Tuesday, 30 August 2016
Modi’s Extremist Policies Continue
By
Sajjad Shaukat
Since the leader of the ruling party BJP
Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India, he has been implementing
extremist policies against religious minorities, especially the Muslims and
Pakistan.
Under Modi’s rule, various developments like
unprecedented rise of Hindu extremism, persecution of minorities even of lower
cast-Hindus, forced conversions of other religious minorities into Hindus, ban
on beef and cow slaughter, inclusion of Hindu religious books in curriculum,
creation of war-like situation with Pakistan etc. clearly show that encouraged
by the Hindu fundamentalist outfits such as BJP, RSS VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv
Sena, including other similar parties have been promoting religious and ethnic
chauvinism in India by propagating ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism).
Particularly, assaults on Christians and Muslims including their places of
worships and property have been intensified by the fanatic Hindu mobs.
Without caring for severe criticism all over the
world and even within his own country and especially in Pakistan BJP-led Modi’s
extremist policies continue unabated.
In this regard, during his address on the
Independence Day of India on August 15, 2016, Modi went aggressively further in
a diatribe against Pakistan by claiming that people
of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir are thankful to home for raising
voice for their suppressed rights.
On the other side, against his false
anti-Pakistan statement, huge rallies and demonstrations were held in
Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, including some other cities of
Pakistan. Opposing Indian intervention in Balochistan and other parts of
Pakistan, the speakers on this occasion strongly condemned Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s aggressive designs against Pakistan and Kashmiris. They urged
international community, civilized world and human rights organizations to take
serious notice of the Indian state terrorism—genocide of Kashmiris in the
Indian-occupied Kashmir and interference in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan.
In this respect, Pakistan Prime Minister’s
Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that the situation in Balochistan
cannot be equated with Kashmir and Indian Prime Minister was only trying to
divert world attention from the “grim tragedy” unfolding in Kashmir over the
past five weeks.
In this context, in a statement, Pakistan’s
foreign office indicated on August 18, 2016, “Pakistan is bleeding due to the
sabotage activities by arch-rival India inside Pakistan…for the last several
weeks after India launched a new campaign to silence the Kashmir freedom
movement…dozens have been killed in Kashmir by the occupant forces after
protests broke out against Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s murder on
July 8 by the Indian security forces…Pakistan has raised the Kashmir issue at
the UN and demanded sending a fact finding team to the held Valley to probe the
human rights violations there.”
At a weekly media briefing, foreign office
spokesman Nafees Zakaria stated that confessions of Indian spy agency Research
and Analysis Wing’s agent Kulbhushan Yadav were irrefutable. He elaborated,
“People of Pakistan have been victim of Indian spy agency’s sabotaging
activities. RAW’s network, made under Yadav is busy in terrorist and sabotaging
activities in Balochistan and Karachi.”
Meanwhile, in response to the
letter of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in which he pointed
out the deteriorating situation in Kashmir and the large-scale violations of
human rights, being committed by Indian security forces, on August 19, this
year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored the ongoing killings in
Indian-held Kashmir, and urged India and Pakistan to settle Kashmir and other
issues through dialogue. Ban Ki-moon explained in the letter, “I stand ready
to offer my good offices... to facilitate dialogue in order to achieve a
negotiated settlement…I deplore the loss of life in Kashmir and hope that all
efforts will be made to avoid further violence.”
Besides, addressing a joint
news conference with Sartaj Aziz at Islamabad on August 20, 2016,
Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic
Conference (OIC) Ayad Ameen Madani in Islamabad
expressed grave concern over extra-judicial killings of people in the
Indian-occupied Kashmir. He stated that OIC Contact Group on Kashmir has
been playing an active role for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.
Ayad Ameen Madani also urged the international community to be
more vocal on the deteriorating human rights situation in Indian-held Kashmir
and added, “OIC will support Pakistan on Kashmir issue”.
As regards Modi’s extremist policies, in this
connection, recently, Amnesty International (AI) was banned by
Indian government which also called it a traitor organization in India, and has
registered a sedition case against it for highlighting the ongoing human rights
violations in the Indian-occupied Kashmir, while raising voice in favour of
people of the Kashmir. The prominent rights group held an event in the Indian
city of Banglore on August 13, 2016, which focused on human rights abuses
carried out by Indian security forces in Kashmir. In this respect,
demonstrations were held in the Bangalore and Delhi to oppose Modi’s extremist
moves.
