Jingoistic rhetoric takes its toll on Indo-Pak peace bid
Enough is enough, thundered 40 retired security experts, who reminded the government, rather peremptorily, that it is time to junk its Pakistan-appeasement habit. Addressing a press conference on behalf of these assertive strategists, former deputy national security adviser Satish Chandra said, “India needs a new bipartisan policy which will impose costs on Pakistan for terrorism.” And what is the cost that the former officials envisage precisely?
Spill innocent blood, in a matching insanity, through covert subversive activities deep inside Pakistan. In fact, internal sectarian disenchantment has for long been recognized as New Delhi’s most potent tool to checkmate Islamabad. Even top US security officials are aware of the Indian secret services’ logistical support to Baloch nationalists, but have conveniently chosen to look the other way as part of a deal that saw New Delhi facilitate Washington’s linkup with the Northern Alliance during George W. Bush’s war on terror in Afghanistan.
But why exactly are so many luminaries pushing for escalation at this critical juncture and risk jeopardizing the entire equilibrium in South Asia? Significantly, their outburst coincided with the reported expulsion of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan. Dawood, son of a loyal Indian policeman, has all along been a strategic asset of the Indian intelligence community like Dr. Ayyub Thakur.
Surely, having worked within the strategic security paraphernalia for years together, most of these eminent personalities — if not all — are by now extremely well versed with the functioning of the Indian intelligence.
Are we to presume then that this intemperate hullabaloo over the border incident is an integral part of a premeditated false flag operation undertaken to reverse Pakistan’s increased role in the Afghan mediation process? It cannot be a mere coincidence that a group of people dressed in Pakistan Army’s combat fatigues have the temerity to gun down patrolling party members in Balochistan and Indian-administered Kashmir on the same day in a guerrilla style operation. While in Balochistan, the gunmen killed 14 people including three Pakistani security personnel, a gang, following the same modus operandi eliminated five members of an advanced reconnaissance party of the Indian military, miles away across the northeastern frontiers.
Surely, the use of Pakistan Army uniform in both incidents brings to light a secret plan of derailing the peace talks and India’s intelligentsia unfortunately have fallen prey to this macabre plot aimed at destabilizing the subcontinent. All the diligent efforts of the saner elements to create a peace dividend have gone to waste, thanks to the misuse of combat fatigue. Isolated hardliners have once again been gifted with the opportunity to spread propaganda and convince the Indian public about Islamabad’s continued design of avenging the country’s dismemberment in 1971 through shadow war.
Instead of indulging in tit-for-tat rhetoric in Parliament, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government would do well to take this issue seriously and initiate some urgent remedial measures in preventing proliferation of operational fatigues outside the military’s ambit. Otherwise it will be difficult to consolidate the peace constituency in both India and Pakistan.
When a country is in a grip of misplaced nationalism, fanatic attribute will inevitably outweigh logic. None in India is in a position to see through the connection between the two ghastly Aug. 6 attacks in Balochistan’s Mach and Indian-administered Kashmir’s Poonch. Even if we are to presume that Pakistan Army regulars were involved in the Poonch ambush on Indian soldiers, why on earth would they kill their fellow citizens and security colleagues in Balochistan? So, something is definitely fishy about the heinous events that occurred simultaneously and perpetrated by actors wearing Pakistan Army fatigue. But then as high degree of fanaticism is being induced through an equally high-pitched political propaganda supported by the strategic security establishment, hardly anybody in India is ready to listen to rational voices. That such uniforms are manufactured and sold openly across Pakistan is unthinkable, but what intrigues this author is the similarity in technique used in both the places to foment trouble.
Therefore, the civilian leadership of both nations should persuade the respective top brass of the security apparatus to conduct a joint investigation into the incidents honestly. Who exactly is in a tearing hurry to put the two neighbors at loggerheads once again needs to be ascertained at the earliest. The international community also has a role to play in nudging the Indian and Pakistani leadership to conduct an impartial probe harmoniously, as an unstable South Asia will spell doom for the rest of the world, especially the energy rich central Asian region.
Besides, New Delhi must resist the urge to discontinue the composite dialogue process. Occasional incidents of tactical gravity, orchestrated by elements having a vested interest in keeping the Indian subcontinent boiling, must not become the fate determinant of 1.7 billion people in South Asia, majority of whom are impoverished. The altered world order dictates India to pursue strategic peace and stability with all her neighbors. Antagonizing them will only strengthen those who want to tie down New Delhi within the sub-continental vortex. The politico-security establishment in Pakistan and India must come to terms with the fact that it is time for working together in all spheres, including strategic.
• Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.
• [email protected]
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