Farooq
Hameed Khan
After more than three weeks of
unprovoked Indian army aggression on the LOC and Sialkot working boundary, the
Indian Prime minister Modi has reconfirmed his anti muslim and anti Pakistan
credentials. It is now abundantly clear
that Modi the hardliner hindu extremist seems determined to follow the path of
confrontation rather than that of peace
and cooperation with Pakistan. Prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s
sweet mango diplomacy was bound to fail. While India unilaterally called
off the foreign secretary level talks in end august this year, Modi’s visit to
the White House a few weeks later was the game changer. From a villain of the
2002 Gujrat massacre to the new darling of the west, a different Modi returned displaying more confidence and
arrogance in his newly assigned role of
regional bully to deal with India’s
nuclear armed neighbor. Buoyed by President Obama’s support for India’s
permanent seat in the UN Security Council, that acknowledged India’s regional
and global role, the joint statement issued at end of the visit reiterated
enhanced Indo – US defence cooperation
as well as joint and concerted efforts to dismantle terrorist safe havens including Al Qaeda,
Lashkar e Taiba, Jaish Mohamad and the Haqqanis. With India buying almost $2
billion of military hardware from the US in 2013, the United States surpassed Russia as India’s biggest supplier
of weapons/ equipment. But where credit is due, it must be given
wholeheartedly. Prime minister Nawaz Sharif must be commended for taking a bold
position on the Kashmir issue in UN general assembly that more than compensated
for his silence on the same during his visit to New Delhi to attend Modi’s oath
taking ceremony last year. That the revitalization of the Kashmir issue at UNGA was a big blow
to India’s efforts to keep it on the back burner, also explains the intensity
of India’s mini war on LOC/ Sialkot boundary. This diplomatic
strategy towards renewed internationalization of Kashmiris’ right to self
determination should be followed up
aggressively to forestall Modi’s plans
to repeal Article 370, which guarantees
special status to Indian Occupied
Kashmir.
Has the government’s response to the crisis been up to the mark? Nawaz
Sharif disappointed the nation with his continued policy of appeasement
towards India in this hour of national
crisis. Instead of a weak and meek political response, it was expected that
the prime minister and his key ministers
would provide the required
leadership and match Modi and his
cabinet members’ aggressive rhetoric
with an equally tough political message from Pakistan’s side. Even the statement at the conclusion of the
National Security Committee’s meeting that was attended by top armed forces
leadership leaders seemed rather soft and did not reflect the true national
mood and sentiment. An emergent joint
session of the parliament should have
been convened to condemn Indian aggression. Lodging a complaint with UN
Military Observers Group, on site UN
inspection of destruction in affected
civilian populated areas or circulating a document at the UN are not sufficient
to highlight Pakistan’s case at the international level. The government should
have knocked the door of the UN Security Council with a strong resolution to
seek UNSC’s support. With the civilian population being targeted on the
Pakistani side on Eid ul Azha and onwards, the nation expects an even firmer military response in a
war like situation created by a traditionally hostile neighbor. If Modi recently boasted about raining ‘1000 mortars
that left the enemy screaming,’ Pakistan’s military response should make the
enemy think twice before challenging Pakistan again . One hears rumors of some
Operation Jai Krishna in the offing. India’s obsession with Jamaat ud Dawa ‘s
(JUD) leader Hafiz Saeed is well known. Any Indian attempt to launch surgical
strikes against JUD headquarters in Muridke under cover of escalation on the
LOC and Sialkot working boundary, awaits a warm and befitting Pakistani response. Any such adventure would be
considered an act of war and not go unpunished. It may be recalled that a PAF
F-16 shot down an Indian Searcher-II UAV
of Israeli origin at an altitude of 13000 feet on the night of June 07,
2002 South West of Lahore. The nation still remembers Eid ul Fitr on April 10, 1959, when an intruding Canberra
high altitude bomber of the Indian Air Force which was on a secret photo
reconnaissance mission in Pakistan’s airspace, was intercepted and shot
down near Rawalpindi.
The Indians are fully aware of the
consequences in case they resort to any adventurism on the international order.
One cannot forget then Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf’s threat to his Indian
counterpart during the address to the nation at the height of the India –
Pakistan standoff in 2002, with both
armies in contact on the international border. When Musharraf warned of letting
loose ‘all hell and storm of fire’ in case the Indian army crossed the line,
the Indians knew perfectly well what he meant.
Pakistan’s
latest surface-to-surface, multi tube nuclear capable Nasr missile system with a 60 km range,
provides an ideal tactical battlefield deterrent to any of India’s Cold Start
style strategy. Modi may have to reconsider his policy of arm twisting viz a
viz his nuclear armed neighbor that is eyeing second strike capability. Recent
events also confirmed the emerging
‘Modi- Military- Media’ nexus against Pakistan.
Barring one or two odd Pakistani TV channels, our electronic media has
yet to confront and counter Indian electronic media’s venom against Pakistan.
Prime
Minister Modi must understand that Pakistan will resist Indian hegemony in the region. Instead he
should focus on peaceful co existence as well as dispute resolution through a
sustained dialogue process in the spirit of
Simla Accord and Lahore Declaration. If this is not possible, then it is
time for third party international mediation to bring peace to the region.
India stands to gain more economically by sincerely making definite and meaningful progress towards the resolution of outstanding
disputes like Kashmir, water, Siachin and Sir Creek. If this happens, then the normalization
of relations including grant of MFN/
NDMA (non discriminatory market access) to India as well as the Indian dream to
gain access to vital energy/ trade
corridors via Pakistan to Central Asia/ Gwadar/ Kashgar (China) could well become a reality in the coming
years.
المشاركات
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق