan's North and South Waziristan agencies for covert activities.
Are you then saying that RAW has managed a strong presence inside Afghanistan after the ouster of the Taliban?
RAW has established its training camps in Afghanistan in collaboration with the remnants of the Northern Alliance. Approximately 600 Ferraris, or Baloch tribal dissidents, are getting specialized training to handle explosives, engineer bomb blasts, and use sophisticated weapons in these camps.
Has India revived its links with the leaders of the erstwhile Northern Alliance who are in power in Afghanistan today?
India has invested heavily in its old connections with the leaders of the erstwhile Northern Alliance. It has sizeable support in Afghan parliament. Before the Afghan elections last year, the Indian ambassador called the Northern Alliance's major leadership at his residence and paid them a handsome amount to run their election campaign.
Are allegations of India placing troops in Afghanistan correct?
India is gradually increasing the number of its paramilitary personnel in Afghanistan. It is stationing them there on the pretext of providing security and protection to the Border Roads Organization, which is constructing the Zaranj-Dilaram road, and its consulates.
From a few personnel, the strength of Indian troops has reached almost that of a company size force and even includes Black Cat Commandos.
Is the Afghan state helping India in these operations?
Yes, the Afghan Police, the Border Security Force and customs officials facilitate the visit of Indian diplomatic staff and intelligence agents to border areas, and help them hold meetings with dissatisfied pro-Afghan dissidents, anti-state elements, and elders of the area.
In this context, meetings of tribal elders are arranged by the Afghan intelligence agency (Riyast-i-Amniyat-i-Milli or RAM) at the behest of those RAW officials who serve in different diplomatic offices of India in Afghanistan. Indian agents are carrying out clandestine activities in the border areas of Khost and in Pakistan's tribal areas of Miramshah with the active support of Afghan Border Security Force officials.
If you remember, after Pakistan took action against the Balochistan Liberation Army and other elements inside the province, the Indian external affairs ministry was quick to issue an unprecedented statement in December 2005; their strategic writers have started focusing on Balochistan in their articles. This does not bode well for peace and stability in the region. I have no doubt that this will backfire on India.