India, Pak Exchanging Intelligence on Terrorists
Following stimulation by US, India and Pakistan have begun trading intelligence on Islamic extremists thus paving the way for an unprecedented cooperation between the two nuclear-armed nations.
The Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying that the CIA arranged for New Delhi and Islamabad to share information on Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the outfit blamed for last November’s attack on Mumbai.
Besides, the two countries are also exchanging information on Taliban commanders who are leading the militancy against Pakistan’s government.
“America hopes that when India and Pakistan see that they face a common threat in Pakistan based militant groups,” the paper said.
The journal also quoted US officials as saying that this could make Islamabad put more focus on the battle at home.
“We have to satisfy the Mumbai question, and show India that the threat is abating,” the official involved in developing Washington’s South Asia strategy said.
It may be mentioned that in the wake of Mumbai attack, India and Pakistan traded military threats across their border. In the attack, at least 170 people, including some foreigners, were killed.
Intelligence sharing on Mumbai has led to a somewhat more frequent exchange of information, US and Pakistani officials said. According to an official at Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, India and Pakistan have shared “a lot” of information with each other about the Mumbai attack.
