Our Announcements

Not Found

Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.

Archive for category INDIA TRAINED SUICIDE BOMBERS FROM AFGHANISTAN

AKHAND BHARAT-A MID-SUMMER INDIAN NIGHT’S DREAM : THREAT BY INDIAN PM MANMOHAN SINGH

Threat by Indian PM

By

Inam Khawaja

 


The Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh stated on 4, December 2013; “There is no scope of Pakistan winning any such war in my lifetime,” he told reporters in New Delhi, reported Press Trust of India. This statement was in response to Nawaz Sharif’s statement “Kashmir is a flashpoint and can trigger a fourth war between the two nuclear powers at anytime.”

Nawaz Sharif was only pointing out the facts. No one can deny that Kashmir dispute is not a flashpoint nor can one ignore the horrors of a nuclear war. In fact he has always been in favour of peace and improving relations with India; immediately after winning the elections in May he invited Manmohan Singh but was rebuffed.

MV5BNjY0NzUzNDUyOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTA0NzA2NA@@._V1_The history of negotiations between these two neighbours from 1947 to date clearly shows that they have been unable to improve the relations and solve any of the problems souring their relations. The basic impediment is the fact that the successive generations of Indians do not accept an independent Pakistan and continue to strive for Akhand Bharat”. They don’t seem to tire of saying; “We are one”, “We have a common culture” and so on, totally ignoring the fact that Muslim literature, music, art, architecture, dress and cuisine are poles apart and has nothing in common with the Hindu literature (even the scripts are totally different) art, architecture, dress and cuisine are totally different even the method of serving food is different.

The Indian media continues to harp upon the same old theme. The fact is that the Indian leaders even after sixty six years consider the establishment of Pakistan a great tragedy. Jaswant Singh in his book states;

 

“There are some other to my mind, equally important aspects of this great tragedy of India’s Partition deserving our reflection. Did not this Partition of India, vivisecting the land and its people question the very identity of India itself.” (Page 6 & 7, Jinnah India-Partition Independence by Jaswant Singh, 2009)

For Jaswant Singh and almost all Indians even today the partition of British India was a mistake and a great tragedy. In fact the real tragedy is that Indians cannot seem to get out of this mindset of “Akhand Bharat”.

 In December 2001 India mobilized bulk of their forces on Pakistan’s borders in Punjab, Rajasthan and Indian occupied Kashmir. After ten months of eye ball to eye ball confrontation Indians withdrew realising the danger of it developing in a nuclear war. As a result of the failure of this massive confrontation the Indian Army developed the Cold Start Doctrine and officially unveiled it on 28, April 2004 at the Army Commander’s Conference. Since then Indians have held over a dozen exercises to operationally debugthe doctrine. It may be noted that the Cold Start Doctrine is Pakistan specific.

In 2011the head quarters of their Strike Force and Rapid Force were shifted from Central India to Punjab a requirement of Cold Start DoctrineToday over seventy percent of Indian Army and Air Force are mobilised against Pakistan.

Once again Pakistan has suggested the demilitarisation of Siachin. The effect of the military occupation of Siachin is having a very grave climatic effect on the glacier. It needs to be remembered that in 1984 India moved their forces in Siachin which until that time was unoccupied and in pristine condition. The majority of people in Pakistan are in favour of peace and demilitarisation of Siachin. We call upon the peace lovers and environmentalists in India to take up the cause of peace and saving the Siachin Glacier from the detrimental effect of military occupation.

December 6, 2013

, ,

No Comments

Backstabber Karzai’s India Visit: Banyas Going Ga Ga

Karzai’s India visit is a defining moment
 
 

December 2, 2013 

images-8The visit to New Delhi by Afghan President Hamid Karzai on December 13 will be taking place against an ominous backdrop of regional and international security.
Karzai’s dilemma is that he needs international assistance in beefing up the capability of the Afghan armed forces to cope with the security challenges in the post-2014 situation but without surrendering the country’s sovereignty and independence. Source: RIA Novosti
India has not reacted to the flare-up of tensions in the Asia-Pacific over the past week. It didn’t have to. India could anticipate the developments.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said with remarkable prescience last week in his address to the Combined Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi that “just as the economic pendulum is shifting inexorably from west to east, so is the strategic focus, as exemplified by the increasing contestation in the seas to our east and the related “pivot” or rebalancing” by the US in this area. This, to my mind, is a development fraught with uncertainty. We don’t yet know whether these economic and strategic transitions will be peaceful.”
 