In fact, in wake of continued siege and prolonged curfew, Indian security
forces have martyred more than 80 innocent persons who have been protesting
since July 8, 2016 against the martyrdom of the young Kashmir leader Burhan
Wani by the Indian security forces.
The Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference,
Syed Ali Gilania who was leading a pro-freedom procession moving towards Dargah
in Kashmir capital has been stopped at Naseem Bagh. Now, protest rallies
against the Indian occupation have been accelerated and reported from every
part of Kashmir, while Kashmiri leaders Gilani and Mirwaiz have been arrested.
Protestors have been stormed with teargas and pellets by the Indian forces.
Kashmir clashes also erupted in Prichoo Pulwama between protesters and
occupational forces after the Friday prayers.
It is notable that on May 15, 2016, Indian media
reported that a mutiny was staged by Jawans in an infantry unit of Indian Army
deployed in North East. There were scuffles among Jawans and officers following
a Jawan’s death. Although army is an independent institution, but due to
extremist policies and Hindutva orientation of the BJP leader and Indian Prime
Minister Narendra is also on the rise in army too.
It is mentionable that a well-known Indian-based
Islamic-religious scholar Dr Zakir Naik is currently in Saudi Arabia and has
decided to prolong his stay owing to the Indian extremist leader Sadhvi
praqchi’s announcement (On July 14, 2016) of reward INR 5 million for a person
who would cut off Naik’s head. However, it shows another instance of Indian extremist
policies which continue under the Prime Minister Modi.
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
U.S. MILITARY NOW SAYS ISIS LEADER WAS HELD IN NOTORIOUS ABU GHRAIB PRISON
IN FEBRUARY 2004, U.S. troops brought a man named Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim
al-Badry to Abu Ghraib in Iraq and assigned him serial number US9IZ-157911CI.
The prison was about to become international news, but the prisoner would
remain largely unknown for the next decade.
At the
time the man was brought in, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba was finalizing his report
on allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib’s Hard Site — a prison building used to
house detainees singled out for their alleged violence or their perceived
intelligence value. Just weeks later, the first pictures of detainee abuse were
published on CBS News and in the New Yorker.
Today,
detainee US9IZ-157911CI is better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of
the Islamic State. His presence at Abu Ghraib, a fact not previously made
public, provides yet another possible key to the enigmatic leader’s biography
and may shed new light on the role U.S. detention facilities played in the rise
of the Islamic State.
Experts
have long known that Baghdadi spent time in U.S. custody during the occupation
of Iraq. Previous reports suggested he was at Camp Bucca, a sprawling detention
facility in southern Iraq. But the U.S. Army confirmed toThe Intercept that
Baghdadi spent most of his time in U.S. custody at the notorious Abu Ghraib.
Baghdadi’s detainee records don’t mention Abu Ghraib
by name. But the internment serial number that U.S. forces issued when they
processed him came from the infamous prison, according to Army spokesperson
Troy A. Rolan Sr.
“Former
detainee al-Baghdadi’s internment serial number sequence number begins with
‘157,’” Rolan said, describing the first three digits of the second half of
Baghdadi’s serial number. “This number range was assigned at the Abu Ghraib
theater internment facility.”
The
details of Baghdadi’s biography have always been murky, and his time in U.S.
custody is no exception. In June 2014, the Daily
Beast reported that the United States held Baghdadi at Camp Bucca from 2005 to
2009, citing Army Col. Kenneth King, the camp’s former commanding
officer. However, King backtracked after U.S. officials told ABC News that Baghdadi was out of U.S. custody by 2006.
Days
later, the Pentagon confirmed that Baghdadi was only in U.S. custody for
10 months, from February to December 2004. The Department of Defense told
the fact-checking website PunditFact in a statement that Baghdadi was held at Camp Bucca. “A
Combined Review and Release Board recommended ‘unconditional release’ of this
detainee and he was released from U.S. custody shortly thereafter. We have no
record of him being held at any other time.”
In
February 2015, the Army released Baghdadi’s detainee records to Business Insider, in response to a records request. They showed that
coalition forces first captured Baghdadi on February 4, 2004, in Fallujah,
Iraq, and held him at Camp Bucca. But a line on one of the documents also
suggested that Baghdadi had been transferred to Bucca after being held
elsewhere — a detail that was not widely reported.
It
turns out that Baghdadi was held at Abu Ghraib, just a stone’s throw from where
he was captured in Fallujah, for eight of the 10 months that he was in
detention. He was only transferred to Camp Bucca, some 400 miles south of
Baghdad, on October 13 — less than two months before his release on December 9.
