The head of a Pakistan parliamentary committee and a known India baiter has now raked up the alleged Indian role in fomenting unrest in Pakistan's tribal areas. Senator Raza Rabbani, a senior Pakistan People's Party leader who heads the parliamentary committee on national security, claimed Interior Minister Rehman Malik had given the panel "substantial proof" of India's involvement in backing elements in South Waziristan tribal region and Balochistan province.

"The interior minister has provided detailed information on all those people and countries, including India, (that are involved in South Waziristan)," Rabbani told reporters after a meeting of the panel late last night.

"We think when (the government has) such material, it should be taken up at the appropriate national and international forums. We will summon the Foreign Minister at our next meeting to discuss the issue," said Rabbani, who has authored and backed several parliamentary resolutions against India.

The committee, which comprises parliamentarians from various political parties, also called for bringing the proof to the notice of Indian authorities. It asked Pakistani agencies to expose the "foreign hands behind terrorist activities".

The committee recommended the setting up of a national counter-terrorism authority to analyse and assess the reasons for the rapid spread of terrorism and to suggest ways of eliminating it.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and chief military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas had claimed during a recent news briefing that Indian-made arms, ammunition and medical equipment had allegedly been found by troops conducting operations against the Taliban in South Waziristan.

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