Clearly, the US’ “pivot” has destabilized the Asia-Pacific. The “pivot” devolves upon a diplomatic and military build-up throughout the Asian region centrally aimed at isolating and encircling China and checking its growing challenge to American dominance in East and Southeast Asia.

 

The US is encouraging its key allies such as Japan and the Philippines to take a tougher stance toward Beijing and the latter has begun reacting to the calibrated escalation of the military provocations and pressure from Washington.The stage is set for risky military confrontations, encounters or even outright war through miscalculation or deliberation. 

 
The year is 2013 and it bears an uncanny resemblance to 1913 when, too, the deepening crisis of capitalism culminated in war.It may seem the US has lost the panache for wars but Washington is only extricating itself from overstretch in the Middle East so that it can focus optimally on the “pivot” to Asia. Of course, this is not a “strategic retreat,” as the Saudis and Israelis allege, but is a reorientation of global priorities even as the timeline is shortening by the day when China would overtake America as the world’s number one economy.
 
The Pentagon’s vast military assets in the Persian Gulf are integral to the “pivot” to Asia as they operationally mesh with the US’ presence in Diego Garcia, its control of the Malacca Straits and its dominance of the Indian Ocean sea lanes. The logic of the deployment of the US missile defence system in the Persian Gulf region is also obvious.The missing link in the growing arc of US’ encirclement of China is Central Asia. The establishment of the US and NATO military bases in Afghanistan becomes critical to the “pivot”. Simply put, China can reach the outside world through the new Silk Road through Central Asia, bypassing the Malacca Strait.
 
The Rand Corporation, which has close ties with the Pentagon, recently brought out a report in a “wartime strategic context” outlining a battle plan for the US and its allies to block the vital waterways leading into China from the Malacca Strait and stopping the Chinese fleet leaving its home waters as well as preventing its ships from using sea lanes.

 

The report envisages the possibility of such a conflict erupting in a conceivable future. Analysts estimate that the most recent exercise carried out by Japan was a dress rehearsal of such a battle plan as laid out in the Rand report. The exercise involved 34000 soldiers, six warships and 350 aircraft.

 
Suffice to say, the visit to New Delhi by Afghan President Hamid Karzai on December 13 will be taking place against an ominous backdrop of regional and international security.On the one hand, the Obama administration is arm-twisting Karzai to forthwith sign the status of forces agreement [SOFA]

 

 that could formalize the American military bases in Afghanistan. On the other hand, Karzai continues to be gnawed by doubts as to his legacy in facilitating long-term foreign occupation of his country.He has openly voiced apprehensions regarding the American intentions. Indeed, it is just a matter of time before the US and NATO would deploy the missile defence system in the military bases and the electronic warfare gear to monitor regions to the north of Central Asia, which would transform Afghanistan into a vital hub in the “pivot” strategy.

 
Karzai’s dilemma is that he needs international assistance in beefing up the capability of the Afghan armed forces to cope with the security challenges in the post-2014 situation but without surrendering the country’s sovereignty and independence.This is where India comes in if he were to dispense with the SOFA and the western military presence altogether. Of course, India is doing the right thing to steer clear of big-power rivalry and instead focus on developing what Manmohan Singh described in his address as India’s “comprehensive national power” – “the amalgam of economic, technological and industrial prowess, buttressed by the appropriate military sinews” – as well as possessing military capabilities that protect India’s “abiding interests.”
 
How are India’s “abiding interests” affected in the emergent Afghan paradigm? The point is, the US’ occupation of Afghanistan is bound to generate resistance amongst large sections of Afghan people sooner or later and the SOFA will prove to be the harbinger of yet another violent insurgency.