In
the occupation’s first few years, U.S. facilities like Abu Ghraib and Camp
Bucca developed a reputation as “jihadi universities” where hard-line
extremists indoctrinated and recruited less radical inmates. Analysts have long
suspected that Baghdadi took full advantage of his time at Bucca to link up
with the jihadis and former Iraqi military officials who would later fill out
the Islamic State’s leadership.
In
November 2014, the Soufan Group, a private intelligence firm, published a list
of nine Islamic State leaders it said had been detained at Camp Bucca. The list
included Baghdadi and Hajji Bakr, a former Iraqi military official who became
head of the Islamic State’s military council and is widely reported to have
spent time in Bucca.
However,
when The Intercept requested their detainee files, the Army Corrections
Command said it could not find records that any of the men besides Baghdadi
were ever in U.S. custody. Richard Barrett, a senior adviser at the Soufan
Group who authored the 2014 report, declined to share the source for his
information about Camp Bucca but said that at the time the report was drafted,
the U.S. government never denied holding the senior leaders.
“It
may be that the Army Corrections Command were not very clear who they held, as
numbers were large and the ability to check identities fairly limited,” Barrett
said in an email. “Whatever the facts, it is clear that ex-Baathists and other
opponents of the U.S. invasion of Iraq were able to make contact and develop
plans.”
There
is also still some confusion about where and when Baghdadi was held. The
timeline in Army records puts him at either Abu Ghraib or Camp Bucca for his
entire 10-month detention. However, one document also mentions the Camp Adder
Holding Facility — a possible reference to a former U.S. military base in
southern Iraq. The Army denies that Baghdadi was ever held in that facility.
“There
is no record of an external transfer to a Camp Adder,” Rolan, the Army
spokesperson, wrote over email. “The Camp Adder reference likely refers to an
internal movement within Abu Ghraib.”
It’s
impossible to know what effect Baghdadi’s detention at Abu Ghraib had on his
trajectory.
In
late April 2004, while Baghdadi was held at the facility, CBS Newspublished photos that showed U.S. soldiers smiling next to piles of
naked prisoners and a hooded detainee standing on a narrow box with electrical
wires attached to his outstretched hands. An independent panel appointed by
then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called the abuse “acts of brutality
and purposeless sadism.”
Officials
blamed the photos on a few bad apples. But some U.S. interrogators in Iraq
continued to use abusive techniques like stress positions after the photos were
taken, according to Eric Fair, who has written a memoir about
the time he spent as a civilian interrogator with the defense contractor CACI
International at Abu Ghraib and in Fallujah in early 2004.
Fair
does not believe that Baghdadi’s time in Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca was a
defining moment in the rise of the Islamic State. But, he says, the conditions
inside U.S. detention facilities and the policy, early in the war, of housing
extremists and former Iraqi military officials side by side contributed to the
chaos that has engulfed Iraq and Syria.
“It’s
the perfect playbook for how not to deconstruct an insurgency,” Fair said.
UN rejects Indian proposal to add Pak addresses on sanctions list
Islamabad
Pakistan announced Tuesday that the United Nations Security
Council has rejected the Indian proposal to add three new addresses of Pakistan
in the narrative summary of Dawood Ibrahim in its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida
Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel
ban and arms embargo.
“This information provided to the Committee by India was false
and was motivated by the Indian aim to malign Pakistan and undermine its
exemplary efforts to curb terrorism”, spokesman at the Foreign Office said in a
statement.
He added that as for any previous reference in the narrative
summary, all such references were factually incorrect and baseless.
It was an embarrassing day for India today, when the United
Nations informed it that the three of the nine places cited by India as
addresses of underworld don Dawoold Ibrahim in Pakistan have been found
incorrect by a United Nations committee, which has removed these from its list.
In evidence to show that Dawood Ibrahim is holed up in Pakistan,
a dossier prepared by India had listed nine residences of the underworld don in
that country and stated that he is known to frequently change his locations and
addresses there.
In the amendment, the Committee has stricken through an address
that was later found to be similar to that of a residence belonging to
Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi in Islamabad.
Earlier last year there were red faces all around in the Indian
Ministry of External Affairs when one of the addresses given to the UN was that
of the residence of Islamabad’s envoy to the UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi.
