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Nawaz Sharif: Sniveling up to Mamma
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Lt Gen Prakash Katoch | Date:24 Oct , 2013 2 Comments
Lt Gen Prakash Katoch
is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army.

Nawaz Sharif and US Secretary of State John Kerry

Nawaz Sharif’s call to the United States to intervene in the resolution of Kashmir is no different from a spoiled weakling running up to mamma for solace. After all, American soft corner for Pakistan is well established. Witness the US decision to quietly release of more than $1.6 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan that had been suspended post souring of relations after Osama-bin-Laden was killed and some two dozen Pakistani soldiers were killed in US air strike. Whether the decision to resume aid is in recognition of the 21st century discovery of the ‘good’ Taliban and ‘bad’ Taliban by Pakistan and Pakistani Taliban establishing in Syria to assist overthrow Bashar Assad is anyone’s guess but the fact that just two years back Mike Mullen, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had described the Haqqani network as a “veritable arm” of Pakistani intelligence, just as the LeT is well known as the covert arm of ISI. Not only does Pakistan receive foreign aid from several different countries and international organization. Since the start of the War in Afghanistan, the majority of the aid comes from the US and within this majority is from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) which is reimbursement to Pakistan for expenses already incurred and compensation for facilities made available plus for training and services provided by US military and contractors to Pakistani security forces.

It is also no secret that Pakistan has been diverting US aided military hardware to the border with India.

Just four years, cables from US embassy in Pakistan had alleged hundreds of millions of dollars of US military  aid to Pakistan earmarked for fighting Islamist militants was not used for that purpose and diverted to Pakistani government, as deduced after conversations with Pakistan’s military top brass. Pakistan’s army chief said the money, including $26 million for barbed wire and $70 million to defend against non-existent Taliban warplanes, had been diverted into the Islamabad government’s coffers, according to leaked cables to Washington. One of the most contentious issues was CSF for the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the tribal belt that had exceeded $7.5 billion in 2009, since 2002. Interestingly, the cables coincided with a period of intense criticism of America in the Pakistani press that U.S. diplomats believed was orchestrated by the ISI. It is also no secret that Pakistan has been diverting US aided military hardware to the border with India.

So, Nawaz Sharif gets his pocket money to play along with terrorist organizations, dance to the tune of the military and fire at civilians tending their fields and any development work in Keran Sector hallucinating he is the Islamist version of Xi Jinping. Former Ambassador G Parthasarthy rightly points out that people chose to forget the Pakistani Prime Minister’s (Nawaz Sharif’s) role and involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, in which 250 Indians perished. He had also been briefed extensively about the impending Kargil intrusion. What Ambassador Parthasarthy refers to as “People” actually is the ruling coterie of India that is even ignoring MEA advice. Watch the NSA berating those who did not want the Prime Minister’s of India and Pakistan to meet. What was skillfully obfuscated is that there is no one who does not want the two Prime Ministers to meet but in this particular Manmohan-Nawaz meet, it was the very timing of the meeting in immediate aftermath of the mini-Kargil like intrusion in Keran Sector, beheadings, cross-border raids, scores and scores of ceasefire violations etc.

Rather than looking into the mirror, the Pakistani military has stuck to this course even though the flames may consume Pakistan itself and balkanize the country…

