Mohammad Jamil
After every act of terrorism in India and Afghanistan, Pakistan has been accused of supporting militants with a view to getting Pakistan declared as a state that sponsors terrorism. Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai was instrumental in creating nexus between Indian RAW and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), and their personnel was involved in many terror acts in Pakistan. Unfortunately, Pakistan failed to act timely and did not expose their vile acts forcefully. Take the case of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav who was arrested in March 2016, and despite having concrete evidence of his involvement in terror acts in Pakistan and his confession to that effect, Pakistan could not capitalize on the arrest of high profile Indian spy. In October, 2016, and then in January 2017, the government vowed to present the dossier to the UN.
However, on Saturday the government has said it has prepared a new dossier on Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav that will be shared with the United Nations and foreign ambassadors stationed in Islamabad. The new dossier is based on the early video confessional statement and also statements given in front of the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) by Yadav for his involvement in espionage and sabotage activities in Karachi and Balochistan, the local media reported. The FGCM earlier this week found Yadav guilty on two counts of espionage and sentenced him to death. Anyhow, the dossier will also include an attested report of the Field General Court Martial, the timeline of Yadav’s militant activities and also the court proceedings. The question is what the government has done during the last one year? Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale on Friday asked Pakistan to provide a copy of the charge-sheet filed and the judgment given against Yadav while strongly raising this issue. The Indian side also conveyed that it will appeal against the verdict and was studying the Pakistan Army Act for the same. In a meeting with the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Tehmina Janjua, the Indian envoy sought consular access to Yadav for the 14th time. However, Janjua said since it was a case of espionage, consular access couldn’t be granted. It is worth pointing out that India always refused consular access to ordinary Pakistani prisoners, and now seeks consular access to the RAW agent who has confessed his vile acts. India has strongly objected to the sentence, saying consular officials were denied access to Yadav during his trial.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had earlier this week issued a stern warning to Pakistan, saying that Islamabad should be wary of taking such an extreme step as it could result in damaging the bilateral relations between the already hostile neighbours and vowed to go “out of the way” to save Yadav amid an outrage in India. Meanwhile, India has called off the Indo-Pak maritime security dialogue it was to host next week in the backdrop of tensions arising over the death sentence handed down to Kulbhushan Yadav, the PTI reported. A delegation of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) was to visit New Delhi on April 16-19 to discuss issues related to fishermen of both the countries, who were arrested for trespassing, and search and rescue operations with the Indian Coast Guard.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had always high hopes that India would resume the stalled talks, but Indian Prime Minister instead continued to up the ante. The statements from Indian Home Minister Raj Nath and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj are indeed provocative. Anyhow, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears to have realized the Indian game plan, and would take measures to expose Indian shenanigans. Whereas Indian establishment, along with political class, media and intelligentsia, has always been working proactively and vociferously to put Pakistan on the mat in every forum, Islamabad hierarchy kept cringing genuflecting before the New Delhi court, remaining humiliatingly on the defensive all the time. Indian establishment has unrelentingly squeezing the infamous Mumbai terrorist assault to the last drop to denigrate Pakistan on every platform, Pakistan government did not do a bit to counter the vicious anti-Pakistan campaign.