 

Again, so long as there is American military presence in Afghanistan, Pakistan will remain in turmoil and that only works to the advantage of the “jihadi” groups. Most important, given the criticality of the transit routes leading from Karachi Port for supplying the military bases, Washington will need cooperation from Islamabad, which would have implications for Pakistan’s political economy as well as the India-Pakistan relations.Thus, India will be vitally affected by what happens in Afghanistan. During the upcoming visit, Karzai will be probing the Indian thinking.

 
The US is threatening Karzai with the “zero option” and a termination of all aid unless he signed on the dotted line on the SOFA document. This is crude blackmail and calls into the question the US’ sincerity of purpose in establishing the American-NATO military bases in Afghanistan

 

.

 

Karzai’s political grit and resilience as an Afghan nationalist is coming into play here. However, politics is after all the art of the possible. Make no mistake that New Delhi will instigate Karzai to dump the SOFA. 

 
That momentous choice will be his to exercise, ultimately.

 

But India comes in if he chooses to develop his own Plan B to carry Afghanistan’s stabilization forward while dispensing with the American and NATO occupation. Not only India, but Karzai can be expected to take help from other regional players as well who are stakeholders in the security and stability of Afghanistan.

 

India’s interests are best served if Afghanistan’s neutrality is somehow restored. But for this to happen, India needs a leap of faith as regards its turf war with Pakistan.

 
The Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is on his first visit to Kabul. The outcome of the visit will form input for New Delhi’s “talking points” with Karzai. The point is, there are intriguing trends.

 

Sharif is steadily, unobtrusively moving toward making the balance of power tilt in favour of the elected civilian leadership in Islamabad. A military coup is no more a possibility, (which itself is saying a lot) and Sharif just made the surprising choice of a low-profile “peace time general” as the new army chief who favors the shifting of the army’s focus to internal security from the traditional threat perceptions from India.

 
 
And it is at this point that Sharif decides to go to Kabul – after having released more Taliban prisoners and after formally receiving the delegation of the High Afghan Peace Council in Islamabad and bringing about their proximity with key Taliban figures.

 

To be sure, Sharif cannot redeem his electoral pledge to regenerate the Pakistani economy without normalcy in relations

 

 with India and Pakistan. Which is why Karzai says Sharif’s intentions are good. Now, if Sharif proposes to Karzai the makings of a genuinely regional initiative on the Afghan problem, how should India respond?

 
This is where the leap of faith is necessary. New Delhi should encourage Karzai to work on the track of seeking a durable through an Afghan-led peace process with Sharif’s backing. If Sharif veers round to fostering intra-Afghan peace talks, the process can gain traction and India should encourage it.

 

India should have the strategic clarity to estimate that the arrival of the US’ “pivot” in the Hindu Kush will bring untold sorrows. The US’s last Afghan legacy (in the 1980s) was jihadism, which indeed hit India’s “abiding interests” very hard.

No Comments

COWARDS WALL: Indian Scheme of ‘Great Wall’ along LoC in Kashmir

  Indian Scheme of ‘Great Wall’ along LoC in Kashmir

                                                          By Sajjad Shaukat

 

With the technological advancement, new era of economic development has changed the world in a global village. Long-awaited agreement which was concluded between Iran and six world powers on November 24, this year has endorsed this fact that Tehran is more interested in the welfare of its people than to continue war of nerves with the US-led European countries on the issue of its nuclear programme.  

 

Taking cognizance of the modern world trends, Pakistan signed a number of trade agreements with India, which allowed India exports of multiple items across the Wagah border. During the visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Pakistan on September 9, 2012, both the countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on cultural exchanges in addition to agreeing on new cross-Line of Control (LoC) Confidence Building Measures related to trade and travel. It was due to Islamabad’s positive efforts through Aman-Ki-Asha and back door diplomacy that it is sincere in building bridges of peace with New Delhi. In this regard, while addressing the recent International Literary Cultural Conference at Lahore, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to resolve all outstanding issues with India besides lifting the visa restrictions. In the recent past, Pakistani prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz who visited New Delhi held a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to defuse tension at the Line of LoC and to restore the peace process. While keeping pressure on Pakistan, Khurshid said that “the conditions of the dialogue cannot be met till there is peace and tranquility on the LoC.”

