Islamabad’s plan to liberate J-K has failed, says ex-Pak envoy Haqqani

Former Pakistani ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said on Monday his country’s strategy to use terrorists for the “liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from India … has backfired”.

Former Pakistani ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani said on Monday his country’s strategy to use terrorists for the “liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from India … has backfired”.

Pakistan's former ambassador Husain Haqqani said groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, which attack India, are spared. (AFP file photo)

Pakistan’s support of “jihadi groups”, he said, was primarily “a strategic investment” to extend influence in Afghanistan to its west and help in the “liberation” of Jammu and Kashmir. “That has backfired,” said Haqqani, who has been an outspoken critic of his government’s use of jihadists.

“Now, even though it has backfired, Pakistan has been very selective in going after these jihadi groups,” he told a PBS TV programme on the Lahore terrorist attack, echoing a widely held view of Pakistan’s dubious counter-terrorism efforts.

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Many US lawmakers use the word “duplicitous” to describe Pakistan’s policy of classifying terrorists as good and bad — those who target India and those who don’t.

“So, there are groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed which attack India. And they are spared,” Haqqani said.

“Once they are spared, it’s very possible that some of their members will actually join splinter groups which will attack Pakistan.”