Why did President Musharraf have to come to the point of declaring that foreign nationals attending the Madrasas in Pakistan must leave the country? According to his own estimate there are about 1400 of them in Pakistan. Though belatedly, Musharraf seems to have woken up to the fact that the world is convinced that Madrasas in his country are no less than Jehadi factories and he can no longer hoodwink the world opinion.
The push this time has come from the recent 7/7 bombings in London with three of the four militants involved linked with Pakistan.
Talking to the foreign correspondents in Islamabad the other day, General Musharraf did some plain speaking. He admitted that he could not come down on the terrorists with full force so far, for a variety of reasons. One of these was a 10-month long face off with India and another was insufficient international support for his presidency.
He went to the extent of saying that had he come down on the terrorists in Pakistan more vigorously “may be the boat would have capsized”. But now, he said, he is in a “much stronger position to campaign against religious extremism than during his limited crackdown in 2002”. The General went on to say that militant groups (in Pakistan) have not been crushed and if the Madrasas they control are not shut down,
“We are not going to see an end to militancy”.
On the face of it, the remarks of General Musharraf should be quite reassuring for India. But that is only superficial. For New Delhi, there is nothing surprising about it. Pakistan may demonstrate to the international community its determination and commitment to deal with terrorism firmly in Pakistan. It is of no avail for India. Because, Pakistan has two sets of policies in dealing with terrorism vis-a-vis the western countries and Kashmir.
Look at the growing number of terrorist attacks, abductions, and bomb blasts in Kashmir during the last two months. The Defence Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee said in Parliament the other day that cross border terrorism in Kashmir has been on the increase as the snow has started melting on the hills. More than 50 infiltrators have been killed in the state during the past two months alone.
If that is the case, where is the commitment to deal firmly with militants in Pakistan? New Delhi has been saying time and again that it has photographic evidence of terrorist training camps running not only in Pak occupied Kashmir (POK)but other parts of Pakistan as well.
Northern Areas have camps in Gultari. Tarkuti and Skardu, to name a few. Tanda Allabyar camp is in Sindh. So are camps in NWFP and Punjab. A London bomber was trained at Muridke camp near Lahore in Punjab. About 55 camps are in position all over Pakistan in which an estimated 3000 militants are receiving training.
So, where has the commitment made by Pakistan in the Lahore declaration gone-that it will dismantle all terrorist infrastructure on its soil and not allow it to be used against India?
Even for the West, action taken by Pakistan has so far been more of a lip service than a real crackdown. The modus operandi has been to arrest a few hundred people under pressure from the Western countries, keep them in jail for a couple of months, and release them, once the heat is off, in groups.
New Delhi has been crying hoarse for two-decades about Pakistan’s shady role in dealing with terrorism. It has been urging the world community to put pressure on it to stop fomenting terrorism. But unfortunately the civilised west by and large, preferred to look the other way until it struck at the very heart of the United States and England.
In this whole affair what is strikingly tragic is that the Madrasas which are supposedly meant to impart religious teachings to young people for making them disciplined, tolerant and full of human values have degenerated into war academies.
Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer and Hasib Mir Hussain, the three involved in London bombings, have opened a new chapter in international terrorism. The challenge is not a small one to be handled by individual countries on their own. It is a major challenge for the international community and has to be treated as such.
During his recent visit to the United States, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it more than clear to President George Bush that terrorism is a global menace and has to be met globally and not on a selective basis. The US and other western countries have to realise that they cannot fight terrorism through Pakistan, as is the case so far, because Pakistan itself is part of the problem.
This time round, President Bush seems to have grasped the point made by Dr. Manmohan Singh. And if that be so, India has enough reason to believe that the US will put more pressure on Pakistan to stop not only terrorism on its soil but cross border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir as well. Unless that is done we may never come out of the dark and gruesome tunnel of terrorism.
The current peace process between India and Pakistan has started showing signs of strain. It is time this trend is arrested in the interest of the people in the sub-continent.
While there is no issue that cannot be resolved through a process of discussion and dialogue, and India’s doors are always open and will continue to be open for anyone interested in dialogue, Islamabad will do well to realise that no half hearted efforts would suffice. It must dismantle terror infrastructure totally.
It is difficult to find fault with Manmohan Singh’s assertion from the ramparts of Red Fort on the Independence Day that as long as terrorists continued their attacks, the armed forces would be alert and would give them a fitting response.
Courtesy : Syndicate Features
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