WASHINGTON: In a remark that further implicates Pakistan 's domineering military in charges of supporting terrorism against India, a US lawmaker has alleged that it may be paying compensation to families of terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26/11.

The stunning charge came from Congressman Gary Ackerman in course of a hearing he convened on the Lashkar-e-Taiba in his capacity if chairman of a House sub-panel on South Asia on Thursday. "There is, in fact, no reason to doubt that Pakistan's military is likely paying compensation to the families of the terrorists killed in the Mumbai attacks," Ackerman said in his prepared remarks at the start of the hearing.

The lawmaker did not elaborate on the charge against the Pakistani military, which if true would be extremely provocative for India at a time New Delhi is pressing Pakistan to take action against masterminds of 9/11. His office had not returned calls at the time of writing. Nine of the ten Pakistani fidayeen (suicidal) terrorists who attacked Mumbai landmarks eventually died after killing 173 people. A lone captured survivor Ajmal Kasab, is now on trial in Mumbai, largely disowned by Pakistan.

Ackerman’s remark about the Pakistani military’s complicity in terrorism was just one of several at the hearing by lawmakers and expert witnesses that repeatedly implicated country’s army and intelligence agencies and barely stopped short of calling Pakistan a terrorist state. The only token qualification to such characterization came from Shuja Nawaz, a Pakistani-American witness from Atlantic Council, who agreed that LeT was a ''Frankenstein's monster created for the purpose of assisting the Kashmiri freedom movement'' but insisted it ''ended up... with an independent agenda.''

"Successive civil and military leaders of Pakistan supported the movement as a strategic asset to counter a powerful India... by waging a war of "a thousand cuts"' Nawaz, who is the brother of a former Pakistan Army chief Asif Nawaz Janjua conceded, while contending that ''Over time, however, the sponsored organization took a life of its own.''

Broadly expressing dismay over the Obama administration’s lackadaisical approach to the Pakistani military’s use of terrorism, the hearing also challenged the notion that the Kashmir issue was the root cause of the problem between India and Pakistan, a proposition advanced only by Congressman Dan Burton, a long-time supporter of Pakistan. Congressman Ackerman described the idea that resolving the Kashmir issue will end terrorism as ''dangerous nonsense.''

''The LeT's true goal is not Kashmir, it is India. And the LeT is not shy about announcing that its intention is to establish an Islamic state in all South Asia,'' Ackerman said. The witnesses broadly agreed with this assessment.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we have to find ways to resolve the issues relating to Kashmir. But I think resolving Kashmir is not going to solve the problems relating to LeT," Ashley Tellis, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said.

"The murder and mayhem is being conducted by groups that have absolutely no connections to Kashmir. To my mind that is story, the fact that this is a group that has operations in 21 countries, that has an ideology that is completely anti-western, that is opposed to modernity and secularism and all the kinds of values that we take for granted. This group is not going to be satisfied by dealing with the issue of Kashmir," he added.

Heritage’s Lisa Curtis challenged Congressman Dan Burton’s proposition the terrorism problem would not be solved without resolving the future of Kashmir through a plebiscite, saying in her travels to the region she hasn’t heard any support for the idea of a plebiscite and even Gen.Musharraf had dropped the demand in favor of more forward-looking solutions.

