Indian endeavour to isolate Pakistan

Sajjad Shaukat

Despite the positive statements of China and Russia as well as Saudi Arabia and Iran which have asked India to observe restraint by avoiding escalation, New Delhi has embarked upon a hot pursuit policy towards Pakistan under the pretext of Mumbai carnage. As both the neighbouring states are nuclear powers and balance of terror exists between them, preventing an all-out war, the sole aim of Indian endeavour is to isolate Pakistan diplomatically in the comity of nations. As regards the diplomatic isolation of Pakistan, it could be judged from the fact that just after a few days of November 26 tragedy, India sent a number of diplomatic missions to various Western capitals to convince them that Pakistan is officially behind Mumbai terror events. In this regard, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who met the visiting foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US, and also talked to a number of his European counterparts in December 2008, emphasised them to pressurise Islamabad in handing over the militants, responsible for the Mumbai catastrophe.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently called Pakistan, the epicentre of terrorism. After the mobilisation of military troops by India and violation of Pakistan’s airspace, Islamabad was compelled to follow the suit, placing its forces on high alert to face any eventuality of prospective surgical strikes.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s political and military leadership has repeatedly made it clear that our country would avoid launching a military action but would retaliate with full force if attacked by India. While, fearing an atomic war, now, in fact, with the backing of the US and some other Western countries, India has been manipulating the post-Mumbai phenomenon to isolate Pakistan diplomatically to gain political leverage on a number of disputes, especially the thorny issue of Kashmir, besides implementing some other anti-Pakistan designs as part of a conspiracy.

In its latest moves, on January 5 this year, India launched a diplomatic offensive against Islamabad when its Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon briefed foreign envoys in New Delhi on the evidence, linking Pakistan-based organisations in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. On January 6, Manmohan Singh stated that Pakistan was using terrorism as state policy and the Mumbai attacks must have had support from their official agencies. US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who had pointed out in Islamabad on January 5 that it was “clear that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil,” remarked in New Delhi on January 9 that Pakistan has made a promising start towards eliminating terrorism but “needs to do more.” In the recent past, US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had also expressed similar views, emphasizing Pakistan to arrest the suspects of Mumbai attacks. There is no doubt that all the US-led stakeholders intend to ‘destabilise’ and ‘de-nuclearise’ Pakistan through a secret diplomacy as their same stand shows.

We cannot see the ongoing belligerent style of New Delhi in isolation; the US and some European countries are fully favouring the former in manipulating the self-contradictory evidence, full of loopholes — recently handed over to Pakistan which has also submitted its reply to India through CIA on January 9. In this context, it is notable that Indian rulers have been exchanging evidence and conducting investigations through CIA and FBI. They have continuously rejecting Pakistan’s offer for joint investigation in relation to the culprits of Mumbai catastrophe. The fact is that Indians are well-aware that any joint inquiry will expose the identity of either Hindu terrorists or Indian home-grown militants. It will also unravel the killing of Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Karkare in Mumbai on November 26 as he was investigating against Hindu terrorists regarding the 2006 Malegaon bombings, and the arrested Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit entailing other Indian army officers. Notably, during inquiry, Lt. Col. Purohit also confessed that in 2007, he was involved in bombing of Samjhota Express, which killed 68 Pakistani passengers, traveling in that train.

It is of particular attention that intermittently, some Western leaders, their so-called think-tanks and media, while setting aside Pakistan’s sacrifices during war on terror, have been propagating that its tribal areas are safe-havens of cross-border terrorism and are the places from where a plan could be made to launch terror-attacks inside the US homeland and Europe. They have not only been accusing Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI and army of secret contacts with the Afghan Taliban, but have also been propagating that nuclear weapons are unsafe in our country.

Vile propaganda campaign against Pakistan could also be gauged from a German magazine, Der Spiegel that published the interview of the ISI chief Lt.Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha on January 6 without reference to the context. The technique of “selective omissions” was used to further distort the image of Pakistan regarding Mumbai terror attacks and the issue of terrorism. ISPR spokesman Maj-Gen. Athar Abbas clarified on January 7 that in the interview, “some of the important issues have been incorrectly constructed”. He further remarked that “the conversation took place on December 12, 2008 when the environment was different from what it is today.”

It is mentionable that US-led European states leave no stone unturned in coining senseless accusations about Pakistan’s nuclear assets and ISI which have always irked their eyes. Every Pakistani knows that our atomic assets are in safe hands and ISI has always castigated the external conspiracies against the integrity of Pakistan.

Besides, double standard of the West is quite obvious when we witness unending Indian and Israeli state terrorism on Kashmiris and Palestinians. Both these occupying states never implemented UN resolutions. Presently, Israeli military have broken all records of atrocities, being perpetrated on the innocent people of Gaza. Inaction by the US and some European countries regarding Kashmir and Gaza are surprising.

However, by manipulating the anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim approach of the US and Europe, India wants to avail this golden opportunity in manipulating the Mumbai tragedy to isolate Pakistan. Hence while exploiting the self-concocted evidence, Indian government is continuously showing its dissatisfaction over the actions, taken by Pakistan against Jamaatud Dawa and the militants, responsible for Mumbai acts. It is re-iterating that Pakistan must hand over the concerned fugitives to New Delhi, though India still has failed to submit any concrete proof in that regard.

At this critical juncture, Pakistan is facing political and economic crises coupled with a perennial wave of suicide attacks and insurgency in the tribal areas. In this context, separatism in Balochistan is another problem. In fact, Indian intelligence agency RAW, CIA and Israeli Mossad are in collusion to weak Pakistan to fulfill their collective strategic interests. Particularly, New Delhi wants to use this phenomenon to increase the multiple crises of our country by isolating it diplomatically.

Even the Indian Interior Minister has announced to isolate Pakistan in the comity of nations by launching a full-fledged campaign against it. No doubt, India is making strenuous endeavour through its diplomats and media in convincing the international community that Pakistan is officially sponsoring terrorism. The UN Security Council should enlist it as a terrorist state. India looks to capitalise the Mumbai devastation and anti-Pakistan approach of the US-led major states to impose diplomatic, economic and military sanctions on Islamabad. New Delhi will definitely continue its efforts overtly and covertly to gain something — either to get these sanctions imposed on limited or larger scale, partially or fully. However, the present situation demands that our civil and military leadership, including the opposition parties as well as the general masses must have a strong sense of unity with one another, which is essential to cope with Indian endeavour of isolating Pakistan.

The writer is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power