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Archive for category INTERNATIONAL MEDDLERS

Global Peace and Human Security: Are We the People and Global Leaders at a Crossroads? By Mahboob Khawaja, PhD

Global Leaders lack an Understanding of Nature,  Peace, and Human Security

 

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

 

 

 

To manifest global peace and human security, We, the People of conscience, ask for a reasoned dialogue for peace between all the warring parties. There is no place for complicity to maintain ignorance of the atrocities and emerging calamities of an acrimonious spell of violence and madness on either side. The superiority of intellect and information are simply imperatives of necessity, not the soul of human compassion and universal kindness. Cynicism about politicians is endemic. Mikhail Gorbacheve died this week but his legacy offers opportunities for political openness to change in Russia if collective efforts are implied to rebuild the trust between the contemporary belligerent actors. The Chernobyl nuclear meltdown is not forgotten or forbidden from recent memory as were the nuclear incidents in Japan and Three Mile Island, NY. We, the People of the world will continue to witness the unthinkable consequences of human fatalities and environmental impacts for ages to come.  Scientists and engineers specializing in nuclear reactor technology must have imagined theoretical and conceptual perfection of security and peace on this planet. Not so at Zaphornizhia (Ukraine) nuclear station. Now under Russian control, it is posing a critically ferocious problem according to the IAEA (Geneva) team that visited the site, calling ‘the security and integrity of the plant violated.’  Its volatility is a serious concern to all if another meltdown happens. The competing forces would start the blame games while human peace and security would be at crossroads.

It is repulsive to suppose universal harmony can be enhanced by profligacy, malevolence, and horrors and miseries for unthinkable multitudes. The IAEA team took more than two weeks just to visit the epicenter of the alleged nuclear disaster. How could the UNO or any of its agencies assure global humanity of its safety and survival in a nuclear meltdown? The current global institutions have a serious problem with integrity, relevance, and effectiveness. Why did the UNO Security Council fail to convene an emergency session and designate the nuclear establishments as “Safe Zones”, and ‘out of bounds’ for all military engagements? The people around Zaphorzhia breathe fear and sleep with the invisible horrors of radiation and nuclear meltdown. The fear could dehumanize people all over the globe.

Despite the reality of the catastrophic events of the World War II, most global leaders claiming greatness of mind and vision have lost the moral and intellectual path of political farsightedness and accountability.  The EU and NATO and their regionalized and ethno-nationalistic propositions are fast becoming contentious issues of peace and security between the Russian Federation and the Western nations. People with knowledge and wisdom cannot make animosity as a trade to endanger our future.

Nature Peace GIF - Nature Peace Calm - Discover & Share GIFs

 

NATO and the EU are regionalized organizations and their advisors lack imagination of global peace and security. We, the People witness a present devoid of reason and rationality often fearing the coming of an apocalyptic ending of a completely decadent human civilization. Some mythologists as the World Economic Forum advisor Yuval Noah Harari,  explains Emily Mangiaracina (“World Economic Forum Adviser Claims the Planet No Longer Needs the ‘Vast Majority’ of the Population” Global Research: 8/12/22), argues beyond the capacity of human nature:  that the world does not “need the vast majority” of the current population due to technological advances. Harari made the bold declaration in an interview with Chris Anderson, head of the popular TED media group, echoing past predictions of a “useless class” of “unemployable” humans.

To this author, the cataclysmic nature of human intellect is unleashing a highly irrational and unthinkable world of complexity to come into our consciousness, destroying all progress and achievement of any human civilization on this planet. Most human intellect knows the basic imperative: “if you THINK intelligently, you could find workable remedies to human problems.”

Global Leaders Must THINK of Effective Communication to Resolve Emerging Problems

Despite the leaders of Iran and Turkey having a working relationship with President Putin regarding the supply of grain via the Black Sea and prospects of meetings for peace talks, no other Western leaders took the initiative to break their strange silence and come out of the box to articulate a New Vision for political change and start talking to Russian and Ukrainian leaders for an immediate ceasefire and peace process.  All parties could well use the common phenomenon and threat of nuclear arsenals / hydrogen bombs or mother of bombs to annihilate human beings and habitats in few seconds, if not minutes.

The failure of global leadership and institutions more so of the UNO signals dubious conceptions of right and wrong, good and evil in problem-solving in Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Kashmir and Palestine are the outcomes of consequential military invasions and aggression that kill people and destroy Earth. History illustrates when a nation or its leaders challenge the limits of the Laws of God and approach the end of their lifespan, insanity overtakes common sense and they tend to ignore warnings and reject all Voices of Reason.

