Pak terror infrastructure live and kicking

New Delhi, Mar 26 (UNI) The ''Islamic Jihad'' the civilised world is grappling with today, was born and nurtured in South Asia by the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Bangladesh triumverate, and what is being witnessed in West Asia, particularly after the US-led war in Iraq in 2003, is the ''South Asian brand of jihad,'' according to a new book.

Terrorist groups in Pakistan, like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Harkat-ul-Jihad-Islami (HUJI), continue to regroup, expand and synergise. This poses threat not just to India but also to Pakistan itself as attempts to assassinate Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf revealed, said the book 'Global Jihad: Current Patterns and Future Trends rpt Trends,'' written by senior journalist Rajeev Sharma.

These groups, besides establishing a nexus with global terrorist outfits like al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, are using local criminal conduits for funding and smuggling weapons. Mafia syndicates in China, Russia, Italy, Greece and even in India are being used openly by these groups for smuggling weapons and recruits, the 291-page book said.

According to the book, Intelligence reports suggest, that the next al-Qaeda strike could be from the sea. This does not augur well for India with its shoreline dotted with several vital facilities in close proximity. It would also threaten the substantial US military assets in and around Indian Ocean.

Elaborating about the role of successive regimes in Pakistan in harbouring these rabid fundamentalist groups for one reason or another, the book says President Musharraf, engaged in a ''sisyphean labour'', to ostensibly roll back the ''huge rock of jihadi apparatus'', apparently under pressure from the US, only to find himself coming under it and the cycle repeating again and again because of the inherent contradictions in his policies.

Citing Pakistan's policy on Kashmir as one such contradiction, the book says, ''Musharraf's formula on Kashmir was actually a ploy to deflect the attention of the international community from the growing evidence of al-Qaeda' presence in Pakistan...and a clever tactic to divert the domestic attention from the issue of refusing to step down as the Chief of Army Staff.'' Calling the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir Pakistan's ''soft underbelly'', the book points out the amazing aspect of Pakistan playing the 'K-card' at the drop of a hat is that it has never raised the territory question and has confined itself to the alleged violation of human rights in Jammu and Kashmir.

''It is a clever move...Islamabad knows that whenever the question of territory comes up for talks, New Delhi will turn the world's attention to its soft underbelly -- Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir -- where there is no democracy or development worth the name.'' Explaining the pre-occupation of Pakistan with Kashmir, the book says the primary objective of Pakistan's interest in Kashmir is to secure its water resources. ''This objective (water resources) is likely to become more pronounced in view of the rapidly deteriorating water availability in Pakistan.

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