Lodhi had shrugged away these allegations and did not offer any
remarks , but The News had told the Indian media that this Lodhi residence
has been with Lodhi’s family for decades, built by her parents in the
early 1970s.
Consequently the UN Security Council’s al Qaida Sanctions
Committee has dropped Ambassador Lodhi’s residence address.
It is mind boggling as how this emerging regional power trips
over itself and provides addresses of highly respectable Pakistanis to the UN.
The Indian High Commission in Islamabad could easily verify that this was an
incorrect address as the Ambassador’s residence is no ordinary one, where VVIPs
are seen frequently driving up when she is in residence.
However, the six other addresses provided by India have not been
amended by the UN. India, in a dossier, had cited these nine addresses as
those frequented by Dawood.
According to the UN, “The amendment also strikes through other
addresses.”
God alone knows which honorable souls live in these residences,
and New Delhi should have the courage to apologize to unsuspecting Pakistani
citizens.
The Hindu had reported last year that the dossier details “new
residences purchased by Dawood Ibrahim”, and lists a property in Karachi “close
to the residence of Bilawal Zardari” and another one with the address in
Islamabad. It is this house in one of Islamabad’s most upmarket addresses that
seems similar to the address of one of Pakistan’s best known diplomats, former
Ambassador to the U.S. and currently the Pakistani Ambassador to the UN,
Maleeha Lodhi.
As usual the UN dragged its feet to verify that New Delhi had
provided wrong addresses and in fact by publishing them earlier had put to risk
lives of those who inhabited these homes.
According to the UN, on 22 August 2016, the Security Council
Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015)
enacted the amendments specified with underline and strikethrough in the entry”
concerning Dawood on its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of
individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms
embargo,” it said.
The UN can seek permission and knock on the doors of those homes
which they say belong to Dawood. Anyone but the wanted don, is likely to answer
the door.
SAARC- A Chance Not Well Availed By India
Ishaal Zehra
In the
absence of Indian, Bangladesh and Nepal's finance secretaries, the 8th SAARC
Finance Minister conference on 25 August 2016, stressed on robust collaboration for
trade liberalisation and regional connectivity among member states. The finance
secretaries unanimously elected Finance Secretary of Pakistan Dr Waqar Masood
Khan as chairperson of the meeting to discuss the agenda of promoting peace,
stability, and shared prosperity. That was a good start to some healthy and
prosperous relations amongst the South-Asian neighbouring countries. But India
and the countries in its influential circle, or more honestly the Indian
colonies, did their best to damage the peace process in the region.
Earlier
this month, on 4 August 2016, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh too left the SAARC
Interior Ministers’ meeting halfway through after losing a war of words with
his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. The Indian minister
indirectly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism but when the Pakistani
Interior Minister responded, Mr Singh found it difficult to digest.
Chaudhry
Nisar called upon the countries from the region to differentiate between
terrorism and freedom movements, sanctified by the UN Security Council, and
observed that violence against freedom fighters in a disputed territory under
Indian occupation was state-sponsored. “It was not Pakistan that closed its
doors to talks”, he said. “Pakistan is ready to engage in any dialogue process
based on mutual respect and dignity with no strings attached. It is for those who
have put conditions and sub-conditions for initiating dialogue to reconsider
and realign their position.” He made it quite clear that unlike India’s claims,
terrorist activities were not restricted to India, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
Scores of terrorist attacks had taken place in Pakistan and were equally
condemnable, if not more so, he observed, specifically mentioning the attacks
on Army Public School in Peshawar, the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda and
the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park in Lahore. Chaudhry Nisar observed that equating the
movement for Kashmir’s liberation with terrorism was ‘dishonesty with history’.
Interestingly, Rajnath Singh could not stick around much longer after that and
left the venue without attending the final session of the conference.
Mani
Shankar Aiyar who is a former Indian diplomat turned politician and a part of
first Cabinet of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the years 2004-2009, also
criticized his Home Minister on having transformed SAARC into the South Asian
Association for Regional Confrontation rather Cooperation by deviating from the
SAARC proposed agenda.
At least
Mani Shankar was sane enough to admit that Rajnath Singh had no constructive
aims when he went for the SAARC conference. He only wanted to show naive and impressionable
Indian saffronites that he had the chutzpah to tick off the Pakistanis on their
own soil but unfortunately no one else was impressed.
