SAN FRANCISCO, June 18: President Gen Pervez Musharraf is attempting to reverse more than a decade of institutional and public support for Islamic militants, reports Christian Science Monitor.

“Opinion is split among the Pakistani intelligence corps whether to wash their hands permanently of the freedom fighter outfits or to put a temporary lid on their activities to appease international opinion,” the paper quotes Pakistani intelligence sources as saying.

According to the paper, those within the military favouring a temporary freeze contend militants may be needed again if the international community fails to persuade India to negotiate with Pakistan and Kashmiris to reach a political solution to the long-running dispute, which remains on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

The paper estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 motivated, hard core fighters are aligned with about a dozen Islamic groups, which have thrived on donations from the public as well as support from the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Many fighters are veterans of Afghan Jihad that ended in 1989 with the defeat of the former Soviet Union. Others were trained in camps set up by the Jihadi groups inside Pakistan and in Islamabad-controlled part of Kashmir.

The Christian Science Monitor points out that when President Musharraf joined the US-led war on terrorism after Sept 11 and abandoned the Taliban, India skillfully exploited the situation to bring international pressure on Pakistan.

In January, about a month after India massed troops on the borders on the heels of a terrorist attack on the parliament in New Delhi, President Musharraf banned the two main militant groups blamed by New Delhi for the assault. The Lashkar-i-Taiba (army of the pure) and the Jaish-i-Mohammad were outlawed with three other groups. But the Pakistani intelligentsia, the reports says, still complain that the US spawned the Jihadi culture with dollars, arms, and propaganda to defeat the Soviets in Afghanistan.