India concerned by Pakistan's truce with militants

India fears militants will be emboldened by the pact to allow Sharia law in Pakistan's Swat region. Some fear a Hindu backlash against India's Muslim minority, or even the latter's radicalization.

By Mark Magnier 
February 20, 2009

Reporting from New Delhi -- A decision by Pakistani authorities to allow imposition of Islamic law in a region a short distance from Islamabad is increasing India's fears that religious militancy is growing in its neighbor and traditional rival. 

India's main Hindu nationalist group, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, said Wednesday that national security was at risk because of well-entrenched militants operating in Pakistan's Swat Valley, within a five-hour drive of Amritsar, an Indian city of 1.5 million people. 

 

• Pakistan officials allow Sharia in volatile region

• Pakistan acknowledges Mumbai plot was hatched on its soil

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee joined other international leaders in condemning Pakistan's cease-fire deal Monday with the militants, characterizing it as a danger to "humanity and civilization."

"Taliban at India's Door," blared a sensational headline on the Times Now 24-hour, one of India's hyperactive TV news channels. 

Accusations and mutual distrust have marked the India-Pakistan relationship for most of the six decades since the end of British colonial rule.

India's concern is that the latest deal further weakens a Pakistani civilian government not fully in control of its own territory and increases the risk that Pakistan will serve as a staging ground for terrorist attacks, such as occurred in Mumbai in late November. Islamabad acknowledged recently that the attack, which killed more than 160 people, was at least in part planned in Pakistan.