Azhar8217;s detention

By detaining'' Harkat ul-Mujahedin rabble-rouser Maulana Masood Azhar, who so triumphantly walked to freedom on the Kandahar tarmac on D...

By 8220;detaining8221; Harkat ul-Mujahedin rabble-rouser Maulana Masood Azhar, who so triumphantly walked to freedom on the Kandahar tarmac on December 31, the generals in Pakistan have shown signs of desperation. The prospect of US President Bill Clinton merely flying over Pakistani territory during his South Asian sojourn has clearly rattled Islamabad. For the passover would not only undermine the legitimacy of Pervez Musharraf8217;s military regime, it would also present them with the uneasy prospect of losing, however temporarily, their favourite sounding board for anti-India diatribes on Kashmir.

Washington denies that it has presented a list of pre-conditions for a presidential visit to Islamabad, but besides repeating its call for a return to democracy, the State Department has increased pressure on Islamabad to crack down on terrorists on its territory. The 8220;detention8221;, which by all appearances amounts to nothing more than restricting the movement of the bespectacled cleric, may not amount to much. However,coming as it does just days after Musharraf8217;s offer to hop across to Afghanistan to negotiate extradition of America8217;s Enemy Number One, Osama Bin Laden, it cannot but be seen as part of the red carpet Islamabad is seeking to piece together for Clinton.

Action against Azhar is also an indication of the dangerous compulsions that are propelling the military regime. For a man who was little known before the hijackers at Kandahar sought his release in December, he has fast become a rallying point for jehadis across Pakistan. While traversing the country to address one rally after another 8212; tapes of which are subsequently smuggled into India 8212; he has famously vowed to gather 500,000 volunteers to be sent across the border. To this end, last week he formed another band of quot;holy warriorsquot; to step up the jehad in Kashmir.

It is no secret that among the hardliners heeding his call are large sections of the Pakistan army. As a senior official confirmed to an American newsmagazine, quot;There has been an alarmingfundamentalist trend in the army.quot; Hence, the prospect of the military regime apportioning harsh restrictions on Azhar is really out of the question. Yet, it is evident that official support and sanction for the jehadis, an overwhelming majority of whom are Sunni, is heightening sectarian tension in Pakistan. Therefore, the speculation that Azhar8217;s quot;detentionquot; is a result of his support to an extremist Sunni group said to be embroiled in sectarian violence. It8217;s a no-win situation for Islamabad: it cannot afford to silence Azhar and his ilk, yet their efficacy in keeping the Kashmiri cauldron bubbling is somewhat offset by the repercussions at home. It8217;s a tightrope that will only become increasingly difficult to negotiate.

In any event, in no way can Azhar8217;s detention be construed as a sympathetic response to daily exhortations by India that Pakistan eschew material support to cross-border terrorism, that it initiate action against the guilty men of Kandahar. However, a Clinton visit to a more conciliatoryPakistan could be in New Delhi8217;s interest. Only trouble is, restricting Azhar8217;s movements is not conciliatory enough.