Geopolitics

Pakistan is the real bully in the South Asian region
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Issue Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date : 05 Mar , 2016

The retired Pakistani generals who frequently appear on TV talk shows have been misleading the public opinion by trying to shroud the negative role of Pakistan and highlight all that which they dub as the state’s constructive contribution. There is no doubt that army generals have been the real masters of Pakistan from day one. Army is the judge, the jury and the executioner of the people since this state was separated from India in the name of religion and was called, rather dubiously as ‘Pakistan’- the land of pure. 

The civil governments have been mere facades meant to protect the military dictatorship in Pakistan. Whether it is its relationship with US, India or Afghanistan, or in dealing with insurgency in occupied Balochistan, the army has been the all in all in many regards. In fact, standing to testify the power of the Pakistani Army have been the many coups that have been staged against the civilian governments in Pakistan from time to time. It has been controlling the media, judiciary, civil society and politics without any hindrance.

For Pakistan’s wrong doing in the region one must consult with its neighboring countries like Afghanistan, India, ‘Balochistan’ and Bangladesh who can describe Pakistan’s role in their countries because they have been the victims of Pakistani terrorism for six decades now. Bangladesh had lost 3 million of its citizens at the hands of Pakistan army in 1971 during its war of liberation; India had fought four major wars with Pakistan, and Balochistan is still struggling to regain its independence and the current Baloch war of liberation is the fifth attempt to break free from the yoke of Pakistani slavery. Balochistan was occupied by Pakistan at gun on March 27, 1948 and later forcibly annexed to Pakistan. Since then the Baloch nation has been struggling to regain their independence.

With all the wrong doings that it has had its hands in, one important question that comes to mind is if Pakistan is really sincere in taking action against its own strategic assets (the religious extremists) which it has been catering for 68 years? Countries around the world have been hoping that Pakistan will take action against the terrorist outfits that have been nurtured and trained on its soil, but contrary to the wishful thinking of these powers, Pakistan continues to provide support and succor to its religious proxies and use them to blackmail the world powers.

Pakistan has been supporting ‘cause of Kashmir’ officially from the beginning, while both India and Afghanistan, the neighboring countries of Balochistan, have not shown any official and open support to Balochistan independence movement.  Every year on February 5 Pakistan officially marks the ‘Kashmir Day’ where army, political parties and militant Jihadi groups organize rallies, seminars and conferences and openly vow to strengthen the jihad in Kashmir.  The same jihadi bandits of Pakistani state have declared jihad against the Balochistan liberation movement. Pakistan army has established more than a dozen death squads in different districts of Balochistan. These state sponsored death squads are playing the exact role of Al-Shams and Al-Badr organizations which were used to counter pro-liberation parties of Bangladesh freedom movement.

Pakistan army still uses Taliban, Haqqani Network to blackmail Ashraf Ghani’s government in Afghanistan to keep them away from India’s friend list. Balkh Police chief, Sayed Kamal Sadat categorically said in his official statement that attackers involved in the salvo on the Indian consulate (in Mazar-e-Sharif) were from Pakistani military. These attacks are enough evidences of Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism in Afghanistan. Many believe that Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is aggressively pursuing its terror policies, and in spite its obvious involvement in many of the attacks on India and Afghanistan, both the countries are hopelessly hoping for good from Pakistan.

Baloch pro-freedom leader Hyrbyair Marri in a recent statement termed the Taliban, ISIS and jihadi militants as ‘the plain clothed personnel of Pakistani army’. Marri is absolutely right in his observation about the nexus between the Pakistani army and the religious extremist groups.

It is worth mentioning that Hindu and Christian communities are facing same sort of humiliation and harassment by the religious parties who are the members of Difa-e-Pakistan Council. It is an undeniable truth that religious groups are the second important assets of Pakistan army after its nukes; a tool Pakistan uses to blackmail the world. In fact, to keep India and Afghanistan under constant pressure, Pakistan realized that nothing can be more useful than these religious extremist groups.

