Terror issue on Ghani agenda

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to cite the recent terrorist attacks at Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan to impress upon Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that terrorism emanating from Pakistan continues to be a threat to the war-torn country as well as for the region as a whole."

Ghani is set to visit India next week and his meeting with Modi is likely to see New Delhi citing inputs of western intelligence agencies corroborating the claim of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) that its militants were not involved in the attack in Jalalabad and that it was rather orchestrated by elements in Pakistan, sources told Deccan Herald.  

At least 35 people were killed and 100 others were injured in two back-to-back terrorist attacks in Jalalabad on April 18 last. A man identifying himself as Shahidullah Shahid and claiming to be a spokesman of the IS posted an online message stating that the terror organisation had carried out the suicide attacks.

Ghani too in a speech delivered shortly after the incident referred to the claim made by the IS, which has of late been trying to spread its tentacles to Afghanistan-Pakistan region.  

But Sheikh Muslim Dost, a well-known leader of the IS in Afghanistan, himself later contradicted the claim.

Media reports from Kabul quoted Dost saying that the IS had not carried out the blasts in Jalalabad.

“We condemn such an attack. This is an act of the Pakistani agencies to damage reputation of the IS,” Sheikh Muslim was quoted stating.

India also learnt from the US that western intelligence agencies too had reasons to doubt veracity of the IS claim taking the responsibility of the attacks in Jalalabad, according to diplomatic sources in New Delhi.

New Delhi suspects that the “state and non-state actors” of Pakistan might have a role in the attack in Jalalabad.

The suicide attack has been carried out at a time when New Delhi has been preparing to host Ghani, who is set to come next week on his maiden visit to India.

Pakistan-based Haqqani Network and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba earlier carried out attacks on Indian missions in Afghanistan, including not only the India’s embassy in Kabul, but also the consulates in Jalalabad and Herat.

The US had earlier blamed the Haqqani Network for attacks on Indian Embassy in Kabul and stated that the terror group had acted “as a veritable arm” of the ISI of Pakistan.

Islamabad is keen to have “strategic depth” in Afghanistan and is wary of India’s role in the reconstruction of conflict-ravaged country.

The Haqqani Network is suspected to have carried out the deadly attacks on Indian Embassy on July 7, 2008 and October 8, 2009. The 2008 attack killed four Indians — a diplomat, an Indian Army officer and two Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel — and 54 others. No Indian was killed in the 2009 attack, but 17 Afghans lost lives and 63 others were hurt.