WASHINGTON, March 19: Pointing out that the Musharraf government’s alignment with the US in the post-Sept 11 period represented a fundamental policy shift, Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet cautioned on Tuesday that it also carried “inherent political risks” for the government.

Testifying before the senate armed services committee, Tenet said the risks for the Musharraf government arose from the “militant Islamic and anti-American sentiments that exist within Pakistan”, and referred in this context to the Pearl murder and the weekend church bombing in Islamabad.

The CIA director, whose testimony outlined threats worldwide to US interests, said Gen Musharraf’s intention to establish a moderate and tolerant Islamic state, as outlined in the president’s Jan 12 speech, was welcomed by most Pakistanis, “but he will still have to confront major vested interests”

Tenet’s remarks have added to growing anxiety being expressed in newspaper comment here on the militant threat posed to the Musharraf government, with The Washington Post reporting from Islamabad in Tuesday’s issue that, according to Pakistani police sources, elements from the five organizations banned by the government may be coordinating efforts to weaken the general’s hold on power. The report speculated that the church attack might have been part of a broader campaign being coordinated by the banned groups.

In his testimony, Tenet said the general had established a clear and forceful distinction between a narrow, intolerant and conflict-ridden vision of the past and an inclusive, tolerant and peace-oriented vision of the future.

Tenet, who was recently in Pakistan, largely went over the ground he had outlined in an appearance before the senate intelligence committee last month, and again said the chance of war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India was higher than at any point since the 1971 conflict between the two countries.

Given the mobilization on both sides, if India were to conduct large-scale offensive operations into Pakistani Kashmir, Pakistan might retaliate with strikes of its own in the belief that its nuclear deterrent would limit the scope of an Indian counter-attack.

Tenet’s testimony ranged over a number of countries and he was closely questioned by senators about Iraq and Iran. The CIA chief said President Saddam Hussein remained a threat and his government had a long history of supporting terrorism, with contacts with both the Abu Nidal group and Al Qaeda. One senator, John Warner, referred to the danger of action against Iraq spawning a higher level of terrorism directed against the US.

In reply to questions from senator Joseph Lieberman on Afghanistan, Tenet said while Operation Anaconda had been successful in dealing with large groups of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, small units remained and there was still much work to be done.

Tenet underlined the need to let the world know that in the current campaign against terrorism, Islam was not enemy, and he said how the campaign was conducted was, therefore, important for its success.