 

Unfortunately, India has failed to reciprocate with the same spirit to improve relations with Pakistan. Instead, it has always acted upon duplicity by raising false allegations against Pakistan, its army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for sponsoring terrorism inside India and especially in the Indian occupied Kashmir. In this respect, recently, tension arose between both the countries when Indian military conducted a series of unprovoked firings across the LoC, and international border killing a number of soldiers of Pak Army and innocent civilians in wake of war-like strategy which still continues. On January 6, 2013, Indian soldiers crossed over the LoC in Kashmir and attacked a Pakistani check post, killing one Pakistani soldier and injuring many troops. Similarly, Indian troops also shot dead two Pakistani soldiers on January 10 and 15.

 

In order to justify its open aggression, India concocted a fabricated story of accusing Pakistan Army of killing its five soldiers on August 6, 2013. In this context, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Defence Minister AK Antony and the opposition fundamentalist party BJP including Indian media blamed Pakistan Army for killing its five soldiers.

 

It is mentionable that on September 29, 2013, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a meeting in the sidelines of the annual UN summit. Afterwards, Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon told reporters, “Both agreed that the precondition for forward movement in the relationship, which they both desire, is really an improvement of the situation on the Line of Control.” However, their dialogue ended with optimistic note, but in his speech in the General Assembly on September 28, Prime Minister Singh had allegedly said, “It is equally important that the terrorist machinery that draws its sustenance from Pakistan be shut down.” Showing New Delhi’s contradictory approach, he also said that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, and in this context there could never be a compromise.

 

Nevertheless, talking about the twin terrorist attacks in the Indian occupied Kashmir, which targeted a police station and a military camp, killing 14 personnel of army and police, Salman Khurshid wrecked the Nawaz-Manmohan talks when he blamed Pakistan’s ISI and the army in this context.

 

While, Indian military high command failed in producing dead bodies of alleged terrorists who had crossed the LoC from Pakistan to Indian-held Kashmir. The ground realities proved that it was just propaganda against ISI, and Pak Army, as indicated by the Indian media, Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi and leaders of the Hindu fundamentalist party, BJP.

 

On the one hand, Indian top officials have been accusing Pak Army and ISI of sponsoring terrorism in India and the Indian-held Kashmir, on the other, India’s media revealed in September, this year that on a defence ministry directive, asking for the creation of covert capability—the military intelligence unit, Technical Services Division (TSD) was set up by the Indian Army Chief Gen. VK Singh (R), which conducted covert operations in Pakistan. Besides, in an Indian TV Channel, Gen. VK Singh openly confessed that TSD was raised by India to operate inside Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan and Azad Kashmir to conduct terrorism and to bribe the politicians in the Indian-held Kashmir to crush the militancy (Kashmiri freedom fighters).

 

In fact, under the pretext of cross-border terrorism, New Delhi not only suspended the peace process of dialogue with Pakistan, but also decided to implement its scheme of erecting a Great Wall along the LoC in Kashmir. A recent report published in the Economic Times disclosed that Indian authorities are planning to construct a 10-meter high embankment along 198-km stretch of international border which separates Indian held Kashmir from Pakistan. The security wall will be higher and wider than both the Berlin Wall and serpentine barrier being created by Israel. It will be 135-feet wide and will pass through 118 villages of Districts Jammu, Kathua and Samba.

 

Reportedly, initial work on the wall has begun and revenue papers for designated land in 86 villages have been processed to get NOC from the state government. A joint land demarcation in 44 villages is likely to start soon. Although the total cost estimation has not been made public, yet it has been decided that Indian Home Ministry will fund the project, while it will be handled by Border Security Force (BSF).

