It is for the first time after 26/11 terror attack during secretary-level talks in New Delhi on July 4, Indian government has maneuvered in a sensible manner by not sharing any details on Abu Jindal’s startling revelations, otherwise Pakistani authorities would have made mockery of proofs once again. So if the Indian government has learnt a lesson from its past mistakes and realized futility of sharing investigation reports with Pakistan, who terms dossiers as literature, then this strategy is commendable.  

We have always been confused about our foreign policy towards Islamabad. India is a country where the political leadership has full control over government machineries, while in a complete contrast to this the military and the ISI have been dictating terms over elected governments in Pakistan. So under the circumstances, a democratic country like India finds it difficult to deal with a country having a history of precarious democracy and where an elected government has no say when it comes to decision making as the remote control lies in somebody else’s hand.

So far, post-26/11 attack, and after any new revelations in the case, the response of Indian government has been tactless. As far as tackling state-sponsored terrorism is concerned, we lag on both fronts: policy making and implementation. Compiling evidences and providing them to Pakistani authorities and then expecting they will take action against culprits is a chimera and nothing else.

We must learn from the United States how to fight against terrorism, albeit we as a country are not that much influential, otherwise our ineffective policies will never yield any success. After 9/11 WTC attack, there has not been a single attack in the US that shows what kind of control the country has on its counter-terrorism mechanism.

Unlike New Delhi, Washington never bothered to share any investigation details post 9/11 with anyone or hand over any dossier to any country. Even when the US authorities got to know that Osma Bin Laden’s hiding in Pakistan, they kept this secret to themselves. Americans knew it would be futile to involve in the exercise an impotent Pakistani government, who could not overpower the military and the ISI. The US navy ‘SEAL’ commandoes stormed into Abbottabad mansion, just few KMs away from the military base of Islamabad, and killed Laden and took custody of his body. This was an unprecedented example of audaciousness by any armed forces in the modern history. And the incident left a lesson to learn for those countries affected with terrorism on how to safeguard their national interests.

But in contrast to what the US did post 9/11, Indian government has been piling evidences in the 26/11 attack case and handing over to Pakistan and desperately hoping an action against perpetrators.  India needs to shed the tendency of reflecting undue vehemence in collecting evidences to nail Pakistan’s lie because the dossiers we have shared till date with our neighbor don’t leave an iota of scope to get nullified.  And, we must remind ourselves that Ajmal Kasab is the biggest proof which has already shown the real face of Pakistan to the world.