Lord ZeN
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By
Lt Gen Prakash Katoch
Abdul Basit, Pakistan’s High Commissioner was recently centre stage on one of our national TV channel. The competition for TRPs being never ending it didn’t really matter that Basit sabotaged the foreign secretary level talks by inviting Hurriyat hardliners for a ‘Biryani with Basit’ dinner-cum-discussion on how to destabilize India and keep J&K on the boil. Knowing Gilani and Co’s character of begging more, Basit would have arranged more bones and gravy, hence, institutionalizing more moolah through hawala and support from ISI-JuD-LeT-HuM would have formed part of the agenda. Feedback of Yasin Malik’s parleys with Hafiz Saeed and others in Pakistan and future course of action too would have been discussed. Strategies would have been chalked out how to keep certain section of the polity on the payroll for making pro-Pakistan statements and how to snare others to do so, making more inroads in media, engineering Track II discussions with select pro-Pak members and the like.
Surprisingly, none asked Abdul Basit why he was acting Begani Shadi Mein Abdullah Deewana; by harping on Kashmir when the illegal occupation of Pakistan is the only issue that needs to be discussion. No one asked him why Pakistan keeps harping on plebiscite when the 1948 UN Resolution on Kashmir had categorically stated Pakistan must withdraw its security forces from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) before any plebiscite could be undertaken. Pakistan deliberately killed the issue of plebiscite by not only not withdrawing her security forces but did the opposite; beefed up her security forces in Azad Kashmir, changed the demography of Azad Kashmir by moving large population to Azad Kashmir from other areas, and engineered massacre and exodus of Kashmiri Pundits from the Kashmir Valley as part of its proxy war.
But then Musharraf too continued to be invited to conclaves by certain Indian TV channels even after having demitted office of President despite him being the worst Pakistani head of state after Zia-ul-Haq hell bent to balkanize India. musharraf, through his army tenure and as President of Pakistan, amongst other things is known for: as a young officer, training terrorists in Chittagong Hill Tracts of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for terrorist attacks against India; planning and engineering massive intrusions in Kargil during 1999; abusing his uniform and dishonouring his own army by refusing to accept dead bodies of his own soldiers killed during the Kargil Conflict – raising questions how a soldier leave aside an army chief could stoop so very low; exposing the liar in him by declaring to the world. “There is not a single terrorist on Pakistani soil”; repeatedly referring to India as the “most devious enemy” in his autobiography ‘In the Line of Fire’ authored as President of Pakistan; rewarding Pakistani soldiers undertaking cross-border raids and beheading Indians, and; recently indicted for the murder of tribal leader Akbar Bugti of Balochistan by an anti-terrorist court in Quetta.
It is another issue that the genocide committed under him in Balochistan, continuing thereafter, has led to discovery of mass graves in Balochistan. Interestingly, a Muslim political leader took the gas out of Musharraf in a televised forum on an India TV channel,virtually tellinh him to shut up and worry about Muslims of Pakistan, not India.
To the recent news about Pakistan banning JuD and Haqqanis, the US says it does not have any confirmation on Pakistan’s banning of Hafiz Saeed led JuD and the Haqqani Network. Interestingly, Dawn News quoted US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki saying that the US recognizes Pakistan’s efforts to “thwart violent extremism” – pat on the back? Getting back to Abdul Basit appearance for live session on the TV channel, he was indeed questioned about the ban on JuD led by the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Abdul Basit’s answer was, “We are proceeding strictly in accordance with the UN resolution and JuD bank account has been frozen, and there is ban on travelling abroad of its leadership.” But hey, the UN had listed JuD for ban in 2008 (seven years ago), which mandated freezing the JuD bank accounts, putting an arms embargo on it and placing embargo on foreign travel. None of this was done. In fact, Hafiz Saeed, slush with funds, continued to lead massive anti-India rallies attended by hollering radicals waving firearms – all under official patronage of the Pakistani administration. So who are we fooling?
Obviously, the recent announcement of banning JuD is yet another farce synchronized with visit of President Obama’s to India. What further proof when the National Counter Terrorism Authority of Pakistan (NACTA) has removed the name of JuD from the list of proscribed organizations from its official website. In any case, bans on organizations are being circumvented by terrorist organizations through spawning front organizations. JuD itself is a front organization for the LeT.
