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It's imperative to bleed Pakistan

It's imperative to bleed Pakistan

Author: Dina Nath Mishra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 22, 2002

This week's terrorist attack in Jammu has once again underlined some inescapable conclusions. A) The US led-war against terrorism has absolutely no impact on the Pak strategy of bleeding India through crossborder terrorism. B) Whatever the US may say, the agenda for global war against terrorism doesn't include Indian concerns about the ongoing war against India. It may be low cost war or slow war but war it is. C) India has to deal with this entirely on its own and, in the process, it has to disregard US sermons of restraint in the name of larger interest of global war on terrorism. D) Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf's pledge to fight terrorism smacks of hypocrisy and duplicity.

The General's support to this global war is halfhearted, even to the US-led forces. Obviously, it excludes cross-border terrorism against India for the factories that motivates, funds and hires them by any name, like Laskar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed. They cannot operate without overt or covert support of Pak military and ISI. E) It should be clear by now that pro-active strategy of fighting terrorism in J&K has succeeded partially. Unless pro-active strategy, including bleeding Pakistan, are not pursued, the fundamentalist agenda of jehad would continue. One can recall what president Musharaf had said: "Kashmir runs like blood in the vein of every Pakistani."

As far as the US is concerned, let us not think that Musharraf or Pakistan are successfully bluffing them. The US' post-cold war agenda has been to further the umbrella of its supremacy. Apparently, it wants to continue as the sole military, economic and technological superpower and ensure that no threat arises to its population and land mass. It also wants to eliminate any vulnerability to violence and to nuclear or terrorist blackmail. Its agenda includes restructuring old military and economic alliances and making them progressively relevant to American hegemony. The war against terrorism fits perfectly in the US' post-cold war agenda.

By now, the US may not have finished Taliban and Al-Qaeda but the Taliban Government has disappeared along with Pakistan's strategic depth. Pakistan's sovereignty has not only been compromised but diminished to a great extent. Now, US forces are stationed at various centres of Pakistan and it seems that it would stay in Pakistan for long. The geo-strategic location of Pakistan may not have served Pakistani citizens so much as it has the Pakistan Army and its elite. It is this location which makes Pakistan prone to military dictatorships. Again, it is this location, which ultimately landed Pakistan as an Anglo-American client State with greatly diminished sovereignty. The nuclear capability of Pakistan may prove to be a liability rather than strength. Nuclear capability of some of the former Soviet states does not mean anything today.

As far as India is concerned, Pakistan is not comparable in terms of indicators of national power. India is in a different league altogether. It is rapidly becoming obvious that India is a powerhouse like China and would be a world player in the near future. Also, the economic independence of India distinguishes it from Pakistan. With the end of the cold war, the days of Indian pontification are over and India has faced this reality and accepted it. Next, India has finally realised that "power flows out of the barrel of the gun", but the gun is held by economic power. With Pokhran-II, India rdefined its relations with other nations. It did not care for the sanctions and withstood them. The United States has come to appreciate that in the overall matrix of world power politics and India would like to cooperate with it. Thus, while Pakistan is gradually becoming a base for furthering US interests as a client State, India is fast becoming an independent ally.

It will, thus, be seen that while Pakistan has to accept the American agenda for survival, India is free to chart its own journey. Where differences will arise, such as in American perceptions on Iran and Iraq and North Korea, India's views will be heard with the same seriousness as those of France, Germany, China and Russia. Pakistan 'has' to act as per the wishes of America as it has done after September 11 in the war against terrorism against its own outfit, the Taliban, and even against its own people.

Pakistan knows it well that by a full-scale war it cannot annexe Kashmir. Of late, Pakistani terrorist operations have become the expression of independence also. It is to demonstrate to the Pakistani masses that the ruling establishment is disregarding US pressure and pursuing its Kashmir strategy independently. But the message to the US is different i.e. in the given circumstances, the military Government is doing its best to curb terrorism. The fact is whatever action President Mushraf has taken against terrorist outfits; he himself has nullified most of them. In a situation like this India, has to think of a new strategy along with continuing the present measures. Bleeding Pakistani terror factories in PoK has to be thought of. There can be several ways of doing this without openly attacking training camps in PoK.

In fact, Pakistan is disturbed because in recent months a record number of terrorists have been eliminated. Their instrument, the All Party Hurriyat Conference, is on the verge of collapse. Jammu & Kashmir is going to have free and fair elections. More and more groups are going to participate in it. Normalcy is returning. All these factors have disturbed Pakistan and its anti-India fundamentalist organisations. India has shown maturity in handling terrorism. Some tit for tat is needed to reciprocate bleeding.
 


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