What has
been little reported or not reported at all in the Indian media is Pakistan
Interior Minister, Chaudhury Nisar Ali Khan's riposte to Rajnath Singh. Mani
Shankar was honest enough to admit that what Nisar Ali Khan had said in
response was far more glaring and true: "violence against freedom fighters
in a disputed territory under Indian occupation is state-sponsored". Did
we [India] really want our partners in SAARC to hear such language directed at
us? Or while we mutter that "talks and terrorism cannot go together",
do we [India] really want to hear the Pakistani Interior Minister telling SAARC
and the whole world that "Pakistan is ready to engage in any dialogue
process based on mutual respect and dignity with no strings attached"?
“We
certainly have not been seeing by the United States as coming out the victor.
While ritually asking Pakistan to "act against groups targeting
neighbours", the US State Department's deputy spokesman, Mark Toner,
availed himself of the opportunity provided by the spat to restore the
hyphenated US view of India and Pakistan. Toner said, "We advocate for
closer cooperation, certainly, between India and Pakistan to deal with the
terrorist threat in both countries". If that isn't one in the eye for
India, I would like to know what is. Rajnath's position has been repudiated and
Nisar Ali's view has been reflected in the US State Department's reaction to
the SAARC Home Ministers' meeting. Toner went on to make things even more
explicit: "Terrorism is obviously a reality in both countries, and in
order to effectively confront it, they need to work together." We say we
can't work with a terrorism-complicit Pakistan government; Pakistan says there
is no alternative to India and Pakistan working together to control terrorism;
and the US State department, mixing up who is its "Major Defence
Partner" in South Asia, not only wants India to follow the Pakistan line,
it endorses Nawaz Sharif's boast, saying, "We believe that Pakistan has
taken and is taking steps to counter terrorist violence."
While
Indian media has tried to inflame its readers opinion by pictures and stories
of Pakistani terrorist leaders holding demonstrations against Rajnath Singh, a
report by Imtiaz Ahmed in The Hindustan Times of 6 August 2016 gives a twist to
the tale. It quotes Pakistani officials as saying that "it was the army
that discouraged religious and hard-line parties from banding together under
the banner of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council and holding countrywide protests. It
was also ensured that the demonstrations would be held all of ten kilometres
distant from the site of the meeting.”
India has
gone insane when comes to maligning Pakistan. It has been desperate to downplay
Pakistan since long and has been doing foolish attempts to achieve the task. In
a recent attack to disgrace Pakistan internationally India prepared a dossier
for the UN which listed residences of their underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, as
an evidence to show that he is holed up in Pakistan. However, the UNSC has
rejected the Indian proposal to add three new addresses of Pakistan in the
narrative summary of Dawood Ibrahim in its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions
List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and
arms embargo.
It was
again an embarrassment for India, when the UN informed it that the three of the
places cited by India as addresses of underworld don Dawoold Ibrahim in
Pakistan have been found incorrect by a UN committee, which has removed these
from its list. Last year too they had a similar bad taste when one of the
addresses given to the UN was that of the residence of Islamabad’s envoy to the
UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi. This residence has been with Lodhi’s family for
decades, built by her parents in the early 1970s. Even the spokesman at
Pakistan Foreign Office, in a statement, said that as for any previous
reference in the narrative summary, all such references were factually
incorrect and baseless.
It is
inconceivable as how this emerging regional power trips over itself and
provides addresses of highly respectable Pakistanis to the UN. The Indian High
Commission in Islamabad could have easily verified that these were incorrect
addresses before handing them over to the UN. Nonetheless, New Delhi should at
least have the courage to apologize for its follies to those innocent Pakistani
citizens in general and Pakistan in particular.
Indian Home Minister’s Failed Visit to Pakistan
By
Sajjad Shaukat
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in
Pakistan on August 3, this year to participate in the 3-day conference of the
interior ministers/home ministers and other delegates of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states, held in Islamabad.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit came at a
time, when the tensions between Pakistan and India is running high in the
aftermath of weeks-long violence in India-held Kashmir.
In his address to the SAARC interior ministers’
conference, like the past practice, India’s home minister made a direct taunt,
aimed at the Pakistani government for its strong condemnation of the killing of
Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani by Indian forces.
In response, Pakistan’s Interior Minister
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said, “use of excessive force to suppress protests in
the Indian-held Kashmir…using torture against innocent children and violence
against civilians qualifies as terrorism…there is a need to end an extremist
mindset and instead try to solve regional issues with dialogue. Nisar added,
“Like the attacks in Pathankot, Kabul, Mumbai and Dhaka…Pakistan too has lost
many innocent lives due to terrorism…the use of blame game has not benefited anyone
for the past six decades.”
