Has Chinese pressure forced Pakistan U-turn on anti-India terror groups?
Plans to disarm Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba come after two deadly attacks on Indian military bases – and amid Beijing’s security fears for its investments
China’s disapproval of Pakistan’s hosting of anti-India terror organisations has prompted Islamabad to quietly start working on plans to disarm these jihadist groups, amid an unusually public row between the civilian government, the all-powerful military and the media over the policy shift.
Pressure has been mounting at home and abroad for action against terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba after two attacks on Indian military bases this year, the last one in September in which militants killed 18 Indian soldiers in the troubled Kashmir region.
The government is yet to make an official announcement about expanding a nationwide counterterrorism operation, launched against Taliban insurgents and sectarian groups in 2014, to encompass India-focused jihadis. Pakistani officials have so far been telling foreign diplomats that anti-India groups have been spared because the government fears sweeping action would prompt these militants to join the Taliban insurgency.
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National security policy and decision-making is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, in part because it is considered the domain of the military, which has directly ruled the country for nearly half its 69-year history and continues to exert enormous influence.