Syeda Mazhar
Earlier this year, the news hit the headlines about India’s Air Force Base being attacked by a group of heavily armed terrorists allegedly Pakistanis. Expectedly, India along side with its hyperactive media was quick to accuse Pakistan and assumed its involvement in the attack. Indian intelligence reports leveled baseless allegations against Pakistan and suggested that groups in Pakistan planned and executed the strike.
As the truth is uncovered, Ajit Doval, the ex-spymaster, now National Security Advisor of Indian Prime Minister Modi, is said to be the brains behind India’s offensive-defensive doctrine. Besides planning various terror attacks in Pakistan, Ajit Doval also advised to arrange various subversive acts inside India and to shift the blame game to Pakistan like orchestrated drama of Gurdaspur episode, boat incident etc. The main aims behind were to defame Pakistan and its security agencies. The January 2, 2016 terror attack at Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot was also preplanned under his directions.
The provisions of “specific and actionable information” to substantiate these claims include; some voice recording and cellular phone numbers of the attackers. Pakistan, to pacify India, took several members of Jaish-e-Mohammad including Mulana Masood Azhar, who according to India played a vital role in planning the attack into protective custody and an FIR was also registered, without any investigation, against the unidentified terrorists in Gujranwala Counter Terrorism Police Station under the sections 302, 309 and 301 of Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act.
While India’s media, without any investigation or evidence, blasted Pakistan’s name in association with its misfortune of being a “victim of terrorism” originating from Pakistan, Pakistan like a responsible member of the International community condemned the attack and reiterated its support for India on the Pathankot incident and offered honest and sincere help to investigate the issue, though New Delhi itself arranged the incident.
Following that, the country’s top civil and military leadership held a meeting in which they re-affirmed Pakistan’s strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It reviewed the progress made on the information provided by India. Furthermore, it was decided to remain in touch with the Indian government in this regard. Pakistan restated its commitment to eradicate the menace of terrorism from the region
Consequently, India jumped on the opportunity to postpone, rather orchestrated the entire drama to delay the bilateral peace talks with Pakistan over the Kashmir Issue, after India’s foreign ministry said Islamabad has been given actionable intelligence that those who planned the assault came from Pakistan. Delhi is said to be awaiting Pakistan’s response on the information provided related to the incident, conditioning it to be the deciding factor of resumption of the bilateral peace talks scheduled for the near future.
Despite the appreciation Pakistan got for holding its stance on the Pathankot incident, the negative propagand continues against the sincerity of Islamabad. In light of the visit, Pakistan’s JIT of experts have been issued visas and they have reached India to further investigate the incident. The team comprises of officials of Intelligence Bureau (IB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Police’s Counter-Terrorism Department. They will be allowed to stay for seven days. The team, however, will not be allowed to interview the SP Gurdaspur Police whose vehicle was allegedly used by the terrorists to reach the airbase. The promised cooperation by the Indian counterpart was however not meted out to the investigation team of Pakistan, which was not unexpected.
Nevertheless, Pathankot incident cannot be seen in isolation, as it is part of Indian activities against Pakistan. In this context it is of particular attention that on March 24, 2016, Pakistan’s security forces disclosed that they arrested the serving agent of Indian intelligence agency RAW in Balochistan province. During investigation, RAW agent namely Kul Bushan Yadav confessed that during his stay, he contacted various Baloch separatist leaders and insurgents, including Dr Allah Nazar Baloch, to execute the task to damage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. He further revealed that he also distributed millions of rupees among the separatist elements and insurgents in the province.
With that, the arrest of RAW agent was made at a crucial hour, when Pakistani JIT is scheduled to visit India to investigate Pathankot terror attack. India’s External Affairs Ministry, while admitting the RAW agent, captured by the Pakistani security forces to be Indian citizen, claimed that he was a commander in the Indian Navy, and it has sought consular access to Yadav. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to take up the issue of Indian captured agent and interference in Balochistan with his counterpart Modi in the meeting on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington to be held on March 30.
According to the Security Policy of Pakistan, it is evident that Pakistan is sincere in its efforts of ridding the region of terrorism. Islamabad is serious and dedicated in addressing genuine concerns of New Delhi and International Community. Pakistan’s seriousness and non-involvement is reflective from Pakistan’s willing support for a fair investigation. Now, India is to open the doors for genuine investigation and share all proves to Islamabad-sufficient enough for a tangible legal action. Enough to enable Pakistan to trust Delhi’s sincerity to execute the mission to exterminate terrorism from South Asia.