The planet Earth is not a dead orbiting object but a living entity providing continuous nourishment to human life and existence to all other living beings. When nations and leaders subscribing to political absolutism start acting like God and challenge the sanctity and limits of the Laws of God; historically speaking, they become an object of unthinkable natural calamities- earthquakes, wildfires, floods, deaths and destruction. The Divine Revelations (The Qur’an: 40: 64), remind us, of who we are and what relationship we enjoin to Earth and its sustenance that supports our life and existence:

It is God Who made for you the Earth as a resting place and the sky as a canopy;
And has given you shape and made your shapes beautiful,
And has provided for your Sustenance, of things pure and good;
Such is God your Lord. So Glory to God,
The Lord of the Worlds.

 

 

 

 

Global Humanity Rejects Military Conquests and Demands Peace, Security and Co-Existence

The sanctity of human life is grounded in the realization of peace, dialogue, and co-existence. The on-going onslaught between Russia-Ukraine and the West makes no sense to rational thinking and political accountability. Appearing more like spectators, American, European and NATO leaders pay their lip service to aid Ukraine is mere a repetitive cry for public consumption.

If time and history are a reference point to avoid any conflict between Man and the Nature of things, we must comprehend how the planet Earth exists and moves at its axis and rotates at 1675 km per hour or 465 meters per second that is 1,040 miles per hour. The Earth’s circumference at the equator is 40,075 km. And the length of time the Earth takes to complete one full turn on its axis is 23.93 hours. How do all living beings get lifelong nourishment within the splendid Universe? The NEED is urgent to understand the natural equilibrium of relationship between Man, Life and God – given the living Universe in which we all co-exist harmoniously. Modern wars represent sadistic minds to undermine and destroy all that is built over the ages that we call human cultures and civilizations. All of the Monolithic Religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) reveal the truth of “Trust” – human beings took to be responsible and be at peace with the Nature of Things – the living Planet Earth. This TRUST and its reminder are explicitly mentioned in (The Qur’an, Chapter 33: 72):“We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth; And the mountains but they refused; To undertake it, being afraid thereof: But man undertook it; He was indeed unjust and foolish.”    

German philosopher Immanuel Kant(“Perpetual Peace”, 1795), was more proactive and a realist when he noted that:  “Intellectuals must be seated in chosen assemblies and systems of public governance to overt individualistic insanity against the people.”  Viewing the perpetuated chaos and nationalistic ideals of the few, no matter how time exists in a frozen leadership intellect, this author recently proposed a strategy of communication to global leaders to resolve the conflict on both sides of the iron curtain: “https://www.uncommonthought.com/mtblog/archives/2022/04/19/ukraine-russia-and-the-easter-of-insanity.php and https://english.pravda.ru/opinion/151200-easter/ 4/19/2022:

To stop the war in Ukraine, the US, the EU, NATO should have a direct face to face communication with President Putin. …….It is logical when people of diversity and opposing ideals come to talk directly, tensions and evil mongering is reduced to reason and mutual interest. This has not happened except military options for weapon supplies and enlargement of the scope of regional conflict.  Time and history will not forgive nor forget any of the leaders if they failed to agree to an immediate ceasefire and peace deal. 

Can we THINK to be human first in all of our moral, political and intellectual endeavors?

Can we look at the mirror and critically see ourselves – who we are and why have we become so stagnated in moral, spiritual and intellectual values to destroy our own existence by our own complicity?  Can we see the mirror with a collective conscience and realize as if there were no people of REASON and accountability populating Planet Earth?  What kind of nuisance discovery it could be if other intelligent species from outer space ( as indeed there are living beings in other planets), come to visit our Earth and its advanced knowledge-based species and their AI weapons, visual constructs and magic of conquests claiming to be the master of their destiny and sustainable future, and given the sophisticated missiles, nuclear arsenals and mother of bombs so well placed comfortably that nothing could disrupt their lifelines except animosities, wars and wickedness to destroy their own existence on this Earth.


Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and is the author of several publications including the latest: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution. Germany, 12/2019.

 

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Nuclear Chutzpah By Eric Margolis

Nuclear Chutzpah

By Eric Margolis

May 07, 2018

 

 

 

‘Chutzpah’ is a wonderful Yiddish word that means outrageous nerve, or unmitigated gall.

