Better late than never. It has taken an enormous amount of persuasion on India?s part to convince the major powers of the world that terrorist attacks within India are sponsored by Pakistan. At the meeting of the G-8 countries in St Petersburg, the leaders of the world?s wealthiest and most powerful countries recognized what India has been claiming for a number of years. The words of condemnation were unambiguous. The leaders at the summit did not stop at deploring what had happened in Mumbai on July 11. They demanded action against the terrorists and against those who sponsor and incite them. This was a clear demonstration of solidarity with India. What is also worth underlining is the way the statement was formulated. It includes not just the actual agents of terror but the entire infrastructure that supports terrorism. The meeting of the G-8 thus recognizes that terrorism of the scale that threatens India cannot be carried out by isolated amateurish groups. Terrorist attacks of the kind witnessed in India is the outcome of sophisticated equipment which requires money, and of training which calls for a high level of organization. Such a process suggests that the terrorists have the support of a body that is powerful and resourceful. India has never had any doubt about the physical location of such a body. India has pointed to the Islamic fundamentalist organizations that are allowed to flourish in Pakistan and to run training camps along the Indo-Pak line of control. The G-8 countries have at long last accepted India?s allegations.

There is another aspect of the statement the significance of which cannot be underestimated. There are good grounds to believe that the G-8 could not have issued the kind of statement it has without the enthusiastic endorsement of the United States of America. This means that the US accepts that Pakistan, despite its claims to the contrary, continues to harbour and protect terrorists. Such a country can thus no longer be trusted to be at the forefront of the global battle against terrorism. It is time the US government accepted, more strongly than it has, that Mr Pervez Musharraf has betrayed the trust that was bestowed on him. He has failed, either by design or by incompetence, to flush out terrorists from Pakistan. India has already begun to gain from this failure. This gain should be maximized.