Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 5, 2008
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/140679/Don't-petition-Islamabad.html
Tell the world the truth; punish Pakistan
There's something nauseating about the manner
in which the UPA Government has been petitioning the Government of Pakistan
in the hope that Islamabad will do for New Delhi what the latter should do
for India. While Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's rude snub in response
to the UPA Government's plea for assistance is no doubt obnoxious, we should
not have expected him to react in any other manner. Those who occupy the corridors
of power in South Block today, among them a feckless Prime Minister who is
unable to distinguish between the perpetrator of terrorism and the victims
of terror, may be short on memory, but the nation has not forgotten that it
was Benazir Bhutto who had urged jihadis to 'chop' India into pieces and played
midwife during the birth of the monster called Taliban. Nor is public memory
too short to recall Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's threat to inflict a "thousand
cuts" on India. Mr Zardari, after all, has to maintain tradition; much
as he may wish to, he cannot entirely disassociate himself from the political
legacy he has inherited. In any event, it is absurd to expect the so-called
'civilian' Government of Pakistan to break ranks with the Army and the all-powerful
ISI to help India wage war on terror, that too on Pakistani soil. That would
not only gravely imperil Mr Zardari and his cohorts who pretend to be in power
but whose writ does not run beyond Islamabad, but also be a fatal assault
on the idea of Pakistan. Given these incontrovertible facts, there was absolutely
no reason for the UPA Government to further diminish India's stature by pleading
with those who claim to rule Pakistan. If the UPA Government has acted in
so pitiable a manner at the Bush Administration's behest - which is entirely
possible - then the move deserves to be condemned all the more. For all her
tough talk in New Delhi, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has betrayed
America's bias by praising Pakistan in Islamabad. Mr Zardari is surely smirking,
as are the Generals, including the ISI chief, in Rawalpindi.
After the terrorist attack on Parliament House,
the NDA Government had sent emissaries - politicians representing all parties,
not only the BJP and its allies - to capitals around the world with a simple
brief: Present the evidence of Pakistani complicity. That single move turned
out to be a diplomatic coup, and fetched India global publicity that was damning
for Pakistan. Simultaneously, troops were deployed along the border in what
turned out to be a long standoff: We could absorb the cost; Pakistan bled.
This time, too, the Government should have taken the international community
into confidence, presented the evidence that has been gathered, including
telecommunication interceptions, and insisted that the world must act in unison
against a rogue state which poses a threat not only to India but to everybody
else. At the same time, to demonstrate that India's sovereign rights cannot
be sacrificed at the altar of American 'interests' or infringed to please
those in the West who preach the line of least resistance, the UPA Government
should have taken decisive action against Pakistan. The Prime Minister and
his colleagues know that Pakistan is not going to help India track down terrorists
and their patrons. They also know that Pakistan will not shut down the nurseries
of terror that lovingly raise mass murderers. Above everything else, it is
no secret that when push comes to shove, the US will advise 'restraint', which,
of course, it does not practice when American interests are at stake. Then
why plod along a path that leads to nowhere?