 

Nonetheless, besides new pretension of the LoC violations, in the past too, New Delhi availed various crises to suspend the process of Pak-India talks. For example, in 2002, under the pretension of terrorist attack on the Indian parliament, India postponed the dialogue process. Again, in 2008, India suspended the ‘composite dialogue’ under the pretext of Mumbai terror attacks which were in fact, arranged by its secret agency RAW.

 

In the recent past, the Indian former officer of home ministry and ex-investigating officer Satish Verma disclosed that terror-attacks in Mumbai and assault on the Indian Parliament were carried out by the Indian government to strengthen anti-terrorism legislation, particularly in the Indian occupied Kashmir.

 

While, Indian top officials have always accused Pakistan of various subversive acts of terrorists, but it is quite silent over Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) terror which has obtained a new face, as Indian RAW, country’s high officials and fundamentalist parties have co-relationship.

Particularly, in January 2013, Indian Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde revealed that organized training camps run by the fundamentalist parties, RSS and BJP were promoting Hindu Terrorism, and were behind the Samjhauta Express, Meccca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif and Malegaon blasts. He also disclosed that these parties were involved many times in Hindu Muslim violence in India, especially Gujarat and Babri Masjid incident.

It is noteworthy that Indian Hindus are followers of Chanakya (Say some thing else and do some thing else). This fact has been verified by the misdeeds of Hindu fundamentalist parties like BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sina and Bajrang Dal which have missed no opportunity to communalize national politics of India even under the Congress rule. With the support of Indian officials and RAW agents, these parties have been launching anti-Christian and anti-Muslim bloodshed coupled with the dissemination of Hindutva.

Notably, although the purpose of the Great Wall is to deter cross-border intrusions into the Indian controlled Kashmir by Pakistan, yet New Delhi intends to conceal its own state terrorism in Kashmir, and seems determined to keep its illegitimate control on that region. While, with the help of Israel, India has already built 12-feet high twin fences along the LoC, running parallel to each other with an eight-foot gap in the middle-filled with coils of razor-sharp concertina wire. India has also installed special instruments like thermal imagers and sensors to make the fence impregnable. In this context, the construction of the Great Wall will symbolize the by-gone days of the Cold War. Such a decision not only runs against the demands of time, but also uncovers real face of New Delhi-indicating Indian deep seated animosity and hatred against Pakistan.

India must know that Kashmir is a disputed territory and it would be illegitimate to erect such a Great Wall which would also further stretch distance between the people of Kashmir, living both sides of the LoC which divides Azad Kashmir and Indian occupied Kashmir. This scheme will also be rejected by the Kashmiri people, as they desperately desire to have closer contacts with their Kashmiri brethren across the LoC.

Regrettably, Indian war-like diplomacy, followed by another move like the scheme of Great Wall will further escalate tension between New Delhi and Islamabad. It is likely to take them away from the peace process by creating obstacles in the practical solution to their bilateral issues, particularly of Kashmir. This plan could further intensify arms race between both the neighboring nuclear countries, ultimately resulting into regional instability, turning hope for peace and prosperity into state of distress.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: [email protected]   

No Comments

Appeasement taken as sign of docility

 
 
 
 

Appeasement taken as sign of docility

Asif Haroon Raja

Nawaz Sharif addressed the UN Assembly on 27th and in that he jogged the memory of the UNSC by reminding it of its responsibility to resolve the 66 year old Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions. He also called upon the international community to play its due role for the realization of the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people and let them decide their future through a plebiscite organized by the UN. Nawaz thus rekindled the age-old stance of Pakistan, which Gen Musharraf had gratuitously sabotaged in 2003 to please India and USA. Nawaz’s statement on Kashmir was not to the liking of India. It had been lobbying hard to restrain him from re-enacting the UN resolution stance smothered by Musharraf.

