Indian Defence Review

Imran Khan swearing in ceremony reflected the actual dynamics in Pakistan. The new prime minister was at pains in reading his oath in Urdu. Imran Khan is a Pashtun. Most people in Pakistan have rejected the Urdu language. The only people who are devout adherents to the Urdu language are the mohajirs, who migrated from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These mohajirs have large concentration in the Karachi city. East Pakistan essentially broke away from West Pakistan to emerge as Bangladesh overwhelmingly because they rejected the imposition of Urdu, a hybrid language between Persian, Sanskrit and local dialects. They rather preferred a much older, much richer and purer Sanskrit variation called Bengali.

Language is a medium of not just communicating but of thinking as well.  Language flows out of the inner recesses of the heart. It therefore courses through the veins of history, culture and the very being of the citizens. The citizens of East Pakistan preferred a much older and surer identity than a few hundred years of Islam that had brought East and West Pakistan together. The language dynamics continues to sear Pakistan. The Punjabis of Pakistan are now agitating for more predominant role for the Punjabi language. The Sindhis and Baloch are too proud of their own languages to accept the superiority of Urdu, which has also become the language of the military. The Pashtuns of Pakistan who share their linguistic affinity with their brethren Afghanistan and partly with Iran, are disdainful of the Urdu language.

The second issue with regards to the oath taking ceremony was the embrace between Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa. In a real democracy this never happens. An Army Chief, who is several notches below the Prime Minister in protocol cannot have the guts to indulge in a jhappi (hug) with a minister of an Indian state. The gesture by Gen Bajwa was totally unprofessional, downright cheap, and unsoldierly conduct. Sidhu’s familiarity with Imran is understandable, but as to when he developed the fraternal links with Gen Bajwa is intriguing.

But that is the wont of Pakistan. It is Gen Bajwa and his military-intelligence establishment have elevated Imran to the Office of the Prime Minister. It was the military-intelligence establishment, which mainstreamed the jihadi organizations like Jamait-ul-Dawa and Sipha-e-Sahaba to cut into Nawaz Sharif’s votes. It went to the extent of even radicalizing the Barelvis under the banner of Tehrik-e-Labaik. The latter put up 150 candidates, especially in constituencies where Nawaz Sharif had strong following. 60 percent of Pakistan is of Barelvi orientation. Imran therefore was elevated through the jihadi route. The religious dynamics scripted by the Pakistan military for Imran’s ascendance has nailed all hopes and expectations about any de-radicalization process in the country.

Imran’s links with the Taliban and his funding of the Haqqania seminary, known as the ‘Oxford of Global Jihad’ is well documented. Imran appropriately has earned the sobriquet of ‘Taliban Khan’.

Mr. Sidhu may have been excited about the elevation of a former cricketer as Prime Minister, but in the swearing in ceremony Gen Bajwa made it very clear through Sidhu to India, that while Imran may have been the captain of the Pakistani cricket team, when it comes to the dispensation in Pakistan, it is he, the head of the military, who decides on the bowlers to bowl against India, especially the bouncers, googlies and no-balls. Gen Bajwa also made it clear that it is the Pakistan military-intelligence establishment, which does the political match-fixing in India through some politicians. One such politician allegedly received as much as 1300 crores to make a bid for the border state of Punjab. Thank God that the patriotic political parties in Punjab, although rivals, sunk their differences and warded off this threat. The politician in question was the one who obliged Pakistan by raising doubts over the surgical strikes.

We must understand that it is not necessary that every new thing bring something new. It is impossible that the dynamics of internal power play can change under Imran. The congenital pro-Pakistan gang in India are misleading us about the usher of a new era in Pakistan. They could not be bothered when Imran Khan harps on the centrality of Kashmir issue or when he accuses India’s about human rights abuses in Kashmir. He has tried to justify Pakistan’s proxy war in Kashmir by raising a mythical India-Balochistan binary.

The moot question which Mr. Sidhu must tell the nation is: Will Pakistan arrest Hafiz Saeed under Imran? Will Imran dismantle Pak based terrorist groups like LeT and JeM? Will Imran stop cross-border infiltration? And most importantly, will Pakistan stop targeting the youth of Punjab through biological warfare, i.e. drugs and narcotics?

Mr. Sidhu just as cricket between the two countries, has not sobered or tempered Pakistan, your jhappi with the Pakistan Army Chief is not going to have any impact. On the contrary, the Pakistan military-intelligence establishment is desperately trying to reignite the Khalistan movement. I hope Mr. Sidhu in your capacity as minister, you warned Gen Bajwa of fierce response by the Indians, especially from people of your eminence, if Pakistan dares to do the same with our Punjab, what they did through the 80s and 90s.

The oath taking ceremony was in the shadow of a massive attack in Ghazni by the Taliban, which has the support of Imran Khan. Nearly one thousand Taliban jihadis attacked the city. About 100 soldiers of the Afghan security forces were killed. Nearly 200 Taliban jihadis were also killed, comprising Pashtuns, Arabs, Chechans and Pakistanis. The defence minister of Afghanistan Tarik Shah Barhami claimed that a large number of Pakistani soldiers were killed their dead bodies have been sent to their country.

The moot point is that who attacked Ghazni? It was attacked by Taliban. What is Taliban? A group of jihadi Muslims. Whom did they kill? Of course, Muslims. Such is the bloodshed in Ummah. The history of the Islamic world is drenched in blood. It is the same Ghaznavi, on whose name Pakistani missiles. Pakistan christened them as such, because for Indians Ghaznavi (Mahmud Ghaznavi) is a provocative part of history. After the recent attack, the jihadis have turned Ghazni into a ghost city. Somnath was also turned into a ghost city when Mahmud Ghaznavi in his greed attacked the temple and the city several times.

Look at the irony or travesty of history Mr. Imran Khan, Pakistan which names its missiles on Ghaznavi (Mahmud Ghaznavi) has turned the city a graveyard of Muslims.

History seems to be taking a full circle Mr. Imran Khan.

The Indian philosophy, unlike others believes in the cyclic nature of time.