Yousaf Alamgirian

AFTER having introduced numerous kinds of strategies and counter strategies India has now gone malicious by showing its intentions to build more than half century dams on Chenab, Jhelum and Indus river tributaries. The philosophy behind this is nothing than to make Pakistan a barren land.

Pakistan is an agricultural country and its 75 percent population relies upon agriculture. So these dams can be termed as to compromise Pakistan’s sovereignty. Unfortunately none of the Pakistani government could manage to compel India to get rid of such plans. Pakistan even failed to raise this issue at an international forum.

Although international powers including America will never ever support Pakistan in any of its resolve to advancement still Pakistan can highlight the same at humanitarian forums and can take this issue to international court of justice by highlighting Indian ingenious designs against Pakistan.

It is not only inhuman at the part of India to stop water of Pakistan but is sheer violation of Indus-Basin treaty being signed between two countries in 1960. However it is not the first time that India is stopping Pakistan’s water. India’s malevolent designs are obvious from the Story of Pakistan website which narrates “On April 1, 1948, India stopped the supply of water to Pakistan from every canal flowing from India to Pakistan. Pakistan protested and India finally agreed on an interim agreement on May 4, 1948. This agreement was not a permanent solution; therefore, Pakistan approached the World Bank in 1952 to help settle the problem permanently. Negotiations were carried out between the two countries through the offices of the World Bank.

It was finally in Ayub Khan’s regime that an agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in September 1960. This agreement is known as the Indus Water treaty. This treaty divided the use of rivers and canals between the two countries. Pakistan obtained exclusive rights for the three western rivers, namely Indus, Jehlum and Chenab. And India retained rights to the three eastern rivers, namely Ravi, Beas and Sutluj.

The treaty also guaranteed ten years of uninterrupted water supply. During this period Pakistan was to build huge dams, financed partly by long-term World Bank loans and compensation money from India. Three multipurpose dams, Warsak, Mangla and Tarbela were built. A system of eight link canals was also built, and the remodelling of existing canals was carried out. Five barrages and a gated siphon were also constructed under this treaty.”

India violating this treaty has started construction of 62 dams on the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus rivers whose exclusive rights were obtained by Pakistan. Although Pakistan took Baglihar dam case to the international court of justice but couldn’t achieve success which instigated India to go for more dams. On the other hand Pakistan has also failed to make more dams. We only build Terbela and Mangla dams which is not sufficient for our needs. Even after 64 years our nation has failed to reach at a point where we could get a consensus to construct dams like Kalabagh.

Recent floods have shown the need that Pakistan must have big dams for the country. But every time when the issue was raised it was made political. Different political parties have used this issue to get political mileage. There were reports that India has distributed billion of rupees fund to its assets to evolve pressure against construction of such dams.

If we had dams we would haven’t faced such a bigger loss during the 2010 floods which inundated many of the cities and villages of the four provinces. Floods and natural disasters never differentiate among the provinces or areas. These are for every citizen residing any part of the motherland. So the Kalabagh sort of projects are not for one province these are for all the provinces. It will benefit Pakistan in the longer run but how to make realize the people who are using the same for the vested interests. They people sabotaging this project don’t have any logic to oppose. They criticize it for the sake of criticism.

We the Pakistanis can never expect any good from India as it has to do its dirty job which it is doing since the inception of Pakistan. India, through its conspiracies and physical intervention in East Pakistan divided Pakistan in to two parts. It has signed defence deals with almost all the major countries like USA, France, Russia, Israel and England. These deals are other than the civil nuclear technology deal which it has signed with America. Pakistan is front line state of USA in WOT still it is hesitant to give civil nuclear technology to Pakistan maligning it may fall into terrorists hands.

However the stories have published that the American citizen Raymond Davis who murdered two Pakistanis was engaged with anti Pakistan elements busy in destabilization of Pakistan. So American propagates only those things for which they initiate efforts at their own end and when they succeed in preparing some proof they start media bombardment to malign certain nations by building opinions against them.

World while needing to realize the gravity of the matter must step forward to solve Pak-India problems in greater interest of the regional peace. For this powers like USA have to show impartiality which is missing for the time being. If India doesn’t stop itself from creating unrest on water issue then it is obvious that the next war could be on the same as Pakistan will be in a thick soup after the completion of India’s various dams and big reservoirs which are now at various stages of development.

