Indian Defence Review

Editorials in prominent dailies today headline the ‘Lankan Impasse’ by stating that talk of Prime Minister missing CHOGM meet on 15-16 November will be a signal of foreign policy paralysis – as if there is any doubt left that the Prime Minister would still travel to Sri Lanka and more importantly that our foreign policy has not been afflicted with paralysis in the past. It is but natural that union ministers uneasy about the next general elections will go to any limits to save political patronage in respective constituencies, fearing they will be ceremoniously dethroned next year. There are fears that the Prime Minister’s abstinence from the CHOGM meet will push Sri Lanka into the arms of China. But haven’t we already achieved this besides handling our foreign relations with Maldives similarly and abdicating Nepal altogether.

True, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 4th of this month talked about five principals of India’s foreign policy, also stressing that “India must work towards strengthening regional institutional capability and capacity and invest in connectivity” but the diktat is just about nine and a half years late after the dismal performance by him and his government in building relations with immediate neighbours, murky dealings with China and Pakistan notwithstanding. The façade of public opinion withholding Manmohan Singh’s trip to Sri Lanka is passé for did he not rush off to hug Nawaz Sharif in the wake of public anger at large in immediate aftermath of Pakistan’s dastardly acts and provocations not only at the border but even the significant intrusion in Keran Sector and terrorist attacks in Hiranagar Police Station and an at army unit in Samba. The fact is that public at large are of no consequence but political parties are on extremely high priority with approaching elections. Therefore, sacrificing strategic considerations has no compunctions and can be ignored with impunity. As expected, Sri Lanka was quick in responding on 10th November that Manmohan Singh’s decision not to attend CHOGM “will not affect success of CHOGM.” With electoral competition becoming stiffer by the day in India, every vote counts to the ruling hierarchy. Of course there is some good fallout also. For example, after years of neglect you find half page advertisements commemorating birth anniversary of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, especially since Mr Narendra Modi recently accused the ruling junta of forgetting freedom fighters.

But what should seriously concern us is the total capitulation of India’s Pakistan Policy to Pakistan itself. Watch the smirk of Sartaj Aziz travelling to India and meeting the Hurriyat separatists in the Pakistani Embassy at New Delhi, facilitated by our venerable Foreign Minister and Home Minister, and overseen by Manmohan Singh. It would be little wonder if the trio has even bothered to find out the antecedents of Sartaj Aziz beyond the publicity of him being Nawaz Sharif’s (read Pakistani military’s) advisor. The fact of the matter is that Aziz was Pakistan’s foreign minister when Pakistan undertook massive infiltrations in Kargil region during 1999. He travelled to China to drum up support against India during the conflict, sought support from OIC also during Kargil Conflict, had the gumption to label India of having “overreacted” and later claimed in the media that Pakistan had achieved its aims in the Kargil conflict by “forcing Kashmir dispute to the top of the global agenda.” So what goodwill and change of heart are we expecting from this foxy fellow? Isn’t he pursuing the same agenda of internationalizing the Kashmir dispute with our pussyfooter polity giving Pakistan the handle to dictate how and when to resolve issues, giving up the remaining vestiges of national pride at a time when Pakistan has brazenly elevated her aggressive stance to new heights albeit  many of our ruling polity may not be conversant with what constitutes national pride.

Was it not enough for our rulers to facilitate Hurriyat separatists to visit Pakistan to meet and kowtow to rabid mullah Hafiz Saeed and conspire how and to what levels terrorism should be orchestrated in J&K, stone-pelting not having proved much effective. Why are we deliberately exposing the Indian public at large to the ignominy of Sartaj Aziz holding a durbar in Delhi that too amidst all the hooliganism in our Parliament and thumping tables that J&K is an integral part of India and we will not give up even an inch, and then adopting ‘business as usual’ approach despite Pakistan’s heightened proxy war. Salman Khurshid says that “anyone can meet anyone”. Good enough to cover your shame but does he have a word called ‘reciprocity’ in his vocabulary? Has he any idea of the systematic slaughter of Shias and Ahmadiyas in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB)? Has he ever read the anguish in the petition dated 11th July 2011 addressed to the UN Secretary General by Abdul Hamid Khan, Chairman Balawaristan National Front (BNF) in Pakistan & China Occupied Gilgit-Baltistan to ‘Save the Innocent People of Gilgit-Baltistan from the Gallows of Pakistan’, written on behalf of some two million inhabitants of GB.

