When Washington calls, terror does too

• The October 1 attack last year on the J&K Assembly came barely a fortnight after Pak President General Pervez Musharraf announced his joining the US in its campaign against terror. And 15 days before US Secretary of State Colin Powell was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi.

• The Kaluchak massacre which triggered the latest stand-off occurred on May 14 when US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca was in New Delhi and on her way to Islamabad.

• On June 5, a car bomb killed 16 near Megiddo in the West Bank after PLO leader Yasser Arafat met visiting CIA director George Tenet.

• On March 10, four days before US envoy Anthony Zinni was scheduled to arrive to broker peace talks, suicide bombers struck in a Jerusalem cafe killing 50.

It was this that led to the unprecedented Israeli military action in the occupied territories and the siege of Arafat’s compound. ‘‘If they struck at Chittisinghpora when Clinton was here two years ago (March 21, 2000), that was to send a message to the US,’’ said a senior official here.

‘‘But today, they want to force New Delhi’s hand given the diplomatic dividends it has reaped over the past few months. And also send a message to Musharraf that he cannot rein them in.’’ In fact, in an interview to a Lahore daily reported today, a Lashkar-e-Toiba leader, Abdul Rehman Makki, struck a strident note saying that over the ‘‘next few days, mujahideen will launch strikes targeting Indian Army convoys.’’

‘‘The entire nation is aware that Musharraf is with the oppressors,’’ he was quoted as saying. ‘‘The mujahideen will never accept such cowardly policies as they believe in embracing martyrdom.’’