FACING THE TRUTH - BY - IRFAN HUSAIN

Even in my remote bit of paradise, news of distant disasters filters
through: above the steady sound of waves breaking on the sandy beach
in Sri Lanka, I was informed by several news channels about the
sickening attacks on Mumbai. My Internet connection is erratic and
slow, but nevertheless, I have been bombarded with emails, asking me
for my take on this latest atrocity.

Over the last few years, I have travelled to several countries across
four continents. Everywhere I go, I am asked why Pakistan is now the
focal point of Islamic extremism and terrorism, and why successive
governments have allowed this cancer to fester and grow. As a
Pakistani, it is obviously embarrassing to be put on the spot, but I
can see why people everywhere are concerned. In virtually every
Islamic terrorist plot, whether it is successful or not, there is a
Pakistani angle. Often, foreign terrorists have trained at camps in
the tribal areas; others have been brainwashed in madressahs; and many
more have been radicalised by the poisonous teachings of so-called
religious leaders.

Madeline Albright, the ex-US secretary of state, has called Pakistan
'an international migraine', saying it was a cause for global concern
as it had nuclear weapons, terrorism, religious extremists,
corruption, extreme poverty, and was located in a very important part
of the world. While none of this makes pleasant reading for a
Pakistani, Ms Albright's summation is hard to refute. Often, the truth
is painful, but most Pakistanis refuse to see it. Instead of
confronting reality, we are in a permanent state of denial. This
ostrich-like posture has made things even worse.

Most Pakistanis, when presented with the fact that our country is now
the br eeding ground for the most violent ideologies, and the most
vicious gangs of thugs who kill in the name of religion, go back in
history to explain and justify their presence in our country. They
refer to the Afghan war, and the creation of an army of holy warriors
to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. Then they go on to complain that
the Americans quit the region soon after the Soviets did, leaving us
saddled with the problem of jihadi fighters from all over the Muslim
world camped on our soil.

What we conveniently forget is that for most of the last two decades,
the army and the ISI used these very jihadis to further their agenda
in Kashmir and Afghanistan. This long official link has given various
terror groups legitimacy and a domestic base that has now come to
haunt us. Another aspect to this problem is the support these
extremists enjoy among conservative Pakistani and Arab donors.
Claiming they are fighting for Islamic causes, they attract
significant amounts from Muslim businessmen here and abroad. And
almost certainly, they also benefited from official Saudi largesse
until 9/11.

Now that government policy is to distance itself from these jihadis,
we find that many retired army officers have continued to train them
in camps being run in many parts of Pakistan. A few weeks ago, Sheikh
Rashid Ahmed, a prominent (and very loud) minister under both Nawaz
Sharif and Musharraf, openly boasted on TV of running a camp for
Kashmiri fighters on his own land just outside Rawalpindi a few years
ago. If such camps can be set up a few miles from army headquarters,
what's to stop them from operating in remote areas?

Many foreign and local journalists have exposed aspects of the terror
network that has long flourished in Pakistan. Names, dates and
addresses have been published and broadcast. But each allegation has
been met with a brazen denial from every level of offici aldom. Just as
we denied the existence of our nuclear weapons programme for years, so
too do we refuse to accept the presence of extremist terrorists.

For years, it suited the army and the ISI to secretly harbour and
support these groups in Pakistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan. While
officially denying that they had anything to do with these jihadis,
money and arms from secret sources would reach them regularly. Despite
our spooks maintaining plausible deniability, enough information about
this covert support for jihadis has emerged for the fig-leaf to slip.
And even if the intelligence community has now cut its links with
these terrorists, the genie is out of the bottle.

Each time an atrocity like Mumbai occurs, and Pakistan is accused of
being involved, the defensive mantra chanted by the chorus of official
spokesmen is: "Show us the proof." The reality is that in terrorist
operations planned in secret, there is not much of a paper t rail left
behind. Nine times out of ten, the perpetrators do not survive to give
evidence before a court. But in this case, one terrorist did survive,
and Ajmal Amir Kamal's story points to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. The
sophistication of the attack is testimony to careful planning and
rigorous training.

This was no hit-and-run operation, but was intended to cause the
maximum loss of life.

Pakistan's foreign minister said that Pakistan, too, is a victim of
terrorism. While this is certainly true, the rest of the world wants
to know whey we aren't doing more to root out the training camps, and
lock up those involved. Given the vast un-audited amounts from the
exchequer sundry intelligence agencies lay claim to, their failure to
be more effective against internal terrorism is either a sign of
incompetence, or of criminal collusion. Benazir Bhutto's murder, after
an earlier attempt and many warnings, is a reminder of how poorly we
are served by our intelligence agencies.

And while the diplomatic fallout from the Mumbai attack spreads and
threatens to escalate into an armed confrontation, the biggest winners
are those who carried out the butchery of so many innocent people. It
is to their advantage to prevent India and Pakistan from coordinating
their fight against terrorism. Tension between the two neighbours
suits them, while peace and cooperation threatens their very
existence.

The world is naturally concerned about the danger posed by these
terror groups to other countries. However, the biggest threat they
pose is to Pakistan itself. Until Pakistanis grasp this brutal reality
and muster up the resolve necessary to crush them, these killers will
tear the country apart.