In the petition, Abdul Hamid Khan categorically states, “Pakistan’s current role in Gilgit-Baltistan is a clear violation of UN, which had ordered Pakistan to withdraw its forces and civilians from the occupied area, under the obligation to UNCIP Truce Terms of 28th April 1949 …. The people of Gilgit Baltistan are the most sufferers and their fundamental, legal, ethnic, cultural, economic and democratic rights are being denied. India has included this region into its Constitution but it does nothing for the improvement of the misery of the people, while Pakistan has denied all fundamental, legal, ethnic, cultural, economic and democratic rights for the last 63 years. …… Instead of withdrawing its troops within three months, as stipulated in Truce Terms of 28th April 1949 of UNCIP to pave the way for Local Authority under the Surveillance of UN Commission, Pakistan has multiplied its troops thousand times and civil, political and fundamental rights have been snatched by its Military, Intelligence Agencies and religious fundamentalists. Because of its biased and discriminatory policies Pakistan does not give any legal or constitutional protection to this disputed part of the world. ….. Pakistan has continuously been hoodwinking International community by giving different names, designations and packages to its unlawful occupation. Whereas, in fact it never hands over the representative power and area to the indigenous people by complying with the world’s well trusted democratic procedures, as well as UN resolutions. The people of Gilgit Baltistan are not citizens of Pakistan as per the UN Resolutions of 13th August 1948 and 5th Jan 1949 and also as per the constitutions of Pakistan and India”. Abdul Hamid Khan’s petition includes an exhaustive list of scores of individuals who have been given death sentences and life imprisonment (some already executed and some awaiting execution) without giving them access to the High Court and Supreme Court, so that nobody opposes the occupation of GB by Pakistan.

Given the stance of the ruling hierarchy in India, it would be convenient to ignore such a petition but can you really afford to do so when you link it up with results of first ever poll both sides of the Line of Control in J&K conducted by  Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatam House), UK in conjunction   King’s College during 2009-2010 (conducted on behest of Musharraf and financed by Gaddafi’s son) bringing out that 98% of people in J&K do not wish to be part of Pakistan and 50% of people in POK do not wish to remain with Pakistan. So, Shri Salman Khurshid while you glibly brush off Sartaj Aziz’s durbar of Hurriyat separatists, do you even know who in POK, in addition to Abdul Hamid Khan are separatist leaders who detest Pakistani rule and don’t want to be part of Pakistan? Can you identify from the names in the petition by Abdul Hamid Khan as to who were / are separatist leaders that Pakistan has executed already, awarded death sentence or imprisoned for life? Have you ever had the gumption to meet them on a trip to Islamabad or ever mustered the courage to even ask Pakistani authorities that you would like meet these separatists on your trip to Pakistan. It is quite likely that your definition of separatists in POK is restricted to the likes of Sayeed Salahudeen and Masood Azhar but that that would be only proof of your shallowness, loyalty to Pakistan and inept mishandling of India’s foreign policy.

Click to buy

What Manmohan Singh and Co fail to realize is that Pakistan will attack us in every possible way – through every possible plane. That is why the subtle reference by Hussain Haqqani to the US promises to Pakistan she will nudge India on Kashmir. That is why Shuja Nawaz quietly slips in the issue of withdrawing from Siachen even when writing an article about the next Pakistani Army Chief. Incidentally, the US promise to nudge India on Kashmir may well be with the intent to signal the Indian hierarchy to show some spunk for a change. Why do we fail to acknowledge that Pakistan’s foreign policy with its attenuated strategy of terror is evolved and controlled by the Pakistani Military over which Nawaz Sharif has absolutely no lien?Why now are we handing over our foreign policy to Pakistan? In the absence of total void in long-term strategic thinking and direction, and the fact that both our foreign and defence policies have been hijacked between the PMO, NSA and Foreign  Minister in complete disregard to even bureaucratic advice (as being openly discussed by veteran diplomats and bureaucrats) let us hope the Prime Minister will not go for an underhand deal with Pakistan in run up to elections and in pursuit of a peace prize bringing India to more loss of territory and strategic disadvantage, his party having already achieved numerous ludicrous milestones in both these context over the years.