This week’s Chutzpah Award goes to Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Standing in front of props of data files and cd’s, Netanyahu claimed Israel’s renowned Mossad spy agency had stolen a small mountain of secret Iranian nuclear data from a warehouse in Tehran.

The never-understated Netanyahu claimed that the purloined material proved that Iran was lying about having halted its covert nuclear program and must not be trusted.

Netanyahu’s supposed nuclear bombshell was likely the warm-up act for President Donald Trump to reject Iran’s nuclear freeze deal with the US, Russia, China, Germany, and France, blessed by the UN and the European Union. The only thing Trump apparently hates more than Muslims is his predecessor, former President Barack Obama (whom he accused of being a secret Muslim). The Iran nuclear deal was the most important foreign policy accomplishment of the Obama administration.

Netanyahu repeatedly warned the world about Iran’s alleged nuclear arsenal while making no mention at all of Israel’s own large, secret nuclear arsenal, which is believed to comprise of over 100 warheads, perhaps even several hundred, that can be delivered by aircraft, missiles and submarines. Every Mideast nation can be hit by Israeli nukes as well as Russia, which some experts say is or was on Israel’s target list.

Trump, of course, made no mention of the awkward fact that Israel had stolen much of its nuclear technology and uranium from the United States, sometimes with the connivance of very senior US government officials. France, that paragon of world peace, had the rest.

Listening to Netanyahu accuse Iran of hiding secret nuclear facilities was a pure pot calling the kettle black. Israel’s early nuclear program at Dimona in the Negev desert was entirely concealed from US and UN inspectors, including fake walls in the nuclear complex that completely fooled them. When Netanyahu accused Iran of cheating, he knows of what he speaks.

Most of what Netanyahu ‘revealed’ about Iran’s alleged nuclear program was old stuff, dating back to 1999-2003 and readily available in reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency. This respected UN agency now reports that Iran has fulfilled all of its commitments and abandoned its earlier nuclear program that did not produce any weapons before it was ended.

But facts don’t matter in this Trump-produced, made-for-TV drama. The key point is that with the naming of Michael Pompeo as US Secretary of State, and appointment of the rightwing fanatic John Bolton as US national security advisor, Israel’s rightwing government has completed its virtual takeover of US Mideast policy. As I’ve previously written, Trump looks more and more like a Trojan Horse for Netanyahu and his extremist allies.

 

Dimona-Israel Nuclear Program-Actual Nuclear Bombs are kept near Airbases such as one around Accor

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides Pompeo and VP Mike Pence, both ardent Christian Zionists, and Bolton, Trump now has around him the UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, of Indian origin, who is the darling of the US far right and a handmaiden of arch-pro Israel billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, a major bankroller of the Republican Party. Add in Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and, of course, Trump’s daughter and son-in-law. In short, an amen-chorus for Israel’s far right.

This American Israel-first coalition has joined Netanyahu’s Likud alliance in pressing for war against Iran. The first skirmishes have already begun with over 100 Israeli air attacks on Syria, ostensibly against Iranian positions. A great propaganda hue and cry against the purported dangers of Iran is being raised in the US and Europe. According to Israel’s right, Assyrian hordes are about to engulf Israel.

 

 

 

 

In reality, Iran has very little offensive power. Like Iraq before it, Iran is militarily dilapidated with 40-year old equipment, a largely grounded air force, little artillery and poor communications. Tehran has a few inaccurate missiles but no nuclear warheads.

Israel’s powerful air force could easily turn any attacking Iranian forces into chopped falafel. Iran’s only strength is defensive, in urban combat or mountainous terrain. Iran has no capability to seriously threaten Israel except by aiding the Lebanese Hezbollah movement in showering northern Israel with light artillery rockets, a nuisance rather than a mortal danger.

Israel is moving to repeat its triumph in 2003 when the Bush administration, US partisans of Israel, and dishonest US media pushed the nation into a war of pure aggression against Iraq. Israel emerged the victor from this unprovoked war and is trying to repeat its success again with Iran.

Overthrowing Iran’s Islamic Republic would leave Israel the unchallenged power in the Mideast.

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune the Los Angeles Times, Times of London, the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times, Nation – Pakistan, Hurriyet, – Turkey, Sun Times Malaysia and other news sites in Asia.https://ericmargolis.com/

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The End of International Law? by Thierry Meyssan

The End of International Law?

by Thierry Meyssan
The war against the Greater Middle East should end with the withdrawal of US troops within
the next six months. And yet nothing proves that peace will settle
in each of the countries that were invaded. Today we are witnessing what
seems to be a tactic to get rid of the international law.
Will this consolidate a division of the world into two parts,
or will it open to a generalised conflict?