Known for doing its homework, India on one hand had intensified diplomatic efforts to woo Nawaz after he took over power in early June 2013, and at the same time prepared ground to paint Pakistan and freedom movement in Kashmir in black through carefully planned false flag operations and hate offensive. The first of its kind was the deliberate heating up of Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir in early January 2013. The incident of beheading of two Indian soldiers allegedly by Pak soldiers was drummed up and dragged on for quite some time. Hostile reaction to the death of Indian RAW agent Sarabjit Singh in April 2013 in the form of killing of Pakistani national Sanaullah Ranjay in Jammu jail tensed Indo-Pak relations. The LoC was one again heated up in August on the pretext that five Indian soldiers had been killed deep inside Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK) by Kashmiri terrorists dressed in Pak uniforms and backed by Pak Army.

From August 2013 onwards, hardly a day has passed when Indian occupation forces didn’t violate 2003 peace agreement in Kashmir by resorting to unprovoked firing and killing civilians and soldiers. Just a day before Manmohan’s address in the UN Assembly on 28th September, another terror attack was stage-managed on a military target in Samba. Samba incident, coupled with previous incidents equipped Manmohan with sufficient grist to lambast Pakistan during his speech in the General Assembly. He dubbed Pakistan as an epicenter of terrorism and accused it of abetting terrorism in IOK. He also repeated India’s age-old stance that Kashmir is the integral part of India.

Manmohan continued with his laments when he met President Obama on 29 September. He had nothing else to talk except for bad mouthing Pakistan and painting India as the victim of terrorism. Receptive Obama not only shared his concerns compassionately but also approved his boxful of lies without being given shred of evidence. Manmohan’s invectives were meant to put Nawaz on the defensive during his meeting with him on the sidelines of the UN Session on the 30th. Indian foreign minister added to the disinformation campaign by giving lies-filled interview to anti-Pakistan VOA.         

Musharraf caused greatest damage to the cause of Kashmir by allowing India to fence the LoC, bridling Jihadist groups, pushing aside UN resolutions on Kashmir and suggesting out of box four-point formula to resolve the dispute. However, ZA Bhutto too had harmed the Kashmir cause during Simla talks in 1972 by agreeing to convert ceasefire line in Kashmir, demarcated on January 1, 1949 into LoC and accepting Indian suggested policy of bilateralism. Concept of LoC encouraged India to focus on converting it into permanent border between two Kashmirs at a later date. Bilateralism enabled India to rule out third party intervention. Gen Musharraf was fully geared to sell off Kashmir by agreeing to implement India’s suggestion of making LoC a permanent border and making the border soft so as to allow two-way trade and facilitate movement of Kashmiris across the border. To that end, bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad was introduced.  

By early 2007, 90% work had been completed through backdoor diplomacy pursued by Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri and Advisor Tariq Aziz. Sudden eruption of lawyer’s movement after the sacking of Chief Justice Iftikhar by Musharraf in March 2007, which put Musharraf on the back foot, derailed the process. But for India’s chronic habit of haggling and suspicion, the unholy deal might have materialized by end 2007. Lawyer’s movement proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Kashmiris and Pakistan, but India lost the chance of century to legalize its hold over two-thirds Kashmir. Indian leaders are yearning to re-start the backchannel diplomacy and to pick up threads from where discussion on Kashmir had been abandoned in 2007. Zardari regime made no efforts to remove the stigma of terrorism pinned on Kashmiris or to revive the resistance movement but he didn’t promote Musharraf’s wonky out-of-box concept. 

Nawaz is no less a lover of India than Musharraf and Zardari. Ever since he took over, he has been bending over backwards to win the affections of lame duck Manmohan who will be off the Indian political radar for good after next elections in India due in May 2014. He nostalgically recalls that he had developed deep understanding with Vajpayee. He naively believes that Vajpayee’s historic bus yatra to Lahore in February 1999 had brought the Kashmir dispute to near resolution point, but before the final leap could be undertaken to ink the momentous treaty, Musharraf incapacitated the progress achieved by stepping into Dras-Kargil. He is eager to restart the dialogue with India from where the process broke off in 1999. I reckon, Nawaz has a memory lapse. No sooner Vajpayee had returned to New Delhi, he blurted out that Kashmir is the Atoot-Ang of India and there can never be any compromise on it. Manmohan also reiterated the same stance in his September 28th speech. It implies that the standpoint of the two mainstream political parties on Kashmir is the same.

