JOIN USWashington’s designation of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) as a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’ (FTO) is a sign that India and the US are on the same page in their reading of the IM. In effect, the FTO label to the IM means that US citizens are forbidden from providing any material support to the group. Besides, IM assets in the US will be frozen.
The US designation will not mean much in substantial terms as it is unlikely to undermine the IM’s operational capacity much. The IM receives its support and succour not from US citizens but from across the border in Pakistan. The tag will leave the IM’s lifeline to Pakistan untouched and largely intact. This notwithstanding, there is reason for India to draw quiet satisfaction from the US move. Unlike in the past, when Washington was reluctant to call a spade a spade, preferring to describe those who unleashed horrific violence on Indian civilians as ‘militants’ or ‘extremists.’
The IM has been described as an “India-based terrorist group with significant links to Pakistan.” This is the first time that a terrorist organisation based in India has been tagged by the US. Groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba are regarded FTOs too but these unlike the IM are based in Pakistan. Washington has done well to draw attention to the IM’s ‘significant links to Pakistan.’ It is now admitting in public what it has off late accepted in private – organisations like IM draw sustenance from Pakistan and it is this support that keeps these outfits alive.
The American action against IM will be welcomed in Delhi. India-US counter-terrorism co-operation is beginning to pay off. However, extending the terrorist tag to IM is at best only a first step. Washington must take this tag to its logical conclusion. It must take steps to eliminate its capacity for terror.
That will require cutting the lifeline that sustains it. This will require the Obama government to get Islamabad to act on the IM’s support structure. Hitherto, the US has focussed on pressuring Pakistan to act against those groups that threaten American lives and interests alone. This selective action has severely undermined the ‘war on terrorism.’ Washington will have to do more to convince India of its commitment to fighting anti-India terrorism.