Gates warns of militant threat to Indo-Pak ties

---

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (AFP): US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned Wednesday that South Asian militant groups were seeking to destabilise the entire region and could trigger a war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India.
Reflecting anxiety in the region about New Delhi's reaction if it were attacked by a militant group with roots in Pakistan, Gates said restraint by India could not be counted on.
Gates said rebels in Al-Qaeda's "syndicate" -- which includes the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba -- posed a danger to the region as a whole.
They are trying "to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act," Gates said during a visit to New Delhi.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence in 1947 and tension spiked again in 2008 when militants -- that New Delhi identified as belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba -- attacked the city of Mumbai, killing 166 people.
India did not mobilise forces, unlike in 2001 when it massed troops on the border with Pakistan after an attack on its parliament.
This drew praise from Gates, but he said such restraint might not be repeated next time.
"I think it's not unreasonable to assume India's patience would be limited were there to be further attacks," Gates warned.
New Delhi suspects the Pakistani intelligence service of supporting terror groups that target India and has consistently called on Islamabad to crack down on militants operating on its soil.