Gen (R) Mirza Aslam Beg

Change follows the corrective measure, to maintain balance in the human society, as per Divine Injunction: “If Allah were not to check one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measures” (Al-Qoran: Ch 22)

Allah loves the human kind and cannot condone brutality and oppression by on over the other, and ordains that all people of all religions, faith and believe find peace and truth based on social justice and love for His creation. In our living memory there are two such examples of the Divine interventions, to check the oppressors of the humanity:

Hitler, drunk with power and suffering from ‘Superiority Complex of the German race, disturbed world peace, causing colossal death and destruction, but his brute power was checked and destroyed by a ‘Coalition of Nations’, within a period of fifteen years. In the process, it also weakened the power of the British and European imperialism. Thus the weak and the oppressed gained freedom, with Muslims being in the majority. And the vacuum of power so created by Second World War, was filled by the United States of America, who entered the centre stage of world politics, with the promise of social justice, free trade and democracy. But unfortunately power corrupted them and their noble intentions, turned into obsessions for ‘global primacy and pre-eminence.’ Thus more than seven hundred military bases were established around the world, while the United Nations and its financial institutions were brought under control, as the instruments of economic power, to be used against the intransigent countries imposing sanctions and embargoes, with devastating results. Thus the American imperialism replaced the British and European imperialism, and once again the Middle East and Central Asian region became the testing ground for the projection of American power and influence. The Soviets, moved into Afghanistan to contain the expanding American threat. The Americans mobilized the Jehadis ‘from seventy countries of the world’ and succeeded in pushing the Soviets out of Afghanistan, but in the process, the ‘Global Islamic Resistance’ grew in strength against the occupation of Muslims lands.

The Soviet defeat, gave a new impetus to American ambitions of global hegemony and the 9/11 incident provided the excuse to attack and occupy Afghanistan and Iraq. The Global Islamic Resistance, once again mobilized itself to contain, curb and defeat the combined forces of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq, within a period of ten years. Hitler was defeated within a period of fifteen years. And as the American power has declined, the oppressed nations, suffering under the American supported dictatorial rulers, are in revolt, demanding freedom, social justice and democracy. Thus balance is being established through the Divine Intervention.

The American power, no doubt, is in decline, but is strong enough to play a major role, at this point of time and stands at the threshold, to deliver freedom to the struggling nations in revolt. The Untied States is not alone, at the giving end because there are other ‘Centres of Power’ that also have the responsibility, such as China, Europe, Russia and Japan, to participate in this act of deliverance, than to become a party to the crime. The dynamics of change must be understood. The nations in revolt have their problems but their ultimate objective remains the same. The revolutions taking place in the Middle East are ‘shifting the global economic balance, which ultimately will be settled in the Kingdoms of Oil of the region.’ The main causes which have led to this massive revolutionary surge are:

Support for the dictorial regimes, which continued to suppress peoples’ voice, causing economic strangulation and deep sense of deprivation; The declining American power and prestige, as a result of the defeat suffered in Afghanistan and Iraq and the humiliation of Israel at the hands of Hezbollah, encouraged the weak and the oppressed to challenge the American power in retreat. It is the cyber generation which leads, gaining new consciousness from the Face Book, Twitter and You Tube facilities, brought to their door-steps, by the media – a phenomenon never experienced before. The unfounded fear of the radical Islam and the unbridled employment of instruments of power to contain and curb the so-called menace of Islamic extremism, helped to release the pent-up feelings of denial and deprivation of the broad masses into revolt, trying ‘to catch-up with history’ which has left them behind, and convey the message that, the Americans and their allies have stood ‘on the wrong side of history’ and need to correct the course.

The Global Islamic Resistance is not a permanent phenomenon. Its mission and purpose is specific to occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Once occupation is vacated, the Islamic Resistance will melt away into the ‘vastness of the seventy countries of the world’, it comes from. Yet, some odd 150-200 misguided men of Al-Qaeda, will keep the world powers busy, chasing them around the world.

Each revolution is different from the other, yet there is a great deal of commonality between them: These are led mainly by the cyber generation, who do not have strong leadership nor a strong political platform. Their struggle is not about Israel, Islam, or the West. It is for freedom, social justice and democracy. They want to change the faces of the entire states, and are calling for the real representatives of the people as their new rulers. The responsible approach for America and the allies, therefore, would be, to recognize the failed policies of the past, which alienated Arab public opinion and disturbed the peace of the world. In fact, there is a need for ‘a radical change of values to question, the fairness of past values.’

Zafar Alam Sarwar

ONE of the principles of Pakistan’s foreign policy is promotion of friendliness and goodwill towards all nations of the world, in general, and of South Asia, in particular. The government and the people of Pakistan have always expressed keenness on fair play in national and international dealings, and never lagged behind in making their utmost contribution to peace, prosperity and harmony among the neighbouring countries.