Ex-army Chief General Pervez Musharraf proudly terms the terrorist Jihadi groups as ‘heroes of Pakistan’ on TV channel interviews. The Zardari regime had sheltered Osama Bin Laden, Mullah Umar and other Islamic terrorists, and was simultaneously misleading the world about presence of top Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. Eventually Osama Bin Laden was hunted down by the US Special Forces exactly under the nose of Pakistan army’s Kakol base, some 850 yards away from the garrison.

Trying to remain in the good books of the US, the Pakistani army has tried to create a hype to fool it and rest of the world that it has started comprehensive military offensives against extremist groups and Taliban hideouts and Al Qaida fighters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Waziristan regions. The army has named it the ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ operation. But there has been a lot of ambiguity about this operation from day one. Experts believe that the Pakistan army had carefully evacuated the ‘good’ Taliban and pushed them into Afghanistan bordering regions before launching the offensive and which resulted in increase in attacks inside Afghanistan against NATO bases and Afghan troops.

It is interesting to know that before the Zarb-e-Azb operation, there were some major jail breaks where thousands of Al Qaida, ISIS associated militants and Pakistani sponsored extremist fighters were deliberately released. At least 248 prisoners had escaped in July 2013, of which about 30 of were described as “hardcore militants”. As far as back in the month of April 2012, more than 200 heavily armed Taliban militants travelling in several vehicles attacked the Central Jail in Bannu, Southern District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, releasing 384 prisoners in a pre-dawn assault on the jail.

But even as the Pakistani army has been consciously machinating against its own people and the people of the world, Pakistan’s external minister Sartaj Aziz has been audacious enough to blame the US for “decades of instability” in the region, claiming that Washington’s foreign policies are behind the rise of militant groups, particularly Da’esh. Blaming the US, Aziz said that “it was the US that created the militant groups operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas in 1980s and left them there after the ex-Soviet Union’s war in neighboring Afghanistan ended. This contributed to decades of instability in Pakistan and the region”.

The world has piles of proofs of Pakistani sponsored terrorism in Afghanistan, India and Balochistan. Before Pakistan launches another 9/11, 26/11 and Afghan parliament type attacks, world must declare Pakistan as a terrorist state and impose tough sanctions on it. The military aid must be fully cut and its UN membership must be withdrawn. US, India and Afghanistan must carry physical and direct operations inside Punjab province and hunt down all Pakistani terrorists hideouts, training centers, cut all their supply lines going from Balochistan territory. A free and sovereign Balochistan can play a vital role to uproot the terrorist operating from Balochistan soil.

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The icon of Balochistan freedom movement, Hyrbyair Marri, has maintained that “the only solution for Balochistan’s long lasting issues is the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of Pakistani occupying forces from Baloch homeland. Inhabitants of occupied Balochistan have decided not live with Pakistan as slaves any more. If Pakistan wants to escape Bangladesh type genocide and war crimes in Balochistan and want a face saving, it must roll back its army without any delay. China must quit Balochistan and its halt so called development projects until the Balochistan issue is resolved”.

Independence of Balochistan to be acknowledged worldwide. Baloch Sarmachaar (Freedom fighters) fighting the liberation of Balochistan must be given latest equipment and technology to defend their territory from Pakistani jihadi militants which are posing great threat to the stability of the region. The Baloch, Pashtuns under Pakistani occupation and the Afghan leadership must join hands against Pakistani terrorism. Like Kurds they must be given full moral, political, diplomatic, financial and military support to disable Pakistani militants who are rapidly infiltrating into Afghanistan and rest of the world.

Courtesy: http://southasiamonitor.org/detail.php?type=sl&nid=15875

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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

Sobdar Baloch

is human rights activists, and journalist based in Balochistan writing on issues related to the region. He can be reached at: editor@spsindia.in

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