'Pak is epicentre of terror; Osama's there'

Retired Lieutenant General J F R Jacob has said Pakistan is the epicenter of the Islamic terrorist network, and he's convinced that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan with Islamabad's connivance.

Jacob, addressing a conference organised by the Indian American Security Leadership Council on Capitol Hill, said, "Most certainly, bin Laden is in Pakistan. He needs medical equipment, he needs dialysis, and he has got kidney trouble. He has to be near a hospital."

Jacob, the legendary military leader, who led the Indian troops against the Pakistani forces and liberated Bangladesh that was then known as East Pakistan, argued that it's a matter of commonsense that he's getting medical treatment and must be getting it through his contacts in Pakistan.

He said that there are 244 religious organisations in Pakistan of which only 25 were political and participation in elections, while 145 'have sectarian bases, and 104 are jihadists."

In a detailed academic presentation of what is an insurgency and all of its facets, which include terrorism, Jacob said that foreign support was crucial to sustain an insurgency and that this support essentially constituted firm bases and lines of supply for arms, ammunition and money.

He said that as long as these two attributes continue, an insurgency could be sustained indefinitely and cited as an example the resurgence of the Taliban thanks to the government of Pakistan and its intelligence agency.

"As long as Pakistan and ISI continue support to Taliban, that insurgency in Afghanistan will continue. There is no way to stop it," Jacob argued, and added: "Similarly, we have the problem in India, where Pakistan is supplying money, arms and equipment to the insurgents and terrorists in Kashmir, and in the Northeast in conjunction with Bangladesh, and that insurgency will continue."

Jacob and retired Vice Admiral K K Nayar and Air Marshal B D Jayal, were flown in by the IASLC to participate in the conference and then travel across America pushing for the institutionalising of an envisaged US-India Security Alliance.

Earlier, the former Indian military leaders were hosted to a breakfast by the American Jewish Committee in concert with several other Jewish organization and also the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, arguably the most powerful lobbying organization on Capitol Hill, and Jacob was felicitated for being one of the foremost India Jewish military leaders who was yet another manifestation of India's pluralism and secular fabric.