Geopolitics

Failing to Reading Pakistan
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Issue Net Edition | Date : 23 Sep , 2018

Indian governments have always decried being hyphenated with Pakistan, especially by the West, and for good reasons. But then you recently had Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman publicly announcing cutting off heads of Pakistani soldiers but not displaying them. Did she forget that she is the Defence Minister of India or is she too rattled defending the Rafale deal, given trajectory of her agitation on TV appearances going up?  When   hyphenating the Indian Army with that of Pakistan, she should have remembered that during Kargil Conflict when Musharraf refused to accept bodies of his soldiers, it is the Indian Army that arranged proper burials for them. Let actions speak for themselves for the enemy, don’t brag and leave the Army to its task – is what she needs to understand.

Publicly stating you also cut off heads, may impress the public, but it doesn’t  Pakistan. What matters is what you are conveying to the world. Having made such statement, hopefully, Sitharaman will not appear at election rallies wearing a garland of heads and portray herself as ‘Kali’, which could also make her DRDO’s poster girl for weapon of same name being developed by them past several years. Recall the goons shouting slogans of “Durga Mata Sitharaman Ki Jai” during ‘victory’ marches through military cantonments thrown open to civil access. Ironically, anything and everything goes for votes is the mantra.

India has repeatedly failed to read Pakistan, which is straight-jacketed in its resolve to destabilize and balkanize India. Every time the faux pas of ‘give peace a chance’ comes up and we keep going around the mulberry tree, muxh to Pakistan’s amusement. Same was the case during the Ramzan ceasefire in J&K, where the writing was very much on the wall from day one. Yet we went through with it, even the army hierarchy singing the government tune and naturally the media supporting the move, despite boycott by terrorist organizations and PDP ruling the coalition in synch with the Hijbul Mujahiddeen. The statistics in the aftermath of the ceasefire prove it was a bad move, if not a disaster. Violence can be permitted to go up and terrorists can consolidate for given periods because at the end of it, security forces can be banked upon to bring violence levels down and if in doing so more number of security forces get killed, which could have been avoided, what the hell they are expendable, and did they not volunteer knowing they might get killed?

If we think that Imran Khan is not in synch with Pakistan’s military-ISI and ‘protected’ terrorist’s organizations, we must be more than naïve. How the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is coming into prominence under Imran’s tutelage is on record. Have we noticed how terrorist are targeting army and police personnel and their families in more focused manner; abductions, killings on those on leave from their houses, as well as forest officials. Sure this was happening earlier also, but intensity has certainly gone up after Pakistan’s new government was elected and installed? How many of us have heard of the South Asian Free Media Foundation (SAFMA) established in 2000 with the aims of promoting regional cooperation, peace, professional collaboration, independence of media, freedom of and access to information by the leading media persons and media bodies of the South Asian region. Post the massive avalanche at Gyari (30 km West of Siachen Glacier) on April 7, 2012, killing 260 Pakistanis including 124 soldiers, Nawaz Sharif had recommended Pakistan withdraw from the area, and so did SAFMA. But soon after Imran became Prime Minister, all offices of SAFMA in Pakistan have been sealed.  Obviously, peace is abhorred by Pakistani military. Not without reason the US has concluded Pakistan favours an unstable Afghanistan, not a stable one. How then are we reading Pakistan under Imran Khan?

The recent letter by Imran Khan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi included his statement that “Pakistan remains ready to discuss terrorism”. He has also proposed a meeting between foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on sidelines of the forthcoming UNGA meet in New York. Imran is obviously rooting for Indian participation in the SAARC Council of Ministers followed by the SAARC Summit in Islamabad, which is to be held later in the year. In fact he has hoped that Modi will attend the SAARC Summit, without mentioning he is extending a formal invitation to Modi, or that it would follow; the text reading “The summit will offer an opportunity for you to visit Pakistan”.  The surprising part was that India first accepted the suggestion of Imran for the two foreign ministers to meet at the sidelines of the UNGA meet in New York. This despite the fact that India has been insisting all along that  ‘terror must stop before talks’, NSA’s of both countries have been meeting, and despite all this there is no let up in terrorism by Pakistan. But mercifully this meeting has now been called off by India after the brickbats government received on social media.

Imran’s letter to Modi was timed after BSF Head Constable Nerender Kumar was abducted, tortured, killed with his throat slit by Pakistani troops in Ramgarh Sector of Jammu long the international border (IB). The Pakistani side did not respond to BSF calls for six hours to maintain sanctity of the IB and ensure that the BSF search parties were not fired. Nerender Kumar’s body was found ahead of the IB on Pakistani side with three bullet wounds and throat slit. It may be recalled that in March 2013, Pakistani border action team had beheaded one of our soldier, leading to huge public resentment and media furore. Yet immediately after the incident,  then EAM Salman Khurshid broke protocol and went running to host a lunch for Pakistani PM Raja Pervez Ashraf in Jaipur who was on unofficial visit. Lo and behold, Pervez Ashraf went back and promptly passed an anti-India resolution in Pakistan’s National Assembly. Had Sushma Swaraj gone ahead and met Quereshi on sidelines of UNGA, it would have been a repeat of what Salman Khurshid had done.  

A nation which cannot respect its martyrs is doomed. Soldiers lives do not matter to politicians but we must continue with our policy that ‘terror must stop before talks’? Ironically, Pakistan has recently also issued 20 commemorative stamps of terrorists killed in J&K (Burhan Wani and Co) as victims of atrocities of India troops in J&K. What does this indicate? Would India issue commemorative stamps for those in  Gilgit-Batistan (which is Indian Territory) tried through sham military courts and killed, or for that matter Baloch leaders and citizens brutally killed, and being killed as part of Pakistani genocide? No, the government cannot even think of such measures. With these commemorative stamps and brutalized killing of Head Constable Narender Kumar, the Pakistani message is very clear – we will continue to terrorize you and make you go around in circles; terror, together with talks. Imran Khan needs to be formally told that first the environment will need to be created for the foreign ministers to meet.

There is no need for government to rush headlong into talks with Imran as with the prevailing attitude of Pakistan, it would be at the cost of the nation’s self respect, conveying we are a ‘soft’ state. If three policemen have been abducted and killed in J&K on September 21, it is possibly direct result of EAM’s initial signal to Pakistan for meeting her counterpart. We must acknowledge that Imran Khan is in synch with Pakistani military and there is no question of the usual cover stories that that terrorists are doing this out of frustration and wanting to sabotage the talks-cum-dialogue. These terrorists are under official sponsorship and tutelage of Pakistan.  

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The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the Indian Defence Review.

About the Author

Lt Gen Prakash Katoch

is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army.

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