Pakistani authorities said today that on Monday, they intercepted an apparent effort to fire rocket-propelled artillery rounds at an airport in Karachi where international forces, including those of the United States, are based.  In a search that began after one rocket hit a home on Saturday, at least four 107-millimeter rounds were recovered, they said, all linked to timing devices that had apparently failed to carry out a planned launch.  No one was arrested in a raid that uncovered the rockets, but their discovery was described by Pakistani authorities as further evidence of a backlash against General Musharraf and his decision to crack down on Islamic militants, including Jaish-e-Muhammad, the group linked to Mr. Pearl's abduction.  In the changes under way, Mr. Musharraf is thought to be carrying out only limited reforms, in that they would still leave the agency as the leading force for intelligence operations. He is depending on Lt. Gen. Ehsan ul-Haq, a loyal friend and moderate whom he installed last fall as the agency's chief, to carry out the changes.  General Ehsan had previously served as the head of Pakistan's military intelligence branch, and is respected within the army and by American intelligence officials, with whom he has worked closely. A senior intelligence official said today that the 40 percent reduction would primarily be in military personnel who had been temporarily assigned to the intelligence service, mainly to its Afghan unit, and who would be reassigned to their parent units in the army's infantry, armor, artillery and other forces.  As part of the changes, the army's corps of military intelligence is now supposed to be the main source of intelligence officers, instead of those officers being drawn from all kinds of military units. Domestic political intelligence is to be transferred gradually to the civilian Intelligence Bureau, which is now headed by a military officer close to General Musharraf, Brig. Gen. Talat Munir.  Some of the most covert functions of the intelligence agency might also be relocated in the Intelligence Bureau, one senior official said, noting that the civilian agency is heavily populated by retired officials of the  The officials who described the changes suggested that it may be especially difficult to end the agency's role in Kashmir, where Pakistan has long wavered about whether to provide support to militants who conduct operations in territory controlled by India.  "The reluctance to shut down Kashmir-related operations has two reasons," one intelligence official said. "One, Pakistan cannot trust India and cannot close down intelligence gathering or even special operations against its traditional enemy. Second, the military and intelligence officers are disturbed by the loss of Afghanistan already. It is not prudent to disturb them further with the loss of the Kashmir front altogether."
In a major signal of its change in course, Pakistan has begun to disband two major units of its powerful intelligence service.