Do the Western powers hope to put an end to the constraints of International Law? That is the question asked by the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergueï Lavrov, at the Moscow conference on International Security [1].

Over the last few years, Washington has been promoting the concept of « unilateralism ». International Law and the United Nations are supposed to bow to the power of the United States.

This concept of political life is born of the History of the United States – the colonists who came to the Americas intended to live as they chose and make a fortune there. Each community developed its own laws and refused the intervention of a central government in local affairs. The President and the Federal Congress are charged with Defense and Foreign Affairs, but like the citizens themselves, they refused to accept an authority above their own.

Bill Clinton attacked Yugoslavia, blithely violating Internal Law. George Bush Jr. did the same by attacking Iraq, and Barack Obama by attacking Libya and Syria. As for Donald Trump, he has never hidden his distrust of supra-national rules.

Making an allusion to the Cebrowski-Barnett doctrine [2], Sergueï Lavrov declared: « We have the clear impression that the United States seeks to maintain a state of controlled chaos in this immense geopolitical area [the Near East], hoping to use it to justify the military presence of the USA in the region, without any time limit, in order to promote their own agenda ».

The United Kingdom also seem to feel quite comfortable with breaking the Law. Last month, it accused Moscow in the « Skripal affair », without the slightest proof, and attempted to unite a majority of the General Assembly of the UN to exclude Russia from the Security Council. It would, of course, be easier for the Anglo-Saxons to unilaterally rewrite the Law without having to take notice of the opinions of their opponents.

Moscow does not believe that London took this initiative. It considers that Washington is calling the shots.

« Globalisation », in other words, the « globalisation of Anglo-Saxon values », has created a class society between states. But we should not confuse this new problem with the existence of the right to a veto. Of course, the UNO, while it declares equality between states whatever their size, distinguishes, within the Security Council, five permanent members who have a veto. This Directorate, composed of the main victors of the Second World War, is a necessity for them to accept the principle of supra-national Law. However, when this Directorate fails to embody the Law, the General Assembly may take its place. At least in theory, because the smaller states which vote against a greater state are obliged to suffer retaliatory measures.

La « globalisation of Anglo-Saxon values » ignores honour and highlights profit, so that the weight of the propositions by any state will be measured only by the economic development of its country. However, over the years, three states have managed to gain an audience to the foundations of their propositions, and not in function of their economy – they are the Iran of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (today under house arrest in his own country), the Venezuela of Hugo Chávez, and the Holy See.

The confusion engendered by Anglo-Saxon values has led to the financing of intergovernmental organisations with private money. As one thing leads to another, the member states of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), for example, have progressively abandoned their propositional power to the profit of private telecom operators, who are united in a « consultative committee ».

« Communication », a new name for « propaganda », has become the imperative in international relations. From the US Secretary of State brandishing a phial of pseudo-anthrax to the British Minister for Foreign Affairs lying about the origin of Novitchok in the Salisbury affair, lies have become the substitute for respect, and cause general mistrust.

During the first years of its creation, the UNO attempted to forbid « war propaganda », but today, it is the permanent members of the Security Council who indulge in it.

The worst occurred in 2012, when Washington managed to obtain the nomination of one of its worst war-hawks, Jeffrey Feltman, as the number 2 of the UNO [3]. From that date onward, wars have been orchestrated in New York by the very institution that is supposed to prevent them.

Russia is wondering today about the possible desire of the Western powers to block the United Nations. If this is so, it would create an alternative institution, but there would no longer be a forum which would enable the two blocks to discuss matters.

Just as a society which falls into chaos, where men are wolves for men when deprived of the Law, so the world will become a battle-field if it abandons International Law.

Thierry Meyssan

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Subversive activities in Balochistan Asif Haroon Raja

Subversive activities in Balochistan

 

Asif Haroon Raja

 

India has always used Afghanistan as a second front against Pakistan. India has over the years been financing problems in Pakistan”. Chuck Hagel

 

ScreenHunter_57-May.-18-07.51It is an irrefutable reality that India’s prime intelligence agency RAW is leading terrorist activities in Baluchistan by using the soil of Afghanistan, harbouring and financing terrorists and projecting them as freedom fighters. This covert support is going on since 2002 and several other foreign agencies have also been supplementing RAW’s efforts. RAW had created Mukti Bahini, a militant wing of Awami League in former East Pakistan in late 1960s and in 1971 established 59 training camps all along the border to train, equip and launch them to sever eastern wing from West Pakistan. After accomplishing its mission, in 1973 RAW was assigned the task of subverting Sindh with the help of Sindhi nationalist parties. In conjunction with KGB and KHAD, RAW fully supported Baloch insurgency from 1973 to 1978; and again destabilised Pakistan in 1980s by supporting Al-Zulfiqar, a terrorist wing of PPP.

