- Umer Khalid
The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan is becoming a major concern for the neighbouring countries due to its adverse effects. In this regard, Pakistan has suffered a lot due to the lack of peace and stability in Afghanistan. India is struggling hard to convince the Afghan government that Pakistan is involved in the deteriorating peace situation in Afghanistan. Due to the Indian heavy investments and infrastructural development of Afghanistan, there is a glaring Afghan tilt towards India. India has been able to manipulate its leverage over the Afghan government. Afghan security forces personnel, including the armed forces and the intelligence agency have failed to tackle the deteriorating security situation. India while exploiting her leverages over Afghanistan has negatively influenced the decision making circle of the Afghan government, having obvious negativity against Pakistan. Therefore, any positive gesture by the Pakistani government for enhancing the Pak-Afghan bilateral relations never crossed the start line. Every passing day the seeds of mistrust and hatred between the two brotherly countries get nurtured by the spoilers of peace.
Recently, the case of the abduction and murder of a high-ranking Pakistani Police officer raised serious concerns over the growing involvement of Indian Intelligence Agency and Afghan Intelligence Agency in Pakistan with the help of internal sympathizers like PTM ( Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement) to draw multidimensional advantages. It is impossible for an extremist outfit or a foreign spy agency to kidnap a high-rank police officer without the help of local collaborators. However, blaming security agencies / intelligence agencies of Pakistan has an obvious purpose of weakening Pakistan, which is quite evident in this specific incidence. The officer was said to be living in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) and he occasionally used to come to Islamabad, mostly over weekends. He could have been easily abducted from KPK. However, his abduction from the Federal Capital and subsequent risky transportation to Afghanistan has a hidden purpose to propagate to the local and international audience that the government and security agencies of Pakistan have failed to maintain peace and security in the country. According to the members of the deceased’s family ,earlier, they had received an SMS in English language about his well-being, whereas, it was revealed by his family members that he always used to send SMS in Pushto or Urdu language. It confirmed that the SMS was not originated by him but somebody else was involved in it.
It is pertinent to mention that our security forces are committed in the fencing of the Pak – Afghan border, despite the harsh reaction by the Afghan government. Pakistan’s security forces have initiated the process of fencing and has always stressed upon its dire need to stop cross border terrorist’s activities. Astonishingly, the Afghan government as well as the occupying foreign forces never supported the sincere efforts of Pakistan, rather they opposed and where possible resorted to resistance. In a considerable number of border violations and attacks on Pakistani posts by the Afghan side inflicted fatal causalities of Pakistan armed forces deputed for the defence of the country at the borders. All forces involved in opposing the fencing of Pak-Afghan border are in fact the elements not willing to stop the cross border terrorist activities and achieve their evil designs against both the Muslim countries.
There is serious angle of the incident that the subject officer was killed in Afghanistan, which raises a big question mark on the efficacy of the Afghan government, their so called intelligence agencies and the International security forces present there. Back stepping by the Afghan government to hand over his body to Pakistan’s government and budging the control to the tribes to hand him over to PTM had malafied intention with a purpose. Initially ,the Kabul government applied delaying tactics to avoid the hand over of the dead body to Pakistan’s representative, it was portrayed that due to the non availability of the staff to conduct postmortem the said delay occurred. Experts opine that his abduction and killing are being used to take mileage for the PTM. The murder will give an opportunity to PTM to criticize the government and add fuel to the negative narrative of intentional biased against certain community and create hatred . against the security agencies, who are committed to clear their area from the devilish manifestation of terrorists. However, their devilish plan did not achieve any success and quite satisfactorily the tribes did not fall pray to the trap laid by the enemies of Pakistan.
It is very unfortunate that PTM is quite visibly becoming a local arm of RAW & NDS in Pakistan. As soon as news of SSP martyrdom surfaced, the controversial MNA Mohsin Dawar attempted to put the blame on Pakistan and pointed fingers at country’s security apparatus. There are unconfirmed reports that Mohsin Dawar held direct talks with hostile Afghan officials and remained in contact with them. Moreover, the officer’s brutal killing benefits the Afghan government and the NDS, as this was the best way to revenge for the death of Kandahar Police Chief Commander Abdul Raziq. Experts believe that for the paid, sponsored, journalists and the so called liberals, it is very easy to criticize military and security agencies of Pakistan, but a very few realize that these institutions thwart hundreds of efforts to sabotage the peace within the country very silently.
For few media stakeholders and liberals, it is important to note that when we talk about the freedom of expression, we also need to realize that with this freedom comes a great deal of responsibility. The subject police officer’s case is not that simple since it potentially involves the external hands and elements. The media and the civil society in Pakistan needs to look towards the harsh realities in the global game that is being played in the neighboring countries. Afghan government must realize that peace in Afghanistan is only possible through positive engagement and cooperation with Pakistan. India and Afghanistan are unnatural allies. Peace in Afghanistan is in the best interest of Pakistan, however, it is against the hegemonic Indian designs.
