'Pak intel agencies supporting plethora of jihadi groups'

Pakistani intelligence agencies were covertly supporting a "plethora of Islamist militant groups" which the rise of fundamentalism had spawned in the country, Pakistani author and journalist Babar Ayaz said here.
Analysing the various changes underway in Pakistan at a debate organised here last evening by the think tank, Policy and Planning Group, Ayaz held forth on the topic 'What's Wrong With Pakistan', which is also the title of a book by him recently brought out by Hay House.
Opening the discussion, Ayaz said that "the rise of fundamentalism has given birth to a plethora of Islamist militant groups covertly supported by Pakistani intelligence services".

Pakistan, Ayaz said, has been branded "the most dangerous state of the world" and the "epicentre of terrorism".
"Attempts to present the peaceful side of Islam are feeble because of the dominance of pro-jihad elements which are pushing the country into a civil war-like situation," Ayaz noted.
However, another speaker from the neighbouring country and a former minister under Pervez Musharraf, Javed Jabbar, sought to draw attention to the changes in Pakistan which increasingly marked a departure from the past.

Pakistan's military is "supportive of peace with India and learning to combat internal threats as opposed to historical external threats", a sign of growing change in the country, Jabbar said.

"What is right with Pakistan is that people desperately want peace... Nobody hates India, there might be some madmen who do, but then there are madmen in every country" said Jabbar, who had been the Adviser on National Affairs and Information to Musharraf.
Responding to his compatriot's observation on Pakistani intelligence services aiding terrorist groups, Jabbar said it was "all presumptions".
"It is all presumption... The narrative is still stuck in grooves that may have been right around 15 to 20 years back, but the military is now changing. Whether that translates into visible tangible change that you are looking for is a matter to be investigated," he said.

Noting it was wrong to "simply say that the Pakistani military supports LeT", Jabbar averred that, "maybe there is a role of someone who was formerly in the military but I don't see it being done in an open, explicit manner.