Men and women who struggled for an independent homeland in the sub-continent had, as human beings, great ideals based on brotherhood, equality and fraternity of man; and they aspired for these ideals because of dual domination by the foreign rulers and a caste-ridden social system. The majority of Pakistanis are Muslims and, as such, members of the brotherhood of Islam in which all are equal in rights, dignity and self-respect—and as followers of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) they believe in tolerance of other creeds, and they welcome in closest association with all those who, whatever their creed, are themselves willing and are ready to play their part as true and loyal citizens of Pakistan.

This message to the world was delivered by the architect of Pakistan through his addresses, broadcasts and interviews. And now every Pakistani translates the same message when he visits any part of the Republic of India, and interacts with common people there with love reflected by an old couplet of philosopher-poet Iqbal: Hindu, Muslim, Sikh aur Eesai aapas mein hein bhai bhai(Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian are all like brothers). Many freedom fighters like Pandat Jawahar Lal Nehru used to extol the revolutionary poetry of Allama Iqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ustad Daman, but they did not back up their words with action. How Muslim Kashmiri men and women and their children are treated in the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir is an eye-opener to advocates of human rights and democracy. The Indian-held Kashmiris have been struggling for their right to self-determination since the partition of the sub-continent. How an innocent Pakistani national was brutally beaten up and tortured to death in 2005 by the Indian police speaks of ferocity which, for sure, an honest American lexicographer will describe as terror.

Young Khalid Mahmud, who taught English at a school in Lahore border town Dera Abdul Hakim, went to India to watch the cricket match between Pakistan and India in Mohali through proper channel after obtaining a visa from the Indian embassy. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old teacher lost his passport. He was arrested by an Indian intelligence agency when he was on his way to the Pakistan High Commission to report the loss of his document. The teacher’s family learnt about his arrest in 2006 on receipt of a letter sent by him. His mother, sister and a brother went to India, and filed an appeal in a court of law for Mahmud’s release, but they had to return home disappointed within a week. They were harassed and terrorized by the Indian intelligence agencies. The hapless Pakistani citizen, rotting in jail, was subjected to constant physical and mental torture for exaction of information of choice by the special staff concerned, which the Indian government could use against Pakistan as and when needed for an anti-neighbour propaganda. But Mahmood was just a teacher also known as a good cricket player. He had gone to India as an ambassador of love with a spirit of brotherhood to promote friendship through sportsmanship. He went to India alive but returned dead: India was exposed once again.

That reminds one how four Pakistanis were kidnapped and locked up in a first-floor ward of Amritsar Jail. They were travelling by train to the neighbouring country on proper documents. The Indian government, when contacted officially, told the Pakistani department concerned that “nothing of the sort has happened”, and “there are no Pakistanis of such and such names in our custody.” But soon the four Pakistanis were able to cross Wagah and return home safe and sound in April 1957. The great escape exposed India. Another case of breach of international law and morality: a Lahore college student on a visit to East Punjab to meet his former primary school fellows, Mohan, Roshan and Joseph, was taken into custody and imprisoned in the same jail. The college boy was forced to stand for hours on toes and cane-charged in violation of the UN Charter and human rights. An enlightened judge exonerated the student because the special police inspector had failed to prove the allegation levelled against him. Mahmood too was charged with spying without any substantial proof, or material evidence. He was reportedly kept in Gurgaon Jail of Haryana state where he was tortured to death on February 12, 2006. His body was handed over to Pakistan about a month later (March 10).

Rampant is the tale of Indian intelligence agencies. Ramdas, instead of demotion, was rewarded for the unsuccessful attempt to incarcerate the innocent college boy: he was promoted to the rank of inspector. But a year later he was nabbed along with a bicycle near a picture-house in Gowalmandi area of Lahore while he was spying there. Reportedly, the Indian spies have been active on the Kashmir front just as they performed their “art” variably in Swat, Waziristan and Balochistan. But they cut a sorry figure despite covert Indian facilitation through her intelligence and diplomatic network in Afghanistan, particularly Kandahar. How can the American CIA officials be unaware of this fact? The Indian intelligence agencies, especially RAW, were fond of choosing Azad Jammu and Kashmir places like Bandi Abbaspur, Khui Ratta, Hajeera, and Chakar etc. for spying against Pakistan. But bad luck always blocked their way. Pakistani soldiers were alert all the time, the moment any Indian spy crossed into AJK territory he was caught. One was lucky to have witnessed capture of a number of Indian spies on various occasions in hot summer and chilly winter not so long ago. In early 1990s two spies were caught red-handed near Rawal Dam of Islamabad.

One wonders how so cruel, and why so brutal, is our neighbour! Pakistan frees the Indian spy Kashmir Singh alive, hale and hearty with honour and dignity upon him—-and India responds by returning the dead body of a Pakistani innocent teacher-cum-cricketer, who goes to Mohali with pure human love to watch a cricket match. O, Liberty what crimes are committed in thy name in India! When shall the United States of America cry for justice in India?