Another LeT attack will derail Indo-Pak talks: Expert

“At the moment,it seems that the Army and the ISI are taking steps to prevent this from happening,because they don’t want another major attack — they don’t want war.

“But as long as LeT exists – the capacity exists to use them for that purpose or there is the possibility that they could launch an attack without sanction if they see a peace deal on the horizon that would lead to their own demobilisation,” Tankel,author of book ‘Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba’,said.

In terms of how India and Pakistan move forward,LeT will be “very much a part of that process”.

“Whenever I’ve spoken with Indians about Pakistan relations,LeT is always at the forefront of their discussions,” he said.

LeT not only strikes against India,it also provides a lot of support for an indigenous “jihadist movement” in the country,he said.

The expert said: “That raises questions about whether we can prevent LeT from providing support via trans-national networks even if we are able to rein in LeT and keep them from launching attacks,and how will that potentially complicate a peace process.”

“So there are a lot of different things that need to happen to take the group apart. I would argue that it needs to be degraded over time — not just domestically,but also

trans-nationally — to make sure that any action against it does not lead to greater threats or instability in the region,” he said.

Tankel said LeT’s capabilities dwarf many of the other militant outfits in Pakistan and internationally.

“It has got a very robust training apparatus. Because of the level of state support that it received for some time,its training infrastructure has quite a lot of cachet — its militants are among the best trained and its trainers are quite capable as well.

“It still has an above-ground infrastructure in Pakistan,which means that you can link up with the training apparatus or with other groups. It also has transnational networks that span multiple continents,” he said just a week before foreign minister level dialogue between the two nations.

Tankel said LeT remains a useful and reliable proxy against India.

“Perhaps more important today,is the fact that LeT is one of the few groups that are not attacking the Pakistani state. It is therefore seen in a different light than many of the other groups,” he said.