Interior Minister Rehman Malik has come down hard on India. ‘We have solid evidence that not only in Balochistan but India is involved in almost every terrorist activity in Pakistan,’ Mr Malik said on Wednesday. On Balochistan, it is understood that, despite denials by both sides, Pakistan handed over a dossier on Indian activities there at the meeting between the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers in Sharm el Sheikh in July, capping a long series of complaints on the issue by Pakistan. What is notable about the claims of Indian involvement in Balochistan is that the international powers have not downplayed them. On the issue of Indian involvement in ‘almost every terrorist’ act in Pakistan, however, Mr Malik’s claim would appear to be an exaggeration, for it is well known that there are non-state actors inside Pakistan whose goal is to destabilise the state for ideological reasons that have nothing to do with India; indeed, many of those non-state actors regard ‘Hindu’ India as an even bigger enemy.
Be that as it may, we believe that the gist of Mr Malik’s blunt comments on India is correct. Whatever India may or may not be doing inside Pakistan, it is clear that the Indians are still unwilling to move out of the accusation mode. From the prime minister downwards, hardly a few days pass without some statement on ‘Pakistani’ involvement in yet-to-be-committed terrorist acts inside India. Puzzlingly, the Indians appear to be content with issuing public warnings and seem uninterested in sharing intelligence with Pakistan on the planning of such attacks. Surely, whatever doubts the Indian government has about Pakistan’s bona fides as a partner in the fight against terrorism, it has a bigger duty to try and thwart future attacks — and public warnings but no intelligence-sharing seems to run contrary to the fulfilment of that duty.
More generally, the Indian pressure is counterproductive for two reasons. One, Indian cage-rattling is liable to distract the security establishment here just as the Pakistan Army is locked in battle with militant groups. True, India’s concerns are about the Kashmir-centric, anti-Indian militants, whereas the Pakistan Army is focused on fighting the anti-state militants. But consider this: many of the groups the army is fighting today are the same ones it was willing to ‘shield’ only a few years ago. Clearly, then, the Pakistan Army’s security calculations are not inflexible. Second, the problems between India and Pakistan go beyond militancy and involve genuine disputes. Ignoring the latter will not help defeat the former; India must recognise this and re-engage a Pakistani government that has repeatedly expressed its willingness to talk.
Read The full Story Here.
Well. I don't know its right or wrong that Baluch people are being supported by India or other foreign power. But here I need to point out one thing from" Dawn", even if they are getting support from India, is it not because of repression and injustice of center towards Baluchistan in particular towards Baluch people. India can not foment insurgency in Baluchistan with out support of local people, and if local people are willing to get support then india should not be blamed, rather Pakistan should who because of its infamous policies towards Baluchistan taking the situation towards the point of no return.
ReplyDeleteRecently retired Indian Army chief General Vijay Kumar Singh has admitted that India sponsored bomb blasts in Pakistan and doled out money to the separatist elements in Balochistan, a disclosure downplayed by the Indian media so far.
ReplyDeleteBuying silence of Kashmiri leaders in Indian held Kashmir and phone tapping inside India were also part of the sensitive report.The ex-army chief reveals this in an inquiry report prepared by India’s DG military operations shining light on activities of an army unit raised after the Mumbai attacks.
VK Singh last month announced a political alliance with BJP leader Narendra Modi who was responsible for the massacre of the Muslims in Indian Gujarat.A portion of the explosive report indicting the former army chief of terrorist activities inside Pakistan was downplayed by the Indian media that largely used ‘neighboring country’ as a reference and instead highlighted its parts relating to his activities of phone-tapping inside India and buying silence of politicians in Indian-held Kashmir through loads of cash.
The dirty tricks sanctioned by the top Indian general were carried out by Tactical Support Division (TSD), an Indian army unit raised after Mumbai attacks on the directives of the Defence Minister and National Security Adviser Shev Shankar Menon in order to “perform a particular task to secure borders and internal situation in the country.”
TSD consisted of six officers, five JCOs and 30 men and operated out of an unmarked two-storeyed building within the Delhi Cantonment dubbed the ‘Butchery’, that was a refurbished slaughterhouse of colonial times, The India Today reported.
“The division was headed by Colonel Munishwar Nath Bakshi, a tall, flamboyant intelligence officer in his early 40s, better known by an unusual nickname, ‘Hunny’,” it said.As the inquiry body was set up to investigate, Col Bakshi, a confidante of Gen Singh, got himself admitted in a mental hospital pretending that he was under serious mental stress.
Former Army Chief VK Singh allegedly used TSD, a clandestine collective of handpicked military intelligence personnel, to settle scores on both sides of the contentious Line of Control (LOC) between Pakistan and India, reported The India Today, in its October 7 edition.
Between October and November 2011, India Today reported this month, TSD had claimed money “to try enrolling the secessionist chief in the province of a neighbouring country” and “Rs1.27 crore (Indian currency) to prevent transportation of weapons between neighbouring countries”. In early 2011, TSD claimed an unspecified amount for carrying out “eight low-intensity bomb blasts in a neighboring country”, according to this weekly Indian magazine.
The Hindustan Times earlier reported about the covert operation inside Pakistan by TSD and quoted its former official stating it was assigned to nab Hafiz Saeed of Jamaatud Dawah but didn’t mention TSD’s involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan as has been revealed through inquiry board.
Since there was no explicit mention of Pakistan, it didn’t emerge on the radar of Pakistani media. The News spoke to different journalistic sources in India privy to details who confirmed that it was about Pakistan.
India’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, who headed a Board of Officers’ inquiry under the direct orders of Gen Bikram Singh, current army chief, to review the functioning of the TSD submitted the report in March this year to the Indian government. While report is not being publicised, however, TSD was closed in December 2012.
An RTI request filed for the copy of this report was also denied, stating that sharing this information was prejudicial to national security and can harmrelations with the neighbouring countries.