If so, one wonders why our leaders continue to chase rainbows and hope against hope that India would change its position. Why they have so much faith in composite dialogue which started in 1997? Except for some futile CBMS like people-to-people-contact and trade, no progress could be made on any of the disputes of Kashmir, Siachin, Sir Creek and water. One fails to understand why our leaders are so naïve and myopic to repeatedly come under the magic spell of Indian leaders and get duped? What is their compulsion, and if there is any, why don’t they share it with the people rather than misleading them and leading them up the garden path that friendship with India would not only solve core issues but also make Pakistan prosperous?

If India unscrupulously cooks up stories, engineers false flag operations, insults Pakistan, makes false allegations and threatens Pakistan and whips up war hysteria, why our elected leaders do not pick up courage to call a spade a spade and expose India’s terrorism against Pakistan and massive human rights violations in IOK? Pakistan’s apologetic and defensive policy pursued in the vain hope of appeasing ever belligerent India has proved very costly. It has allowed India to carryout one-sided propaganda and to blame Pakistan for the sins committed by India’s rogue elements against Pakistan. In our quest for peace with India, our leaders have gone an extra mile to please fire-breathing and hate-mongering Indian leaders and in the process have compromised the security, honor and dignity of the country.

Our policy of appeasement is taken as a sign of docility and weakness and exploited. Friendship with India should not be at the cost of losing Kashmir and our dignity and sovereignty of the State. Pakistan will have to make its political, diplomatic and media policies pragmatically offensive to match Indo-US-western-Jewish propaganda spiteful onslaughts duly complemented by segment of our own media.  

The writer is a retired Brig, defence analyst, columnist and book writer. [email protected] 

, , , ,

No Comments

Pakistani fears over India Afghan role ‘not groundless’: US envoy August 28, 2013:INDIA OPERATED BRAINWASHING CENTRES IN AFGHAN PROVINCES TRAINS SUICIDE BOMBERS

INDIA OPERATED BRAINWASHING CENTRES IN AFGHAN PROVINCES TRAINS SUICIDE BOMBERS

Pakistani fears over India Afghan role ‘not groundless’: US envoy August 28, 2013

Once children graduate from the seminaries, they are mentally primed to join militant groups, who give them rigorous training.

“They keep them in isolation, secluded from other people like foot soldiers. Only three to four people are allowed to meet them,” said Abdul Basit, an expert on suicide bombings at the Pak Institute for Peace Studies in Islamabad.

 

“They are told they are God’s chosen people who have been selected to this holy and sacred job of waging a holy war for the glory of the religion.”

Most Pakistanis reject the Taliban’s version of Islam which allows for public beheadings and lashings for those deemed immoral. The Taliban often blow up girls’ schools.

But Pakistanis understand that openly challenging their ideology can be risky. Parents who oppose recruitment of their children for jihad sometimes pay a heavy price.

“If someone does not send their child for training, jihad, then they would be reprimanded. They are forced to leave the region or their houses are bombed or one of their relatives is killed,” said Basit.

“They can also bomb their homes.”

After years of indoctrination, carrying out the actual suicide attack seems like the easy part. The Mardan bomber was likely pretending to be student on his way to class at a school located in the military compound.

To get a uniform, all he had to do was walk through the bustle of the main market past fish vendors, restaurants and electronics joints and purchase the outfit at a shop.

Until the government offers impoverished Pakistanis a brighter future, the cycle that leads some young people to blow themselves up won’t let up.

“A lot of girls and boys tend to want to leave (madrassas) and when their families refuse to take them back or can’t afford to take them back then they react in different ways,” said Taj.

“We are presented with odd behavior such as strange talking or they become mute. Or they start to have histrionic fits which appear like epilepsy but are not.”

, ,

No Comments