Indian clandestine operations in Afghanistan
N N Khattak

DESPITE becoming a de facto military ally of the United States in its Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), a spate of mistrust has marred the sincerity of Pakistan’s commitment to defeat al Qaeda remnants straddling the Durand Line. After seven years, these bits of doubts and suspicions transformed into “serious misgivings” about each other, have jeopardized our agreed strategic objectives. The American Administration alleged that Pakistan is harboring and abetting Taliban fighters who cross the border from Pakistan to conduct attacks inside Afghanistan. The Americans are accusing ISI of masterminding July 2008 attack on Indian embassy in Kabul that killed 60 people. The US counterintelligence is reluctant to share intelligence with Pakistan because ISI would leak the information to the terrorists before they could be hit by the US forces. They are also highly skeptical of the new Government’s “peace agreement” with the militants. They feel that the truce will allow the militants to regroup and recuperate to pose a threat of 9/11 magnitude. Joining the bandwagon of accusations, India’s security feels threatened that Pakistani Taliban might find it easier to target India than traveling to US.
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have also escalated when Hamid Karzai implied the ISI’s involvement in a July 2008 attack on the Indian embassy. Pakistan security sources have strongly denying any link with the Indian embassy bombing. Pakistan’s repeated call for evidence has prompted Washington to share: (1) the text of a telephonic conversation between two Afghans planning the attack and mentioning the ISI’s support in that respect. (2) An interview with the so-called Ex-Taliban fighter providing an account of being secretly trained by members of the Pakistani military who paid $500 a month and ordered to kill foreigners in Afghanistan. (3) Claiming that they have in their custody an ISI agent captured operating in Khost. While such accusations come out at regular intervals, it is apparent that there is hardly any supporting evidence that should justify such outlandish corroboration. The newspapers are replete with countless assertions which are unsubstantiated. Unsatisfied, Pakistan requested Afghanistan for more evidence. So far we have not got any solid proof. In fact, as a long drawn smear campaign of Pakistan bashing, there seems strategic collusion between Kabul, Delhi and Washington against Islamabad being a troublemaker in Afghanistan.
Pakistan rejected the allegations and condemned the Kabul bombing and argued that a stable Afghanistan was in Pakistan’s interest and Pakistan had nothing to gain from sponsoring bombings and destabilising its neighbour. Pakistan and Afghanistan enjoy common religious, cultural and historical values. For more than past two decades, Pakistan remained the key player in Afghan politics, hosting millions of refugees and a large bulk of the exiled leaders. Pakistan was aware that a strong Afghanistan would help the repatriation of over three million Afghan refugees from Pakistan. Pakistan wanted to prevent movement across its 2,400 Km border with Afghanistan and set-up over 900 check posts. Pakistan attaches immense importance to Afghanistan’s reconstruction, committing $250 million, while Pakistan’s exports climbing to $1.2 billion as compared to the $25 million few years ago. However, Afghan-Pakistan relations have been strained when President Hamid Karzai allowed Indian government to establish consulates in various places near the Pakistani border that have only one purpose; to create trouble in Baluchistan and engage in sabotage and terrorism in other parts of the country. Through puppet Afghan government, they have also provided sanctuary to anti-Pakistan elements such as Balaach Marri, Sardar Akbar Bugti’s grandson Brahamdagh Bugti and others. India’s primary aim is to control possible trade and transit routes from Pakistan to Afghanistan and to control markets in Afghanistan, as well as in Central Asia. With its presence in Afghanistan, India is encircling Pakistan by providing training and funds to the shadowy Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Consequently, India became persistent target for the Taliban in Afghanistan because of following additional reasons: (1) stepping-up military-to-military cooperation became a cutting edge as it was an unwarranted Indian interference in their country’s internal affairs. (2) When India trains ethnic Northern Alliance army officers in its military academies to fight the Taliban - a predominantly Pashtun movement - India is needlessly stepping into its cultural sensitivities. (3) Using innocent Afghan citizens as pawns in its war with Pakistan. (4) Undercutting the atmosphere of trust and confidence in the on-going CBMs between India and Pakistan.
Afghanistan pursuing pro-Indian stance has repeatedly alleged that Pakistan is behind the recent wave of attacks. What purpose Pakistan is going to achieve in supporting al Qaeda? Nothing, Pakistan is steadily progressing towards the much desired path of being a moderate and enlighten country and cannot afford to nourish extremism as it is also against Islamic preaching. Due to the renewed violence in eastern province of Kunar, Pakistan has sealed a section of its western border with Afghanistan to stop militants fleeing a US-led offensive on the Afghan side from sneaking into the country. Pakistan has deployed up to 120,000 military and paramilitary forces in FATA and killed/captured hundreds of suspected al Qaeda operatives, while losing over 1000 security personnel - more than entire coalition forces. Pakistan has made “significant” progress toward eliminating the safe haven for foreign fighters in the FATA.
In this atmosphere of mutual misgivings, how can it be possible to fight out GWOT? The remedy is to increase interactions between American and Pakistani security forces to ensure that lack of communication does not become a problem. Additionally, the current trust deficit must be addressed concurrently within the construct of the larger bilateral political relationship. If Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to cooperate as friendly neighbors with the principle of “not allowing each other’s territory to destabilize the other”, this may become a major breakthrough in rejuvenating Pak-Afghan ties. The Indian-Afghan-American consensus to destabilize Pakistan will not achieve the objective of defeating terrorism. India is not going to gain anything by exploiting sub-nationalist Baloch leaders against the federation of Pakistan. India’s military overtures in Afghanistan under the garb of reconstructional work are certainly going to impede the peace process. Similarly, US instead of mudslinging on ISI, needs to cooperate with Pakistan Government in fighting the militancy by providing economic and military assistance.