As regards, freezing bank account, where is the problem of opening another under a different name? Besides, do Hafiz Saeed and JuD need any bank accounts with funding looked after by the ISI, narcotics business and hawala operated by Dawood Ibrahim? Hafiz Saeed has earned the unofficial designation of being the chief adviser to the Pakistani military and ISI for plotting terror against India. He has been frequenting the border region in Azad Kashmir including recently when Pakistan was indulging in heavy cross border firing to target non-Muslim villages in J&K. Similar firing across the international border section too could have been on advice of this radical mullah.
Some media reports had also appeared of John Kerry having warned Pakistan not to undertake any cross-border terrorist attacks during visit of President Obama to India. There was speculation if this was true and whether it meant that other than for the duration of the Obama visit, such actions could continue. However, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistani ambassador to US rubbished reports of any warning issued to Pakistan by US ahead of Obama’s India visit saying, “The Indian media has a tendency to invent and exaggerate things…as a matter of fact US Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Islamabad had deeply appreciated the steps taken by Pakistan against terrorism and extremism.” So, where does the truth lie; news of the purported warning leaked to contacts in media by Abdul Basit’s coterie or pro-Pakistan media in US?
The fact remains that Pakistan successfully sold the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban theory to the US. Mentioning President Obama’s rationale for war on Al Qaeda, Michael Hughes had written in July 2010, “In a movement that should have floored US policymakers, Kayani was brazen enough to try and inveigle Afghanistan to strike a power-sharing arrangement with the Haqqanis. And, Kayani, apparently the spokesperson for the Haqqani group, said they’d be willing to split from and denounce Al Qaeda, which is President Obama’s primary rationale for the war. However, there is a higher probability of General Kayani converting to Hinduism than there is of the Haqqani Network ever being decoupled from Al Qaeda.”
The Pakistani army is a zebra that is unlikely to change its stripes, drama of banning JuD and Haqqanis notwithstanding. Hence, Pakistan (army) will continue to use terrorist organizations as foreign policy tools in an effort to destabilize India.
According to Jessica Stern in her treatise ‘Pakistan’s Jihad Culture’ published by Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Pakistani officials admit albeit unofficially that Pakistan is infiltrating terrorists into India. More significantly, post the Peshawar massacre, Pakistani scholar Ayesha Siddiqa said,” There may be an internal division within the armed forces regarding what is considered a bigger threat — the internal or external — but there is almost a consensus on India being the key enemy…. the basic mindset that drives violent extremism is likely to continue and even thrive”. No one knows the Pakistani military and polity better that Ayeasha Siddiqa who also authored the book ‘Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy’ in 2007. In the said book she exposed the $20.7 billion Pakistani Army’s private business-cum-corporate empire, which would have grown exponentially in the last eight years. So, there is little chance about the military giving up that empire, which thrives on maintaining hostilities with India and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani army has also been portraying over the years that the Pakistan Taliban and Afghan Taliban are daggers drawn whereas they both support each other and in turn are linked to the ISI. Daniel S Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan & South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations confirms Afghan Taliban get safe haven inside the tribal areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan and they help Pakistani Taliban by providing inspiration, training, access to financing (narcotics?) and sometimes even fighters. It is said that while armies have countries, the Pakistani army has a State for itself; Pakistan.
President Obama has stated that terrorist safe havens inside Pakistan are not acceptable but was he referring to havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which has been the concern of the US till now. Will the US continue by what Ashley Tellis described as India becoming a sponge for terror “protects us all” or will it change according to the advice of the same scholar saying, “The only reasonable objective for the United States is the permanent evisceration of LeT and other vicious South Asian terrorist groups …. with Pakistani cooperation if possible, but without it if necessary.“ The bottom-line is that unless the US addresses Pakistan’s proxy war on India, Indo-US strategic cooperation will remain just business oriented and more one sided.
