In a sensational disclosure, Pakistan’s former NSA Mahmud Ali Durrani admitted that a Pakistani terror group had carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Terming it a classic trans-border terror event, the retired general, who had also served in the ISI, acknowledged that Pakistan’s foreign policy was to openly encourage terror and see it spread to neighbouring countries. Mr Durrani’s serial confessions at a security conference on Indian soil may not, however, carry too much weight in his country and is expected to have no effect on its policies on terror. What it establishes though is that there is someone just out of Pakistan’s labyrinthine military establishment who is prepared to tell the truth internationally.
Official Pakistan will treat the general’s speeches with disdain, and do nothing to expedite the 26/11 trial at home nor take forward the probes into the assaults on Pathankot and Uri. Its behaviour will conform to the rigid pattern already well established, that reeks of guilt over encouraging terrorist groups to attack India even as the ISI plays a diabolical role in training and arming such non-state actors. India knows that Mr Durrani’s remarks are meant for international consumption, specially at a time when Pakistan is struggling to recast its ties with the United States under Donald Trump. Islamabad’s tendency to speak in different voices is also too well known. India is fully aware of terror threats emanating mainly from Pakistan-inspired operations: one person confirming this isn’t going to make a major difference to the current hostile atmosphere, with a resumption of dialogue nowhere on the India-Pakistan horizon.
