'LeT could take over Pakistan'

WASHINGTON - An US expert on South Asia says that Pakistan faces the danger of being taken over not by the Taliban, but by Lashkar-e-Taiba, and calls for disarming the groups militias.
'The danger of an Islamist takeover of Pakistan is real, Selig Harrison author, known for his pro-India views, wrote in Wednesdays edition of The Boston Globe.
'But it does not come from the Taliban guerillas now battling the Pakistan Army in the Swat borderlands. It comes from a proliferating network of heavily armed Islamist militias in the Punjab heartland and major cities directed by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a close ally of al Qaeda, which staged the terrorist attack last November in Mumbai, India.
He called on the US not to make new aid commitments to Pakistan until it takes decisive action to disarm Lashkar-e-Taiba in accordance with Article 256 of the Pakistan Constitution, which bars private militias.
'Disarming Lashkar-e-Taiba should be the top US priority in Pakistan because it would greatly reduce the possibility of a coup by Islamist sympathizers in the Armed Forces, Harrison wrote.
'The Islamists in the Army and the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are not likely to risk a coup in Islamabad unless they can count on armed support from Lashkar-e-Taiba and its allies to help them consolidate their grip on the countryside.
'Equally important, a strong US stand on Lashkar-e-Taiba is necessary to defuse India-Pakistan tensions that could lead to another war and to sustain the improvement now taking place in US relations with India, a rising power eight times larger than Pakistan. Stating that New Delhi views US readiness to pressure Islamabad on the militias as a litmus test of US friendship, the article said:To be sure, the Pakistan govt did make a show of cracking down on Lashkar-e-Taiba after the Mumbai tragedy... (but) the govt stopped short of breaking up the militias and destroying the weapons stockpiles at their four training camps near Muridke and Muzaffarabad, and it has yet to prosecute the six prisoners or to arrest Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, identified by US and Indian intelligence sources as the ringleader of the Mumbai attack, who is still at large.
'Under a new name, Jamat-u-Dawa, Lashkar-e-Taiba has continued to operate its militias, its FM radio station, and hundreds of seminaries where jihadis are trained, in addition to its legitimate charities and educational institutions. When the UN designated Jawat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist group, the Pakistan govt issued another ban and Jawat-ud-Dawa changed its name to the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation.
'Sunni extremist groups have been active in the Punjab since the creation of Pakistan and became the nucleus of Lashkar-e-Taiba when the ISI, with US funding, built up a Jihadi movement to fight against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba and key allies such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi still get ISI support and have close ties with other intelligence agencies, but how much and how close remain uncertain.
'Like al Qaeda to Americans, Lashkar-e-Taiba is a powerful emotive symbol to the 1.2 billion people of India. Hindu nationalists use this symbolism to fan fears of another Mumbai and to step up demands for reprisals against Pakistan. Increasingly, they are criticizing the US for giving Pakistan money and weaponry without monitoring whether they are being used to strengthen Pakistan forces on the Indian border, he said.
'Why, they ask, should the US give another $10.5 billion in aid, on top of the $14 billion already provided since 2001, to a govt in Islamabad that is unwilling or unable to disarm home-grown terrorists who threaten India?
'Why, indeed.