By
Lt Gen Prakash Katoch
@Judge @MohitV @SrNair @SarthakGanguly @levina @TejasMk3 @blood
Lt Gen Prakash Katoch
Abdul Basit, Pakistan’s High Commissioner was recently centre stage on one of our national TV channel. The competition for TRPs being never ending it didn’t really matter that Basit sabotaged the foreign secretary level talks by inviting Hurriyat hardliners for a ‘Biryani with Basit’ dinner-cum-discussion on how to destabilize India and keep J&K on the boil. Knowing Gilani and Co’s character of begging more, Basit would have arranged more bones and gravy, hence, institutionalizing more moolah through hawala and support from ISI-JuD-LeT-HuM would have formed part of the agenda. Feedback of Yasin Malik’s parleys with Hafiz Saeed and others in Pakistan and future course of action too would have been discussed. Strategies would have been chalked out how to keep certain section of the polity on the payroll for making pro-Pakistan statements and how to snare others to do so, making more inroads in media, engineering Track II discussions with select pro-Pak members and the like.
…why Pakistan keeps harping on plebiscite when the 1948 UN Resolution on Kashmir had categorically stated Pakistan must withdraw its security forces from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) before any plebiscite could be undertaken.
Surprisingly, none asked Abdul Basit why he was acting Begani Shadi Mein Abdullah Deewana; by harping on Kashmir when the illegal occupation of Pakistan is the only issue that needs to be discussion. No one asked him why Pakistan keeps harping on plebiscite when the 1948 UN Resolution on Kashmir had categorically stated Pakistan must withdraw its security forces from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (Azad Kashmir) before any plebiscite could be undertaken. Pakistan deliberately killed the issue of plebiscite by not only not withdrawing her security forces but did the opposite; beefed up her security forces in Azad Kashmir, changed the demography of Azad Kashmir by moving large population to Azad Kashmir from other areas, and engineered massacre and exodus of Kashmiri Pundits from the Kashmir Valley as part of its proxy war.
But then Musharraf too continued to be invited to conclaves by certain Indian TV channels even after having demitted office of President despite him being the worst Pakistani head of state after Zia-ul-Haq hell bent to balkanize India. musharraf, through his army tenure and as President of Pakistan, amongst other things is known for: as a young officer, training terrorists in Chittagong Hill Tracts of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for terrorist attacks against India; planning and engineering massive intrusions in Kargil during 1999; abusing his uniform and dishonouring his own army by refusing to accept dead bodies of his own soldiers killed during the Kargil Conflict – raising questions how a soldier leave aside an army chief could stoop so very low; exposing the liar in him by declaring to the world. “There is not a single terrorist on Pakistani soil”; repeatedly referring to India as the “most devious enemy” in his autobiography ‘In the Line of Fire’ authored as President of Pakistan; rewarding Pakistani soldiers undertaking cross-border raids and beheading Indians, and; recently indicted for the murder of tribal leader Akbar Bugti of Balochistan by an anti-terrorist court in Quetta.
It is another issue that the genocide committed under him in Balochistan, continuing thereafter, has led to discovery of mass graves in Balochistan. Interestingly, a Muslim political leader took the gas out of Musharraf in a televised forum on an India TV channel,virtually tellinh him to shut up and worry about Muslims of Pakistan, not India.
In fact, Hafiz Saeed, slush with funds, continued to lead massive anti-India rallies attended by hollering radicals waving firearms – all under official patronage of the Pakistani administration. So who are we fooling?
To the recent news about Pakistan banning JuD and Haqqanis, the US says it does not have any confirmation on Pakistan’s banning of Hafiz Saeed led JuD and the Haqqani Network. Interestingly, Dawn News quoted US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki saying that the US recognizes Pakistan’s efforts to “thwart violent extremism” – pat on the back? Getting back to Abdul Basit appearance for live session on the TV channel, he was indeed questioned about the ban on JuD led by the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. Abdul Basit’s answer was, “We are proceeding strictly in accordance with the UN resolution and JuD bank account has been frozen, and there is ban on travelling abroad of its leadership.” But hey, the UN had listed JuD for ban in 2008 (seven years ago), which mandated freezing the JuD bank accounts, putting an arms embargo on it and placing embargo on foreign travel. None of this was done. In fact, Hafiz Saeed, slush with funds, continued to lead massive anti-India rallies attended by hollering radicals waving firearms – all under official patronage of the Pakistani administration. So who are we fooling?
