By
Sajjad Shaukat
Waging
a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the US and other NATO countries have realized
that after the withdrawal of foreign troops, Afghanistan would be thrown in an
era of uncertainly and civil war. They recognize the fact and terrorism or
stability in Pakistan and Afghanistan is interrelated. Therefore, US-led
developed nations which also spent billions of dollars for the development of
Afghanistan have repeatedly agreed that without Islamabad’s help, stability cannot
be achieved there. Unfortunately, India does not intend see peace in that
country and is undermining regional stability by creating unrest in Afghanistan
and some other countries, and by sabotaging their cordial relations. It is
notable that on the direction of Pakistan’s Chief of Army Stafff General Raheel
Sharif, country’s superior intelligence agency, ISI done hard to bring the
Afghan Taliban factions to the negotiating table to conduct talks with the
Afghan government. In this regard, Pakistan Foreign Office said, “A meeting
hosted by Pakistan between the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC), the body tasked
with opening negotiations and Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan representatives in Murree
(On July 8, this year)-an Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process-the representatives
of China and the USA also participated in the meeting. The participants expressed
their collective desire to bring peace to Afghanistan and the region-agreed to
continue talks through the next meetings.”
India
which has been making attempts to foil the dialogue between the Afghan rulers
and the Afghan Taliban is creating an impression that some groups like Haqqani
outfit did not take part in the new talks. While, the US, China and Pakistan
are jointly working to facilitate the process so as to bring peace both in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the whole region. In fact, New Delhi is
destabilizing the regional countries in general and Afghanistan and Pakistan in
particular. In order to obtain its secret designs, aimed at augmenting Indian hegemony
in the region, India is foiling the peace process between Afghanistan and
Pakistan by managing terrorist attacks like the recent assaults in both the
countries. In this respect, former Chief of Indian secret agency RAW, Amarjit
Singh Dulat disclosed on June 4, this year that Indian intelligence agencies
have over the years paid money to militants and separatists in the Indian
occupied-Kashmir and Pakistan. However, the statement of RAW chief is not
surprising, as recently, Indian Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar and even its
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi openly confirmed assistance to anti-Pakistan
elements including separation of East Pakistan.
It
is mentionable that Indian former Army Chief Gen. VK Singh also confessed that
during his tenure, he supervised special army unit, Tactical Support Division
(TSD) on the instructions of the then defence minister to sponsor subversive
activities in Pakistan, particularly Balochistan. These blatant admissions
clearly prove that New Delhi has been sponsoring worse kinds of terrorism
inside Pakistan by promoting sub-nationalists. New Delhi has been exploiting
these entities locally and abroad as proxies against Pakistan. Nevertheless,
Indian RAW has well-established its network in Afghanistan, and is fully
assisting cross-border incursions and terror-activities in various regions of
Pakistan through Baloch separatist elements and anti-Pakistan groups like
Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA), Jundullah and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) including their affiliated outfits. They also abducted and killed many
Chinese and Iranian nationals. On a number of occasions, these insurgent groups
claimed responsibility for their acts of sabotage.
RAW
is making efforts to weaken Afghanistan, Tibetan regions of China and Pakistan,
especially Balochistan by arranging the subversive activities, promoting
acrimonious sense of dissent, political volatility, sectarian violence and
arousing sentiments of separatism. It is notable that New Delhi which has
already invested billion of dollars in Afghanistan, also signed a wide-ranging
strategic agreement with that country on October 5, 2011. And, the then President
Hamid Karzai had also signed another agreement with India to obtain Indian arms
and weapons. While, under the cover of these agreements, India has further
strengthened its grip in Afghanistan. By taking advantage of lawlessness in Afghanistan,
India is up to its usual tirade to foment an environment by conducting
terrorist attacks in that country to prove that Pakistan is creating trouble
for Afghanistan.
It
is worth-mentioning that Gen. Raheel accompanied by the DG of ISI went to Kabul
on December 17, 2014. During his meeting with his Afghan counterpart, President
Ashraf Ghani and the ISAF commander, he presented the evidence of linkage
between the massacre of children at Peshawar school and TTP sanctuaries in
Afghanistan. He also asked about action against the TTP and handing over of its
chief Mullah Fazlullah to Pakistan. In response, Afghan government and US has
started taking action against the TTP. A number of TTP militants have been
captured in Afghanistan, while Fazlullah survived in a drone attack. Meanwhile,
Washington has also designated Mullah Fazullah as a global terrorist and seized
his Now, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani realized that Afghanistan and Pakistan
are facing similar challenges of terrorism and will combat this threat
collectively. On May 18, 2015, the two countries signed the security
agreement—Pakistan’s ISI and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security
(NDS) to share intelligence and conduct coordinated operations against
terrorists. And, frequent visits of Pak-Afghan civil and military leaders to
each other’s country also irritate Nonetheless, Indian desperation in
Afghanistan is increasing in the backdrop of growing engagements of Pakistan,
Afghanistan, China and US.
Besides,
New Delhi is trying to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Recent terror-attacks in Pakistan and Balochistan might be noted as example. In
this connection, Indian backed Baloch secessionists have been directed to step
up their activities on the CPEC project. Indian RAW has created a heavily
funded China-Pakistan specific desk to target growing Pak-China-Afghanistan
relations. If India continues its shrewd diplomacy, negative virtues of Afghan
political and bureaucratic circles would not yield any positive effects
regarding peace and stability of Afghanistan. Their efforts to create mistrust
between Islamabad and Kabul are condemnable, as it also amounts to degrade and
sabotage the global efforts of achieving peace and stability in the region. Instead
of criticizing the improving relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamid
Karzai should help in resolving the irritants which he failed to address during
his era of presidency. High profile visits between Islamabad and Kabul would
address the issue of cross-border militancy. They should discuss the failure of
Afghan government to hand over of terrorist Fazlullah to Pakistan and better
border management, which are direly needed for stable and secure environment. A
harmonized Pak-Afghan relationship is the guarantee to draw maximum economic
benefits for the future generations, and Pakistan is keen to see return of
peace to Recent Pakistan-Afghanistan rapprochement-initiatives along with
evolving Chinese role in Afghanistan for peace, economic and political
developments of Afghanistan are viewed as positive steps with regional
assurance. All the existing ethnic groups of Afghanistan are now stakeholders
in the governance of country.
Afghan
Government is also responsible for early repatriation and rehabilitation of
Afghan refugees, languishing in Pakistan. So, this issue must be resolved on
priority. Returning to our earlier discussion, India is weary of growing
cooperation among Afghanistan, China and Pakistan. To hinder this trilateral
cooperation, New Delhi is clearly bent upon creating unfavourable situation
through her proxies by targeting China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And Pakistan
seeks stability in Afghanistan, which is essential for both the countries
including China, Iran, US-led western countries and other regional states. But,
India wants instability in Afghanistan, which favours its clandestine aims.
Hence, India is undermining regional stability by applying secret diplomacy.
Sajjad
Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs
Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International
Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
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