India skeptical about ISI terming militants as greatest threat to Pak

WASHINGTON - New Delhi is likely to be skeptical about an internal assessment done by Pakistan’s military spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, which has found for the first time in 63 years, that it expects a majority of threats to come from homegrown militants rather than India, which was till now considered the greatest threat to Pakistan’s security.

The ISI says that homegrown Islamist militants have overtaken the Indian army as the greatest threat to Pakistan, a finding with potential ramifications for relations between the two rival nations and for the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Reviewing national security, the ISI’s assessment gives a two-thirds likelihood of a major threat to the state coming from militants rather than from India or elsewhere, The Wall Street Journal reports.

India wants real action rather than an assessment of risk and New Delhi thinks Pakistan has not done enough to crack down on the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during an Independence Day speech on Sunday, said more action on that front is a prerequisite to better relations with Pakistan.

Indian observers are also wary about whether the ISI’s mainstream, which authored the security assessment, are able to control rogue elements former ISI and military officers that many in India and the US believe have maintained ties with militants, the WSJ reports.

“It’s a good development, provided the bulk of the ISI, including retired officers, take a hint,” said Naresh Chandra, chairman of the National Security Advisory Board. (ANI)