But all said and done, Nawaz Sharif’s antics in inflating his chest and showing muscle is because of the terrible inferiority complex he suffers when faced by his own military. In his effort to retain his seat he spares no effort to kowtow to and improve upon the military’s plan to keep conflict alive with both India and Afghanistan that in turn helps tighten the military’s grip over Pakistan. He has been tasked by the military to internationalize the Kashmir issue – a task in which even Musharraf failed miserably and so has Kayani despite Musharraf keeping  Osama-bin-Laden as his house guest and Kayani opening his backyard (Gilgit-Baltistan) to the Chinaman with all its minerals. Nawaz Sharif is hardly in a position not to accept the task and hence his pleadings to Obama and crocodile tears at the UN General Assembly.  What India needs to acknowledge is that not only is he a proponent of jihad himself, this minnow has no power to craft Pakistan’s foreign policy which the military took over after the first ever military coup. The military itself is suffering from the worst complex ever suffered by any military. Not only has it not won any war in its entire history, it was responsible for the balkanization of the country and the distinction of providing the largest surrender (93,000 to be precise) after World War II perpetuated post the worst genocide after Nazi Germany. Since that knife keeps perpetually twisting in the heart, that frustration has led to Pakistan’s dim-witted recourse in adopting a state policy of terrorism. Rather than looking into the mirror, the Pakistani military has stuck to this course even though the flames may consume Pakistan itself and balkanize the country a second time, not very different from Bhutto’s famous quote that Pakistan will make the nuclear bomb “even if we have to eat grass”.

Amusingly, in an article titled ‘America’s New Game Plan:

Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Should be under the Control of the United Nations.’ Published in an Urdu weekly in August 2011 quoting US media,

USA had obtained support of Russia, France, UK and China for this proposal, which had subsequently prompted Musharraf, former President retorting on the NBC Channel that this dangerous thinking could result in a war  between Pakistan and the USA. Musharraf’s squeak apart, it is significant to note the article ‘When Armies Divide: Securing Nuclear Arsenals During Internal Upheavals’ by Brian Michael Jenkins dated 12 April 2013 wherein he discloses Pentagon having secret plans to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons against terrorists, a jihadist coup, or civil war, which obviously cater to the eventuality where the Pakistani an army divides against itself, creating a chaotic and unpredictable strategic landscape. This had also been reported in November 2011 by By Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder in their article ‘The Pentagon’s Secret Plans to Secure Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal’ that by hiding its nuclear weapons from Washington, Pakistan has made them much more vulnerable to jihadists. In response, the Pentagon has devised secret plans to secure the Pakistani arsenal — by force if necessary. It is obvious that Pakistan must have elevated the subterfuge and dispersion of its nukes but can they beat the US surveillance?

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Nawaz Sharif must be thrilled with the prospects of US exiting Afghanistan and Kayani working out creation of the famous ‘strategic depth’. He sure has got his lollies from the US but can he or his military predict when the US will drop Pakistan like a hot potato? The world watches in anticipation.

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2 thoughts on “Nawaz Sharif: Sniveling up to Mamma

  1. Sir, what Pakistan does to India or to its nuclear weapons, the funds and arms and ammunition, is what she thinks is right for her and has the support of majority of her citizens. We may call Pakistan whatever, Pakistan is clear about her national aim and national interest. On the other hand India has demonstrated a total lack of strategic thinking and appreciation of national interest vis-a-vis Pakistan and other neighbouring countries. India has been always playing a second fiddle to Pakistan, despite our larger size, better economy,superior industrial base and a more capable armed forces. The question that why India has to always react to Pakistani provocation is begging an answer for years. What we have got is just weak and unconvincing alibi for not taking action. Our policy makers must understand that a festering wound has to be treated before it becomes gangrenous. And there are no soft options but surgery. Does India has the capability and will to remove this Spanish Ulcer from her backyard? A time has come when India needs to be strong and determined. Only then others will stop supporting Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif sniffling or no sniffling

  2. What is perhaps more shocking is that India’s leaders have done nothing to protect Indian citizens on Indian soil from Pakistanis and their allies for decades! Vajpayee G went sniveling to Pakistan’s Mummy over Kargil and set a trend for Governments that followed. India’s sole security option, given the salience of the neighbours and international powers, is to be a self reliant and adequate power that unsheathes its sword on occasion. Alas! India’s Constitution and laws that dice and slice laws, rules, opportunities and class of citizenship by caste, community, religion and so on, actualizing the “many nations theory” that has prevailed for six decades and the pervasive corruption ensure that this can never be!

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