A point to ponder
Mehmood Iqbal

IN HIS book on India’s independence and partition “The Great Divide”, V H Hudson paid rich tribute to the unflinching resolve of Indian natives in their last-ditch effort to gain independence from British rule in 1947. The Muslims of Indian union made an unparalleled history when, led by the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, struggled for the right for self-determination and won independence on 14th August, 1947 against unimaginable odds. Pakistan was created on the basis of Two-Nation theory wherein all the Muslims of the sub-continent could live according to their faith, customs and traditions. The two-nation theory was vindicated, as the partition of India was guided by the Muslim League’s thesis that Hindus and Muslims could not live together peacefully because they were dominated economically, educational and culturally by Hindus in the undivided India. The people of Pakistan observe “Independence Day” every year on 14th August to commemorate the immense sacrifices rendered by the Muslims of the subcontinent to achieve a homeland of their own for ordering their lives in accordance with their religion, culture and traditions.
The “Independence celebration” programme announced by South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) on the eve of 61st birthday of Pakistan has not only challenged the validity of Two-Nation theory, it also caused furore in Pakistan and raised eyebrows elsewhere. SAFMA aims to promote peace and co-operation between countries of South Asia. According to SAFMA General Secretary Imtiaz Alam, this year, independence day was planned to be celebrated under the title ‘Commemorate Freedom, Celebrate Peace’ jointly by delegates from India and Pakistan. Apart from exchange of delegates, the salient features consist of: staging of a play “Yatra-1947” on 13th August at Lahore and written by both Pakistani and Indian students, holding of a seminar “Breaking Bread Together”, a “Peace Cultural Mela” at Wagha Border, and a “candlelit vigil” for peace and friendship by intellectuals from both the countries. This “cultural openness” speaks volume about the Indian cultural onslaught inadvertently hitting the inner fabrics of Pakistani society. SAFMA questioned the campaigners of the Two-nation theory and shattered the dreams of our forefathers who sacrificed their belongings and everything so dear to them during their arduous journey towards freedom for the euphoria of separate homeland.
As a part of long drawn smear campaign, India has been trying to influence our culture from the very beginning. In the modern-day high tech world, not too many wars are fought with weapons. With much improved technologies, wars of culture are being aggressively waged. The speaking of Hindi words by the public luminaries and politicians of Pakistan indicate that cultural invasion is going on and this is done in a very systematic manner. The bollywood movies, news and music channels and entertainment & propaganda outlets are actually invading our cultural and linguistic space. We should not lose focus from the fact that recently the channels and some movies have started using a lot of strange Hindi words in the scripts. This is because first they captured the market and now they are preaching their culture and language to that targeted audience. We should try to understand that battle of cultures is going on and if we don’t ponder and think about it and pretend that nothing will happen, then we will be big losers. If Indian cultural invasion of Pakistan continues to “Indianize” the Pakistanis, then that would mean that Indians have conquered us and won the war without firing a single shot.
The Indian duplicity was rightly discerned by the Muslim community during the period of Mughal Empire and throughout the tenure of colonial rule. India’s psyche is manifested in its deceit diplomacy with Pakistan. On one side India encourages the continuation of good-will initiatives (CBMs) whereas on the other side, they have an inner motive to destabilize Pakistan by fuelling unrest in Balochistan and FATA regions. Indian true designs were unravelled when they pinned the blame on Pakistan for aiding the Kashmiri freedom fighters through “cross-border terrorism”, whereas India was guilty of committing “state terrorism” on innocent Kashmiris. Another example of Indian hypocrisy is revealed.from the latest wave of brutalities and repression mounted in the Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the form of ongoing economic blockade of the occupied Valley and martyring of APHC leader Shaikh Abdul Aziz on the occasion of its 61st birthday celebration.
The pre-partition Indian dictum was based on the premise that India was uni-national and uni-cultural country. The Indians still want the same to happen. This will surely relegate the Muslims to a back seat, jeopardizing their cultural identity as it was under congress rule. The Indian media cartels are strongly influencing Pakistani youth. What India is presently doing on the media is far more glamorous which is difficult for the Pakistani adolescents to resist. They are unwittingly being Indianized. This invasion is becoming more overwhelming with a homogenizing impact. To sacrifice for identity and independence, defiant and assertive characters are needed rather than opportunists and compromise-seeking mentalities. The middle and upper classes being trendsetters would have to take initiative in that regard. Our people need to realise that entertainment is a defensive mechanism through which one can fulfill his dreams. It is far away from reality and they shouldn’t idolize everything they see. Our women should stick to the elegant Shalwar Kameez and make an active effort to avoid Hindi words in Urdu because it is the sweetest and most elegant language. We, as a nation need to take stock of this for we are a different nation than Hindus as enshrined in Two-Nation theory. It is hoped that our “independent” channels should venture what they are truly meant to project i.e. “represent Pakistan in the satellite world”. There is a strong need to develop a national strategy for assessing what can be done to improve the “cultural bondages” has never been more pressing than it is today.

