ABDULLAH MUSTAFVI
Surprisingly, official response from our foreign office on multiple terrorist attacks usually seems artificial and stereo type. We are at war while being hesitant to admit it loudly. Shock waves of every blast jolt our decision makers and remind them that the war is not yet over. If we are at war, than there has to be an enemy! A simple answer is that ongoing terrorism is home grown. This over simplification of the issue is neither true nor holistic in nature. Indo – Pak rivalry over Kashmir issue still remains a sore point in the regional matrix. Decades long unrest crafted by global players in Afghanistan is another undeniable root cause. Ongoing spate of terrorism has deep roots in these two issues. It is true that terrorists exist, operate and strike us while hiding within the untouched folds of our society. Today, we fight these terrorists with a heavy load of mistakes, made by the past rulers, at our back. We have paid a heavy price for those mistakes. Misinterpretation of ‘Jihad’ is a byproduct of past follies. But Pakistan was not the architect of this regional disaster. It all happened under well thought out patronage of USA which threw all her wait in Afghan arena to halt the Russian expansion. Freedom fighter ‘Mujahedeen’ of those days are today’s terrorists. Russian withdrawal and uncouthly pull back of USA created an ungovernable vacuum in Afghanistan. American second entry in Afghanistan after 9/11 is nothing more than a long tale of catastrophe. Afghanistan is more instable, ill governed and horrible today. As usual, USA is not ready to take the ownership of this infinite disaster. American anger with Pakistan is understandable . Resultantly, Pak-Sino cooperation is confronting a dangerous Indo – USA nexus. Indian obtrusion in Afghanistan is Pak centric and coercive in nature. Indian sponsored terrorist net works played havoc all across the country and left no stone unturned in exploiting the available fault lines. Unfortunately, we have no dearth of fault lines like sectarian hatred, linguistic prejudices, inter- provincial disharmony and ideological rifts between left-right wings. Enemy has optimally exploited the fault lines offered by us. Absolute disaster in Pakistan is the ultimate goal set by Narinder Modi for his team, which has the expertise of ‘ Ajeet Doval’ type characters who can’t conceive any thing constructive by default. To the horror of us all, this man looks after the national security of India. A major shift took place in Pakistan, over a period of past years, once state decided to uproot the non-state actors. After passing through many phases, this struggle has brought us into a much better state. This positive development and historic policy shift was widely applauded by the world except India and USA. Pakistan is being promulgated for sponsoring cross border terrorism by few circles who usually proliferate the American policy line in all seasons and situations. A big challenge stands ahead for civil and military leadership. Tackling this challenge is not easy. We need to put over house in order by uprooting all sort of extremism. While dealing militarily with spy net works, there is a dire need to expose the Indian vindications to terrorism on diplomatic front too . Our PM should not obtest to India in apologetic tone. At the same time, he should show some spine and ask Americans to own the disaster in Afghanistan. All escapees of FATA, the hardcore terrorists and master mind of recent spate, managed to reach Afghanistan due to non-closure of border by USA and NATO forces. This failure, on part of USA and NATO forces was not lesser than an act of facilitation. Undoubtedly, there are serious handicaps and fault lines with us but it doesn’t give a right of exploitation to a hauteur neighbor like India. Pakistan can not afford to remain unthoughtful about Indian vindictive involvement with terrorist net works. India and USA should quit coercive maneuvering as sticking to this lethal policy would only worsen the crisis.