 

 

 

After the creation of MQM in 1984, RAW established links with the new party leadership and is still guiding and assisting it. Over one million weapons have been inducted in port city by RAW and other agencies as well as NATO to make the economic hub centre restive. Startling disclosures have been made by two recently arrested MQM terrorists Junaid and Tahir Lamba who revealed that RAW has been imparting training to MQM workers since 1996 at Dheradun to destabilize Karachi.

 

RAW is arming, training and funding banned terrorist groups Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Baloch Republican Army (BRA), Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and Baluchistan Lashkar headed by runaway Baloch rebel leaders. Pattern is similar to its support to Mukti Bahini in 1971. RAW established 9 training camps along Afghan-Pakistan border in 2003 to train Baloch dissidents. Later, in league with CIA, MI-6 and Afghan NDS, it set up 60 training camps in interior Baluchistan. Shamsi airbase in Baluchistan (100 miles away from Iran’s eastern border and same distance from Afghanistan’s southern border) was also used by CIA to foment insurgency and to assist Jundollah group.

 

Besides sabotage and subversion, Indo-US-Western propaganda machinery has been eulogising the heroics of the Baloch insurgents by projecting them as seekers of their socio-politico-economic rights. Atrocities of insurgents against non-Baloch settlers in Baluchistan, forcing over 100,000 to migrate, blatant target killings of pro-Pakistan Baloch and government officials, teachers/professors, Hazaras, kidnapping for ransom, blowing up gas pipelines, electric pylons/grids, railway lines, attacking trains, security forces, challenging the writ of the state, seeking foreign support to break up Pakistan, all these undesirable acts were looked the other way. No objections were raised by local and foreign media when exiled Baloch leaders sought intervention by India, or the US or NATO or the UN to help them liberate Baluchistan.  

 

Conversely, counter actions of the law enforcement agencies (LEA) to safeguard territorial integrity of the state are projected as violation of human rights. The government is also described in poor light having robbed the resources of the province.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Propaganda themes are:

a. Successive governments have kept Baluchistan deprived and backward and are stealing Baloch mineral resources.

b. Punjab Army is anti-Baloch and has turned Baluchistan into a colony.

c. Army is carrying out genocide of Baloch.

    d. Over 18000 Baloch men and women have gone missing.

e. Agencies and FC are behind forced disappearances of Baloch and kill and dump policy to suppress Baloch people.    

 

CIA, MI-6, RAW, Mossad, Afghan NDS in unison have unremittingly utilized all sorts of covert and overt methods to foment unrest in Baluchistan. Grievances of the Baloch and the issue of missing persons/enforced disappearances and ‘kill and dump policy’ have been relentlessly played up for many years and in this several Pak TV channels, journalists, HRW and human rights activists have been promoting the foreign agenda to discredit intelligence agencies and Frontier Corps Baluchistan. Mama Qadeer who also supports the separatist agenda was lionised by certain TV channels particularly Geo. His long march from Quetta to Karachi and Islamabad from October 2013 till February 2014 in protest of non-recovery of missing persons was given wide publicity. There are hundreds of foreign funded NGOs promoting the cause of Baloch separatists and pursuing foreign agendas.

 

 

 

Grievances of the Baloch and the issue of missing persons/enforced disappearances and ‘kill and dump policy’ have been relentlessly played up for many years and in this several Pak TV channels, journalists, HRW and human rights activists have been promoting the foreign agenda to discredit intelligence agencies and Frontier Corps Balochistan. Mama Qadeer who also supports the separatist agenda was lionised by certain TV channels particularly Geo. His long march from Quetta to Karachi and Islamabad from October 2013 till February 2014 in protest of non-recovery of missing persons was given wide publicity. There are hundreds of foreign funded NGOs promoting the cause of Baloch separatists and pursuing foreign agendas.

