Indian Defence Review

The elder brother Chinese President XI Jinping who came calling on Pakistan, his younger brother’s home as per his own words on 20 and 21 April, has departed from Pakistan leaving Pakistan euphoric with 46 billion dollars worth of goodies in infrastructure development and military hardware.

While India is still scratching its head with this new development the Pakistan’s main enemy within, the jehadi organisation Tehrik-e-Pakistan Taliban has released a video in which they claim to have developed an indigenous missile OMAR-1 which they say they will put in effective use against Pakistani army. This sure is an ominous warning of things to come and will once again generate worldwide discussion on how safe are Pakistani nuclear warheads?

Since last June the Pakistani Army has been involved in an all out war against this jehadi organisation which seeks to usurp the power in Pakistan and convert Pakistan into a sharia ruled radical Islamic country. In the offensive launched by Pakistani army using tanks, helicopter gunships, heavy artillery and F-16 fighter jets against their own people in NW Khyber pakhtoonwala province ,the Pakistani army claims to have killed 2000 jehadis of the TTP while 1.5 million people from this area have been forced to live in refugee camps under pathetic conditions.

This offensive may have temporarily curtailed the strike power of Tehrik-e-Pakistan Taliban however to crush Taliban once for all by the military might is almost impossible. Taliban was brought into being by Pakistani army only from the pushtoon recruits from Pakistan’s northwest frontier province and Waziristan and the pushtoon refugees who had flooded to Pakistan after the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.

After the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan Pakistani army used this Taliban to capture power in Afghanistan. In 2001 Americans threw Taliban out from power from Afghanistan as an aftermath of 9/11 attack on America. Since then Taliban has got divided into the factions of The Haqqani network the Afghan Taliban and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. For Pakistani army and ISI the Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban are good Taliban which Pakistan has been clandestinely helping against Americans. They have been given safe locations by Pakistan in NW Waziristan area and in Baluchistan.

While their kin the Tehriek-e-Pakistan Taliban, the Pakistani army is hunting because they have gone rogue. Similarly the Punjabi jehadis of the type Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and Jaish Mohammad who are again Pakistan based and operate against India are Pakistani army’s darling boys.

These Pakistan based jehadi organisations whether good or bad have large following due to the abject poverty, lack of education in that country and no jobs. The only skill these jehadis know is use of weapons and they are paid by their respective organisations from the money collected in the name of jehad. No government in the world can change their mindset now. Besides the Tehrik-e-Pakistan Taliban are made up of Pakistani citizens. With Punjab oriented Pakistani army in complete war against them there is complete chasm now between Punjabi Pakistanis and pushtoons who constitute 30 percent of the Pakistani population and 52 percent of afghan population.

Pakistan is most vulnerable in this 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan economic corridor which China is planning to build in terms of rail, road and pipelines along a 3000 km route passing through restive Baluchistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir connecting Pakistani port of Gwador with the Chinese province of Xing Xiang. This corridor can only be built if the Chinese get the necessary security on the ground. While Pakistan has promised fool proof security to china it will be impossible to implement.

The TPP spokesperson Muhammad Khusarani who released this video of OMAR-1 missile has said that not only this missile but the technology wing of Taliban which has also developed suicide belts, suicide cars, grenades and anti jammer devices will be put to maximum use by the Taliban. It is common knowledge that what technology if any Taliban has? So if they claim to have developed this missile whose range is not known and other devices also then definitely some elements of Pakistani army are helping them. If this is true and there are rouge elements within Pakistani army, which is more or less a fact, then Pakistan is doomed in terms of this infrastructure development.

We must not forget that our borders are just 600 kms from the NW Pakhtoonwala and this missile can be a big threat to us also in a futuristic perspective. So there is no harm in India opening a link with TPP to keep them in good humour and keeping them involved with Pakistani Army only following the policy that an enemy of the enemy is our friend. Similarly we must prevail upon china that before investing on infrastructure in Pakistan it must ensure that Pakistan gives up its policy of good and bad Taliban and good and bad jehadis.

Pakistani army must go all out against all jehadis good or bad if china wants to succeed in its China-Pakistan corridor. It is also imperative that we develop our own capabilities to carry out covert operations. India should also exploit the sentiments of pushtoons on both sides of Durand line which is the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to unite and form a country distinct from Pakistan. After this development India must also play on the psyche of America and western countries of the Pakistani nukes falling in the hands of these jehadis. Need of the hour is proactive action.