General relief
Kamila Shamise

OVER half an hour into President Musharraf’s address to the nation I texted a friend to say: “This is a resignation speech, right?” She wrote back: “I don’t see what else it could be.” Neither could I, but to the last Musharraf had the air of a man so strongly convinced that he was indispensable to Pakistan that it was hard to believe the former commando would resist one final assault on his political rivals. When it came to it, though, the assault was merely rhetorical — the man of action with nothing left but words to fall back on.
His exit seemed inevitable from the moment his king’s party — the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) — was routed in the February elections; but Pakistan’s leaders have a way of turning the inevitable into the suspenseful. Over the weekend Islamabad was rife with rumours — including the one that said he was still waiting for Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, the leaders of the two largest democratic parties and the country’s most uneasy bedfellows, to tear each other to pieces and allow him to step in and clean up the mess. Other pundits weighed in to say the army wouldn’t allow its former head to be humiliated, and Sharif — who was deposed in 1999 by Musharraf — would settle for nothing less.
But in the end it was in no one’s interests to stand up for a man who wreaked incalculable damage on the nation in his refusal to accept challenges to his authority — challenges that arose last year from the judiciary, and were taken up by the Press. In his nine years as president, Musharraf tangoed and tangled with a number of individuals and institutions, but it is his relationship with the Press that is most revealing. To start with, he missed few opportunities to extol the virtues of a free Press and did more than any leader in Pakistan’s history to make that free Press available with his decision to open up the airwaves and allow a mushrooming of cable channels.
It is a tragedy of Musharraf’s time in office that he came to see this, his one great legacy, as Frankenstein’s monster; before long he was darkly commenting that to speak against him was to speak against the nation, and he imposed draconian curbs on the media when he declared a state of emergency last November — in an act of utter desperation. However, no degree of censorship could obliterate the writing on the wall — clear for everyone except Musharraf to see. But although he has finally bowed out — there remained no other option once both the army and the US refused to back his bid to stay in power — Pakistan is not really in any condition to be euphoric. Suicide bombings are rampant, the Taleban have control over parts of the country, and the economy is in free fall. To add to this, Zardari and Sharif have given the nation ample reason in the past to deeply mistrust their governance. In fact, so great is their unpopularity that there exists a vociferous segment of Pakistani society that continues to believe that Musharraf was the better option — “This is Pakistan, not Oz,” a friend angrily wrote to me when I voiced approval of Musharraf’s departure.

—Khaleej Times