 

RAW keeps changing tactics in rapid succession. A year back it hyphenated Pakistan with ISIS/Jehadis through ‘guided’ and misleading interviews. Uploading of a notorious terrorist Allah Nazar’s interview on a RAW-managed Indian propaganda website on ‘Online’ further confirmed the information at hand that India has been training, financing, arming and projecting terrorists to destabilize Pakistan and Afghanistan”. The thrust of the interview revolved around unproven allegations against Pakistan’s LEAs, intelligence agencies and Pak-China relations. Purpose behind it was to subtly gather the sympathies of civil society besides confusing things as the website introduced Allah Nazar as a so-called freedom movement leader fighting against Jehadi elements and ISIS.

 

Allah Nazar is a terrorist hailing from Awaran, Baluchistan as established after thorough perusal and verification of record of his activities spread over a period of many years. Pak agencies have gathered sufficient evidence which suggests that this person has been enjoying direct support of RAW for committing heinous crimes against humanity viz. killing of men, women and children, attacks on women university students and members of LEAs and blowing up of electric pylons as well as gas pipelines. These insane and murderous acts are being projected as deeds of a liberation movement.

 

It may be recalled that Allah Nazar and his group BLF continued to harass local population in Awaran, Punjgur and Kech districts for a number of years. However, he fled from the area on arrival of forces during earthquake relief activities in September 2013. People of the area felt immensely relieved after the arrival of forces and on their large scale relief efforts. Since then, Allah Nazar and his likeminded accomplices have fled to other areas known only to Indian RAW from where they are carrying out terrorist activities. Chinese working in Gwadar and other parts of Baluchistan have also been targeted by Baloch terrorists. Besides Allah Nazar, other Baloch rebel leaders living a luxurious life in exile since 2006 are Brahamdagh Bugti and Mehran Marri in Geneva, Hyrbyar Marri and Mir Suleman Khan Daud in London, Dr Khaliq Baloch in Washington.

 

Most sordid aspect of these anti-Pakistani activities is that they are not only Pakistan-specific but they also target Chinese interests. India is using terrorist elements in Baluchistan to threaten Chinese interests in the development of China-Pak Economic Corridor. The ink on the historic agreement had barely dried up when western media and foreign paid NGOs in Pakistan sprang into action and started drumming up Baluchistan insurgency. Sabeen Mahmud heading 2F NGO in Karachi hosted a seminar focussing on disappearance of Baloch nationalists and to demonise ISI/FC. This topic was initially scheduled in LUMS Lahore, but was cancelled on the intervention of Punjab government. Unfortunate Sabeen was purposely murdered by the schemers on the same day when she was driving home to earn sympathies of the public and to make ISI a suspect.

 

The next event which coincided with China President’s visit was the interview of Brahamdagh Bugti from Geneva which was given wide publicity by western media. His focal point was his fears about China-Pakistan corridor, which in his jaundiced view was aimed at colonizing Baluchistan. He urged his followers to resist. Late Nawab Akbar Bugti had also started the insurgency in 2004 on the plea that development of Gwadar would be against the interests of the Baloch. Rights activists also stepped up their propaganda accusing security forces of carrying out extra judicial killings of separatists in Baluchistan. Hussain Haqqani wrote an insidious article in Wall Street Journal in this timeframe, while Tariq Fateh sent anti-Pakistan tweets from Delhi. Activation of Baluchistan card indicates the nervousness of detractors of Pakistan who know that the envisaged corridor would drown all the sinister plans hatched by them to denuclearise and balkanise Pakistan.       

 

It must not be forgotten that only a third of population of Baluchistan is Balochi speaking which include Brahvis as well. More numbers of Baloch live in southern Punjab and Sindh who are educated, patriotic and well integrated with rest of people of Pakistan. Great numbers of Baloch youth are joining armed forces and paramilitary forces and trend to get educated is on the rise – thanks to dedicated efforts of the Army. Dr Malick’s regime helped by the federal government is working hard to alleviate the grievances of the Baloch and to bring back the misled Baloch leaders.

 

Passage of 18th Amendment allowing greater autonomy to provinces, allocation of extraordinary heavy development budget and establishment of nationalist government in Baluchistan has left the insurgents with no ground to grieve and seek independence. Baloch insurgency is made up of handful of insurgent groups, mostly belonging to Bugti, Marri and Mengal tribes and except for Allah Nazar, all other rebel leaders are residing abroad enjoying the hospitality of their patrons. Insurgents represent only a few districts and they have no political party and are highly unpopular. They are disgruntled, exhausted, disenchanted and involved in infighting. Their patrons are vexed and vainly keep counseling them to unite for their lost cause.

