Pakistan ISI chief says no war with India

Reuters:

The chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency has said there will not be a war with India over November's militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, Der Spiegel reported. Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shujaa Pasha told the German magazine in an interview terrorism, not India, was Pakistan's enemy, and he said he took orders from the civilian president.

"There will not be a war," Pasha said. "We are distancing ourselves from conflict with India, both now and in general."

India blames Pakistan militants for the attack on Mumbai by 10 gunmen who killed 179 people. It has revived tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors who have fought three wars since 1947.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped up a war of words Tuesday, saying for the first time the assault "must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan."

Pakistan has denied any involvement by state agencies and rejected Singh's accusation, saying India was ratcheting up tension and risked destroying all prospects of a serious and objective investigation.

Pasha said that soon after the Mumbai attack, Pakistan had anticipated an India military response.

"At first we thought there would be a military reaction. The Indians, after the attacks, were deeply offended and furious, but they are also clever," he said.

"We may be crazy in Pakistan, but not completely out of our minds. We know full well that terror is our enemy, not India."

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That last quoted statement is encouraging and probably accurate. The Problem in Pakistan is that a culture of religious bigotry has been allowed to metastasize and the resulting virulent hatred has led to terrorism against anyone who does not agree with the weird religious beliefs of the groups. Pakistan has been too indifferent in attacking these groups and has instead used them for their own purposes from time to time and now has difficulty controlling them.