By Sikander Hayat
I believe that the problem is on the eastern front as Pakistan cannot trust India. Indians occupied East Pakistan in 1971 and turned it into Bangladesh. In that historic perspective and given that it happened just over 30 years ago does not fill Pakistan and its people with confidence towards India. Pakistan believe that Taliban, unlike India , no matter how strong they become are always manageable and even if they become successful in overtaking Pakistan, they are not a threat to its territorial integrity. In other words, Pakistan will stay as it is but just with different rulers and under Sharia law.
Hence the refusal of Pakistan to abandon a national-security policy which is founded on the principle that India is Pakistan’s mortal enemy and Pakistan must safeguard itself against this threat.
The truth behind this belief lies in recent actions by Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks. The speed with which the Pakistani army rushed to embrace the threat of an Indian military reprisal was remarkable. Pakistan shifted several thousand troops from the north-west to the eastern border. Pakistani media commentators prepared the nation for war and people of Pakistan were ready for it.
There is another very compelling reason why Pakistan is not fully onboard with the Americans which is that Americans and other NATO forces will eventually leave Afghanistan without stabilising it fully and leave the mess behind like they did after the Soviet retreat. Pakistan envisage an Afghanistan where India will be playing the role of power broker and Pakistan cannot afford to have enemies on its western and eastern fronts.
Keeping this scenario in mind Pakistan has kept in touch with the good Taliban, like Jalaal-ud-Din Haqqani because Pakistan will need people like him to stabilise Afghanistan, kick India out and control the unrest within its own borders. India is forcing Pakistan to work on these lines by having 15 to 20 consulates in Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. These consulates are giving money, advice and weapons to insurgents in Balochi speaking areas as well as the tribal regions of Pakistan.
West must understand that although Pakistan has problems but India is the cause of many of these problems and India must learn that it got nothing out of active support for the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and it will get nothing out now. Agents of RAW ( Indian intelligence agency) collaborated with KHAD ( then Afghan intelligence agency of Najib Ullah) committed horrendous terrorist outrages in Pakistan in the 1980s but did India achieve any of its goals apart from cementing resolve in Pakistan to rid Afghanistan of all Indian influence.
In the present war as well, from the start, Pakistan believed that America and its allies would eventually withdraw from Afghanistan and American involvement in Iraq gave credence to this theory.
I believe that the problem is on the eastern front as Pakistan cannot trust India. Indians occupied East Pakistan in 1971 and turned it into Bangladesh. In that historic perspective and given that it happened just over 30 years ago does not fill Pakistan and its people with confidence towards India. Pakistan believe that Taliban, unlike India , no matter how strong they become are always manageable and even if they become successful in overtaking Pakistan, they are not a threat to its territorial integrity. In other words, Pakistan will stay as it is but just with different rulers and under Sharia law.
Hence the refusal of Pakistan to abandon a national-security policy which is founded on the principle that India is Pakistan’s mortal enemy and Pakistan must safeguard itself against this threat.
The truth behind this belief lies in recent actions by Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks. The speed with which the Pakistani army rushed to embrace the threat of an Indian military reprisal was remarkable. Pakistan shifted several thousand troops from the north-west to the eastern border. Pakistani media commentators prepared the nation for war and people of Pakistan were ready for it.
There is another very compelling reason why Pakistan is not fully onboard with the Americans which is that Americans and other NATO forces will eventually leave Afghanistan without stabilising it fully and leave the mess behind like they did after the Soviet retreat. Pakistan envisage an Afghanistan where India will be playing the role of power broker and Pakistan cannot afford to have enemies on its western and eastern fronts.
Keeping this scenario in mind Pakistan has kept in touch with the good Taliban, like Jalaal-ud-Din Haqqani because Pakistan will need people like him to stabilise Afghanistan, kick India out and control the unrest within its own borders. India is forcing Pakistan to work on these lines by having 15 to 20 consulates in Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. These consulates are giving money, advice and weapons to insurgents in Balochi speaking areas as well as the tribal regions of Pakistan.
West must understand that although Pakistan has problems but India is the cause of many of these problems and India must learn that it got nothing out of active support for the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and it will get nothing out now. Agents of RAW ( Indian intelligence agency) collaborated with KHAD ( then Afghan intelligence agency of Najib Ullah) committed horrendous terrorist outrages in Pakistan in the 1980s but did India achieve any of its goals apart from cementing resolve in Pakistan to rid Afghanistan of all Indian influence.
In the present war as well, from the start, Pakistan believed that America and its allies would eventually withdraw from Afghanistan and American involvement in Iraq gave credence to this theory.
Another column blaming India for almost all the problems faced by Pakistan. So for you Mr. Ignorant Column Writer
ReplyDeleteThere was an Interview of Mr. Nawaz Sharif on one of the Pakistani News Channel were he was quoted saying it was pakistani who denied any rights to bangladeshis which caused them to revolt in 1971 and he went on further to say that pakistan will loose baluchistan if baluchistanis were denied rights they deserve.
Watch the Geo News video to verify the truth.
So it is not India responsible for Interior problems of Pakistan but Pakistanis themselves are resposible for the chaos. Don't make India a scapegoat of all your problems.
Also pakistan is not the second most populous muslim country. Its India, we have more muslims than in Pakistan
Hi Sikandar,
ReplyDeleteI find your comment "eastern front as Pakistan cannot trust India" very sad. Is it not true that in Pakistan organizations openly conduct rallies in which they seek support to do Jihad against innocent Indians? Do Pakistanis not pay money to support murder of innocent people in India? Then, who is showing lack of trust worthiness, India or Pakistan?
What the extremists in Pakistan have done very well is hijack control of society by stirring up paranoia. Blaming India or some other country to keep their own population under control. The truth is that India is very busy modernizing itself and does not care about destroying Pakistan.
It is surprising that Pakistanis refer to the 1971 war. Who started the war in 1965 and 1947? Who started Kargil?
Who should be afraid of whom? Pakistani society is unraveling and it has it's own violent streak to blame for it.
We did not accept the result of the election that would have brought Mujib to power. India took advantage of that, especially since they were forced to house 10 million refugees.
ReplyDeleteSo we can blame Bhutto and Yaya Khan for that. Indians don't have 20 consulates in Afghanistan, they have 5.
A one sided post with half-baked information. I believe you should make statements with proper facts to back it.
ReplyDeleteSikander, I going to try and be as constructive as possible. Minor issue is you use a photo of an American helicopter to illustrate an article about India involvement.
ReplyDeleteIndia has always has had a historic relationship with Afghanistan (remember they were 'neighbours') and I believe that the relationship is less about troubling Pakistan than developing commercial opportunities. Of course, if a by-product was to put pressure on Pakistan's western border then this would please strategists in Delhi; if only to relieve the pressure in Kashmir.
I guess Pakistan is as paranoid as Israel when it comes to the objectives of its neighbours. Ironic, I guess.