Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf is nothing if not a narcissist. He cannot live without hearing his voice and seeing his frame on TV screens on a daily basis. Any opportunity is good enough for him to appear on the idiot box; that is when he is not globetrotting to blow his own trumpet before his hosts. He chooses subjects that he thinks will get him favourable publicity as he did the other day when he referred to the ghastly tragedy of terrorist attacks on Mumbai suburban trains on July 11. In a TV address that was naturally mandatory for all channels in Pakistan to carry, Musharraf commiserated with the families of the Mumbai victims and offered to ‘cooperate’ with India in nabbing the beastly murderers of that tragedy—much to the adulation of the western world.
The West praises Musharraf overtly even as it is getting to be weary of him since he has been unabashedly double-crossing the world in the so-called war on terror. As far as India is concerned it can do without his ‘sympathy’ and ‘cooperation’. Such words coming from him actually rub salt on Indian wounds when there is not even an iota of doubt in anybody’s mind that it is Musharraf’s ISI that is ultimately responsible for most of the acts of terror in India; terror being the chosen weapon for executing the Pakistani policy of low intensity war to bleed India and to wrest Kashmir
Islamabad’s ‘faith’ in dialogue is as phoney as Musharraf’s offer of ‘cooperation’ with India in catching the terrorists who planned and executed the Mumbai attacks. The offer was probably prompted by the sharp reaction in India against his foreign minister’s contention that the Mumbai attacks were linked to the Kashmir dispute. He gave away his game when he attached a caveat to his ‘cooperation’ offer. ‘Give us proof’, he said. This is a phrase that he has been repeating often. By now India has sent tons of ‘proof’—documents and photographs, not to mention detailed accounts in Pakistani media of the thriving terrorist/jehadi network in the country.
It is not that India is the sole target of these Pakistani ‘warriors’. They are also venturing into Pakistan’s western neighbour to re-establish the Taliban supremacy in order to serve Islamabad’s geo-political interests. Kabul too has been bitter about the havoc they are causing in southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border. And like India, Afghanistan too has supplied enough proof about this to Pakistan. The US is in the loop.
Nonetheless, Pakistan has rejected all the proof provided by India and Afghanistan. All the material proof from Kabul has been dubbed as ‘imaginary’. If the Pakistanis are to be believed there never were any terrorist camps in that country because that land of the ‘pure’ has only ‘perfume’ gardens bustling with hooded men carrying ‘toys’ like guns and grenades, who are trained for the ‘noble’ cause of ‘liberating’ Kashmiris from India. Surely, Musharraf does not expect India to produce ‘authentic’ circulars and letters from terror/jehadi outfits detailing the location of their camps and signed documents spelling out their plans to attack targets in India. Well, even if such proof is given to Pakistan what prevents him from calling them ‘imaginary’?
While India is supposed to have failed to supply any ‘solid’ proof of Pakistan’s complicity in terror acts carried out in this country, the unnerved Pakistanis now invariably accuse India of instigating trouble in their own western region. And the ‘proof’ that the Pakistanis tout? The opening of Indian consulates in Afghanistan in areas close to Pakistan!
If the Pakistanis are naïve enough to believe this hogwash from their government, they should really be seriously worrying about the future of their country. The Indian government and its intelligence agencies must be laughing within their sleeves each time a Pakistani mouths such wild allegations. The fact is that the Indian intelligence agencies have not been able to and perhaps will not be able to reach anywhere close to the extent of penetration of their Pakistani counterpart in India. There are many reasons for this which need not be recounted here.
That Pakistan had no real intention to ‘cooperate’ with India in eliminating terror groups had become clear long time ago. When India gave a list of ‘most wanted’ criminals, Pakistan said none of them was on its soil. The military regime seems to suggest that the former Mumbai don, Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in connection with the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, has ‘disappeared’ though reports in the Pak media say that he has set up a thriving empire in Pakistan and that the ISI has parked him safely in the Taliban dominated tribal belt. The Don’s daughter married the son of a famous cricketer a couple of months back and the occasion was marked by a grand reception at Karachi. At least that establishes that the Don has some links with Karachi and Pakistan. Yet, Pakistan flatly denies any knowledge about Dawood Ibrahim.
The case of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s Syed Salahuddin is even more curious. Since he frequently moves around in Pakistan and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, openly preaching hatred and violence against India in the company of top Pakistani officials and politicians, Islamabad cannot deny his presence. Still, they will not touch him because he is the ring leader of ‘freedom fighters’ and represents a political organisation (?) that has its offices in Kashmir. It appears that in Pakistan that is supposed to be set on the course of ‘enlightenment’ and ‘moderation’ under Gen Musharraf, inciting people in the name of religion and asking them to wage a war against a particular community or a country is considered a laudable act.
Then there is Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader, Hafiz Sayeed, freed from Indian jail after a daring act of terrorism that saw an Indian civilian plane hijacked by a group of Pakistanis to Taliban-ruled Kandahar in December 1999. After reaching Pakistan, this man vowed to raise a force to attack India and the people of India. He has been doing precisely that ever since with no check except perhaps a request that when things become too hot the Hafiz should change the name of his jehadi set-up. Like Salahuddin, Hafiz Sayeed cannot be sent to India because Pakistan wants them to keep the spirit of ‘holy war’ against India burning.
Yet, Musharraf talks about the need to continue the India-Pakistan peace dialogue, and offers ‘cooperation’ with India in eliminating terrorists. It is for India to call off Musharraf’s bluff perhaps by carrying out an intensive international campaign. If Musharraf wants to provoke India further, well, New Delhi will do well to return to Kautilya’s long forgotten treatise for an idea on sending signals to his political rivals. If it sounds like a ‘tit-for-tat’ policy, so be it.
Courtesy : Syndicate Features
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