Obviously, the recent announcement of banning JuD is yet another farce synchronized with visit of President Obama’s to India. What further proof when the National Counter Terrorism Authority of Pakistan (NACTA) has removed the name of JuD from the list of proscribed organizations from its official website. In any case, bans on organizations are being circumvented by terrorist organizations through spawning front organizations. JuD itself is a front organization for the LeT.
As regards, freezing bank account, where is the problem of opening another under a different name? Besides, do Hafiz Saeed and JuD need any bank accounts with funding looked after by the ISI, narcotics business and hawala operated by Dawood Ibrahim? Hafiz Saeed has earned the unofficial designation of being the chief adviser to the Pakistani military and ISI for plotting terror against India. He has been frequenting the border region in Azad Kashmir including recently when Pakistan was indulging in heavy cross border firing to target non-Muslim villages in J&K. Similar firing across the international border section too could have been on advice of this radical mullah.
The fact remains that Pakistan successfully sold the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban theory to the US.
Some media reports had also appeared of John Kerry having warned Pakistan not to undertake any cross-border terrorist attacks during visit of President Obama to India. There was speculation if this was true and whether it meant that other than for the duration of the Obama visit, such actions could continue. However, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistani ambassador to US rubbished reports of any warning issued to Pakistan by US ahead of Obama’s India visit saying, “The Indian media has a tendency to invent and exaggerate things…as a matter of fact US Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Islamabad had deeply appreciated the steps taken by Pakistan against terrorism and extremism.” So, where does the truth lie; news of the purported warning leaked to contacts in media by Abdul Basit’s coterie or pro-Pakistan media in US?
The fact remains that Pakistan successfully sold the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban theory to the US. Mentioning President Obama’s rationale for war on Al Qaeda, Michael Hughes had written in July 2010, “In a movement that should have floored US policymakers, Kayani was brazen enough to try and inveigle Afghanistan to strike a power-sharing arrangement with the Haqqanis. And, Kayani, apparently the spokesperson for the Haqqani group, said they’d be willing to split from and denounce Al Qaeda, which is President Obama’s primary rationale for the war. However, there is a higher probability of General Kayani converting to Hinduism than there is of the Haqqani Network ever being decoupled from Al Qaeda.”
The Pakistani army is a zebra that is unlikely to change its stripes, drama of banning JuD and Haqqanis notwithstanding. Hence, Pakistan (army) will continue to use terrorist organizations as foreign policy tools in an effort to destabilize India.
According to Jessica Stern in her treatise ‘Pakistan’s Jihad Culture’ published by Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Pakistani officials admit albeit unofficially that Pakistan is infiltrating terrorists into India. More significantly, post the Peshawar massacre, Pakistani scholar Ayesha Siddiqa said,” There may be an internal division within the armed forces regarding what is considered a bigger threat — the internal or external — but there is almost a consensus on India being the key enemy…. the basic mindset that drives violent extremism is likely to continue and even thrive”. No one knows the Pakistani military and polity better that Ayeasha Siddiqa who also authored the book ‘Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy’ in 2007. In the said book she exposed the $20.7 billion Pakistani Army’s private business-cum-corporate empire, which would have grown exponentially in the last eight years. So, there is little chance about the military giving up that empire, which thrives on maintaining hostilities with India and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani army has also been portraying over the years that the Pakistan Taliban and Afghan Taliban are daggers drawn whereas they both support each other and in turn are linked to the ISI. Daniel S Markey, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan & South Asia, Council on Foreign Relations confirms Afghan Taliban get safe haven inside the tribal areas along the Afghan border in Pakistan and they help Pakistani Taliban by providing inspiration, training, access to financing (narcotics?) and sometimes even fighters. It is said that while armies have countries, the Pakistani army has a State for itself; Pakistan.
The Pakistani army is a zebra that is unlikely to change its stripes, drama of banning JuD and Haqqanis notwithstanding. Hence, Pakistan (read army) will continue to use terrorist organizations as foreign policy tools in an effort to destabilize India.
By
Lt Gen Prakash Katoch
@Judge @MohitV @SrNair @SarthakGanguly @levina @TejasMk3 @blood
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