 

Pakistan of today is alive to all these threats and challenges and the sitting government, headed by Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, the entire political leadership and the army under the command of COAS Gen Raheel Sharif and other services’ chiefs are unanimous and in complete agreement with one another on the policy of ‘no surrender to such nefarious activities’. Establishment of Special Security Division to ensure security of foreign and local workers employed along the corridor is a wise step and will help in frustrating the baleful designs of anti-state elements.

The writer is a retired Brig/defence analyst/columnist/author of five books, Member Executive Council PESS, Director Measac Research Centre, Director Board of Governors TFP. [email protected]

 

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SOBER ADVICE to BJP…by Mani Shankar Aiyar (Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha)

SOBER ADVICE to BJP
 
Makes sense.

​.. but will BJP pay heed to his advice ?

By

Mani Shankar Aiyar

(Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha)

The bigger danger is that overblown rhetoric can tip the subcontinent over the precipice. That is what we must remind ourselves in this centenary year of the commencement of the First World War. The parallels between the events that sparked WWI and the contemporary India-Pakistan situation are striking. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia were neighbours, much as India and Pakistan are neighbours. There was no comparison between the military power, the economic strength and the political clout of the two neighbours: Austro-Hungary, like India vis-a-vis Pakistan, was undoubtedly superior. Nevertheless, tension between the two neighbours was rife, as in the case of India and Pakistan. Serbia-based non-State actors were secretly readying for a major terrorist strike against the Empire, backed by powerful forces within Serbia but out of government control, much as Pakistan-based non-State terrorists are constantly preparing for terror strikes against key Indian targets, backed by powerful forces within Pakistan, but outside government control.
When a young band of Serbian terrorists slipped into Bosnia to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Government of Serbia did not know, even as it is entirely likely that the Government of Pakistan did not know that Ajmal Kasab and his gang had slipped into Mumbai to target the iconic Taj Hotel. But, as in India, so in Austria, the suspicion was so strong that there were rogue elements in the Serbian establishment that were backing the terrorists, no proof was needed: suspicion amounted to conviction. Therefore, when the Serbian terrorists struck, assassinating the heir-apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Empire needed no conclusive proof that the Serbian government was behind the assassination. It knew, as India “knew”, that 26/11 was master-minded by the Government of Pakistan. And even as the Pakistan government denied any involvement in such cross-border terrorism and undertook to set in train an investigation into the dastardly terrorist attack, so also, a hundred years earlier, did Serbia condemn the assassination and offer to investigate and bring to justice those responsible.

