India’s wishful thinking

P.K. Upadhyay, a Consultant for its Pakistan Project, with the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies and Analyses (IDSA), an Indian think tank, has come up with his latest report titled: ‘Talibisation of Pakistan: Implications for Jammu and Kashmir’. He claims that the Taliban represent a present and clear danger to Pakistan. This is because, firstly, they seem to have finally lost faith in Pakistani commitment towards their cause and are not willing to accommodate any more its policy of running with the Talibani hare and hunting with the American hound. Pakistan’s continuing failure to either come out of the US-led ‘War on Terror’ or at least prevent drone attacks from its soil, has convinced the Taliban–-Pakistan, as well as, perhaps, Afghani ones—that whether under a military regime like that of Musharraf’s or under a civilian set-up like the present Zardari/Gilani one, Pakistan has no desire to give-up the American financial and military goodies for jihad, which they seem to have concluded, is an expendable commodity for the Pakistanis.
He infers that it is no surprise that Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, alias Abu Saeed al-Masari, al-Qaeda Commander in Afghanistan has recently spoken of his hope that “Pakistan Army would be defeated (in Swat) and that would be its end everywhere.” Secondly, he continues to conjecture, Taliban, and the al-Qaeda, have a clear Islamist agenda, which is to introduce a strict Shariat-based order. It spares no quarters for such hybrid Pakistani ideas as ‘Islamic democracy’, exemplified by concepts like Nizam-e-Mustafa. They seem to have assessed that a large number of Pakistanis support their call for a strict Shariat-based Islamic order and that those who oppose it could be tamed. Therefore, they have begun to call their current conflict with the ‘oppressor Pakistani Army’ a ‘jihad’.
The “erudite” scholar’s punch line, putting words in the mouth of the al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan Abu Saeed al-Masari, is wishful thinking that the Pakistan Army would be routed in Swat, which would spell its annihilation. To support his flight of fancy, he surmises: “Between 2001 and 2007, there have been many ‘confrontations’ between Taliban and the Pakistan Army. On many occasions, the Pakistani media showed ‘columns’ of Pakistan Army moving into FATA areas to ‘quell’ the Taliban. However, nothing much was heard of those operations subsequently and there invariably were truce deals brokered by one or another mediator between the two sides.
Then there was also the case of Maulana Akram Awan of Chakwal, Sheikh of the Naqshbandiah Owaisiah order, threatening to lay siege to Rawalpindi in April 2001, demanding the imposition of Shariat in Pakistan. He was also supported by some former Army officers. General Musharraf had to negotiate with the Maulana and assure him that he would try to accommodate his demands in return for the former pulling out his men from Rawalpindi.” Mr. Upadhyay could not be further from the truth, since the Pakistan Army has already mopped up most of Swat and is fighting a grim battle to clean up FATA of the miscreants. Indeed the Pakistani Army is engaged in a struggle in which it has displayed extreme valour, especially its officer cadre, which has made the supreme sacrifice of its life in the line of duty. Various analysts have pointed out that this is the highest ratio of officer/soldier casualties in any war anywhere on the globe. This by itself depicts the obligation and commitment of the Pakistani Army, the courage, bravery and the audacity of its planners and fighting arms. It is surely destined for victory.
The other aspect which Mr. Upadhyay, speculates is the implication of terrorism in Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Indeed the AJK has been peaceful and devoid of terrorist activities till the June 26, 2009 event, when this threshold was crossed by a “pro-Taliban suicide bomber”, who blew himself-up in Muzzafarabad’s Shaukat Lines, killing two Pakistani soldiers and wounding three others. Hekimullah Mehsud, a Pakistani Taliban leader claimed responsibility for the attack. Mr. Upadhyay states that apparently, Pakistan Army establishments in AJK are ‘soft’ targets for Taliban and one may expect an increase in the number of such attacks on them in the days to come, in tandem with the Pakistan Army’s increasing pressure on Taliban in FATA and other areas.

Perhaps the informed scholar knows something, which we do not. The knowledge he is apparently privy to is that India, which is reportedly sponsoring the miscreants in Swat and FATA, exasperated by the trouncing its surrogates have received on these fronts, now wants to open a new front in AJK through its infamous spy agency RAW in an attempt to destabilize Pakistan. Mr. Upadhyay “concludes” tongue in cheek: “There have been reports in the past about the presence of Pashtun gunmen in various parts of the Kashmir Valley along with local militants. An ‘al-Qaeda Jammu & Kashmir’ materialized after the July 2006 Mumbai train attacks. Taliban coming into J&K (Indian Occupied Kashmir) is not unthinkable. Whether they come or not, India has to gear itself up to deal with the situation by encouraging a build-up of Kashmiri Sufi sentiments—the Kashmiriyat-– as an antidote to religious radicalism of Taliban variety. This exercise, if successful, could pay rich dividends by strengthening Kashmir’s bonds with the rest of the country, whether Taliban come or not.”
Indian state terrorism has already wreaked havoc on the lives of the Muslims in Indian-held Kashmir; it has reneged on its promise to the UN to adhere to UN Resolutions to hold a plebiscite for the Kashmiris to decide their fate and instead turned them into cannon fodder. In the process it has massacred nearly a hundred thousand of them, raping their women, wounding and maiming millions and burning and looting their property. The world has remained oblivious to their plight. Now the harbingers of doom and gloom of the Saffron brigade want to repeat their atrocities and war crimes in the erstwhile peaceful valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This should be taken full cognizance of and thwarted with might.

Sultan M Hali
E-Mail: sm_hali@yahoo.com