Modi_at_BJP_HQ_650

Arun Jaitley thumps his chest and proclaims that we have given the Pakis a “jaw-breaking reply” (munh tod jawab). 
Oh yeah? The Pakistanis are still there – with their jaw quite intact and a nuclear arsenal nestling in their pockets. 
Rajnath Singh adds that the Pakis had best understand that “a new era has dawned”. 
How? Is retaliatory fire a BJP innovation? Or is it that we have we ceased being peace-loving and become a war-mongering nation? 
And Modi thunders that his guns will do the talking (boli nahin, goli). Yes – and for how long?
The Government struts around as if it has silenced the Pakistani guns. Nothing could be a more dangerous illusion. If the guns have ceased for the present to bark, it is because the Pakistan army has silenced its own guns, even as the Indian army has silenced ours. The idea that we have terrified the Pakistanis into submission by shelling a few homes and killing a few soldiers and several innocents might be a myth that washes here but it is far, far from the truth. The danger is that we will forget the limits that divide peace from war.
If losing half their country in 1971 and leaving 90,000 prisoners of war in Indian hands has not dimmed Pakistan’s zeal to protect itself, big words from our end are not going to make them grovel at Modi’s feet. Pakistan is a sovereign nation. It makes its own assessment of the threats to its security. And the kind of talk they have heard in recent days from our governmental chiefs only persuades them that they are right in regarding India as the biggest threat to their security. This marginalizes the sane voices across the border and brings Pakistanis of all hues and colours together in the defence of their homeland. The language of the “akhaara” is not the language of statesmen. And war is not a continuation of diplomacy by other means; it is a confession of the breakdown of diplomacy.
Dr. Manmohan Singh showed, especially during the first three years of his government, how much could be achieved by talking to Pakistan instead of shooting at them. Even Kashmir was tackled on the back-channel. It was agreed that territories could not be changed nor populations exchanged. What was needed was fostering exchanges of all kinds between Kashmiris on both sides of the LoC – the restoration of Kashmiriyat by fostering exchanges between people, relatives, friends, media, goods and  services across the LoC in a two-way traffic. Pakistan has repeatedly – even with the change of regime in India – shown that it is ready to talk with India. It is we who are stalling the dialogue. But as the history of the last 20 years has shown, proxy war in Kashmir did not come in the way of Vajpayee’s bus journey to the Shaheed Minar in Lahore; Kargil and the Parliament attack did not stop the invitation to Musharraf to come to Agra; nor did it prevent Vajpayee from going to Islamabad to sign a joint declaration that presaged the resumption of dialogue. 26/11 certainly threw the spanner in the works but was not enough to forestall the invitation to Nawaz Sharif to the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan. So, a “munh thod jawab” is for domestic consumption, a pathetic attempt at proving the breadth of the Prime Minister’s chest.
The bigger danger is that overblown rhetoric can tip the subcontinent over the precipice. That is what we must remind ourselves in this centenary year of the commencement of the First World War. The parallels between the events that sparked WWI and the contemporary India-Pakistan situation are striking. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia were neighbours, much as India and Pakistan are neighbours. There was no comparison between the military power, the economic strength and the political clout of the two neighbours: Austro-Hungary, like India vis-a-vis Pakistan, was undoubtedly superior. Nevertheless, tension between the two neighbours was rife, as in the case of India and Pakistan. Serbia-based non-State actors were secretly readying for a major terrorist strike against the Empire, backed by powerful forces within Serbia but out of government control, much as Pakistan-based non-State terrorists are constantly preparing for terror strikes against key Indian targets, backed by powerful forces within Pakistan, but outside government control.
When a young band of Serbian terrorists slipped into Bosnia to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Government of Serbia did not know, even as it is entirely likely that the Government of Pakistan did not know that Ajmal Kasab and his gang had slipped into Mumbai to target the iconic Taj Hotel. But, as in India, so in Austria, the suspicion was so strong that there were rogue elements in the Serbian establishment that were backing the terrorists, no proof was needed: suspicion amounted to conviction. Therefore, when the Serbian terrorists struck, assassinating the heir-apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Empire needed no conclusive proof that the Serbian government was behind the assassination. It knew, as India “knew”, that 26/11 was master-minded by the Government of Pakistan. And even as the Pakistan government denied any involvement in such cross-border terrorism and undertook to set in train an investigation into the dastardly terrorist attack, so also, a hundred years earlier, did Serbia condemn the assassination and offer to investigate and bring to justice those responsible.
But Vienna would not be appeased. An eight-point ultimatum was sent to Serbia demanding full acceptance of the eight conditions within a month. Eventually, after much hemming and hawing, Belgrade accepted seven of the conditions but baulked at the eighth – that a joint Austrian-Serbian investigation be launched into the assassination. That was enough for Vienna to insist that if all conditions were not fulfilled, the far more powerful Austro-Hungarian forces would reduce Serbia to rubble in a matter of days.
The threat was meant to cow the Serbians. The Serbians went as far as they could, but baulked at abject surrender. In consequence, military plans began to roll – to the alarm of both Emperor Franz Joseph of Austro-Hungary as well as the German Kaiser whose belligerence was pushing Vienna further and further down the road to disaster. Their political misgivings were entirely understandable. For Russia had declared that any military action against her Slav cousin would invite Russian retaliation against both Austria and Germany. At the same time, Germany had made it clear that her first target was France. Treaty obligations made it incumbent for France to come to Russia’s rescue and vice versa in the event of war. Britain was committed to entering the war in these circumstances. The very balance of power that was supposed to have kept the peace in Europe for a hundred years was now pushing the world to the brink.
To prevent this catastrophe, the two Emperors who had been the loudest in proclaiming a “munh thod jawab” to Serbia tried at the last moment to stop the guns from booming, but were over-ruled by their respective military hierarchies. War was launched. The mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire conquered Serbia but ended up losing the War and disappearing from the map of the world. Germany won the opening rounds but ended in humiliating defeat. Defeat on the battle-field led to the Peace Treaty but contained the seeds of resentment that resulted in WWII breaking out 20 years later. It did not end till nearly a hundred million people – mostly unarmed non-combatant civilians – had been killed the world over. That was the outcome of Vienna saying “Boli nahin, goli”.    
Let us remind ourselves that it was the Father of the Nation who taught us that “taking an eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind.” Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!


Mani Shankar Aiyar

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