Referring again to unrest in India-occupied
Kashmir, the federal minister stated, “No country should suppress freedom
struggles, while camouflaging them under the guise of terrorism.” Nisar
reiterated the Kashmiri freedom struggle is sanctified by United Nations
resolutions.
As Indian government officials were feeling
guilty in wake of continued state terrorism on the Kashmiris, hence, they made
it clear that Singh will not have a separate meeting with his Pakistani
counterpart Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. However, no bilateral meeting between the
Indian home minister and his Pakistani counterpart took place on the sidelines
of the ministerial conference of SAARC.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
assured the SAARC conference that Pakistan will stand alongside its South Asian
neighbours to eradicate corruption, organised crime and terrorism from the
region. He elaborated, “The National Action Plan and carrying out the operation
Zarb-i-Azb…the success proves that Pakistan is committed towards wiping out
terrorism from its territory…Pakistan wishes for peace in all countries across
the region and has always supported SAARC in pursuit of its goals.”
In fact, It is due to Indian war-mongering
policy, desire to become a super power of Asia, illegal occupation of Kashmir
and delaying tactics in settling all outstanding issues with Islamabad,
particularly the Kashmir dispute that SAARC could not achieve its real
objectives.
Nevertheless, thousands of people thronged the
streets across Pakistan to protest against the visit of Indian Home Minister
Rajnath Singh, holding rallies, raising anti-India slogans and setting ablaze
effigies of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Modi and Indian flags to
condemn the Indian Army’s atrocities in occupied Kashmir.
In Islamabad, leaders and activists belonging to
the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, the United Jihad Council and other human
rights organisations chanted slogans against India for the recent acts of
barbarism and human rights violations in Indian-held Kashmir. They said that
there was no other way to resolve the Kashmir issue, but to paving the way for
Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.
Kashmiri leaders urge the international community
and the world human rights organisations to take notice of Indian state
terrorism and aggression on the Kashmiris and exert pressure on India to
withdraw the occupation forces from the Valley.
In Lahore, the main rally was held on the Mall
road outside Masjid-i-Shuhada and participated by a large number of students,
lawyers, traders, civil society and people from other walks of life. The
protesters were holding placards and banners bearing inscriptions against India
and in support of Kashmiris and were raising slogans against Pakistani rulers
for receiving the representative of a killer government—carrying out genocide
of the Kashmiri Muslims.
Addressing the a protest-rally, Jamaatud Daawa
(JD) Ameer Hafiz Saeed said that Islamabad should have emulated the Kashmiri
leaders from occupied valley, who had refused to meet Rajnath Singh when he
visited the Indian Occupied Kashmir recently. He appealed to the world to send
a caravan for Kashmiris carrying essential food and medicine supplies like on
the pattern of Freedom Flotilla for Palestinians, since Kashmiris today are
facing severe shortage of food and medicines because of complete blockade of
the valley for the last four weeks.
Nonetheless, the visit of Indian Home Minister
Rajnath Singh was quite significant in the backdrop of boiling situation in the
Indian-occupied Kashmir and Mehbooba Mufti’s demand from Indian government “to
restart the peace process with Pakistan” initiated by former prime minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee. Ms. Mufti had tried to cool own situation in the
Indian-controlled Kashmir on the sidelines of Peoples Democratic Party’s 17th
foundation day by saying that she would have spared life of Burhan Wani in
case, she had knowledge about his (Wani’s) presence during the encounter. The
statement is although a political stunt, yet its impact on BJP-PDP coalition in
the Indian-held Kashmir and Raj Nath Singh’s visit to Pak, seems immense.
The Indian-held Kashmir is bracing continued
siege and prolonged curfew for more than 28 days, while Indian security forces
have martyred more than 80 innocent persons in these days. But, indigenous
freedom movement by Kashmiri people against the Indian occupation forces have
accelerated since the Indian forces martyred Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani.
It is notable that since the leader of the
ruling party BJP Modi became Prime Minister of India, various developments like
unprecedented rise of Hindu extremism, persecution of minorities even of lower
cast-Hindus, forced conversions of other religious minorities into Hindus, ban
on beef and cow slaughter, inclusion of Hindu religious books in curriculum,
creation of war-like situation with Pakistan etc. clearly show that encouraged
by the Hindu fundamentalist outfits such as BJP, RSS VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv
Sena including other similar parties have been promoting religious and ethnic
chauvinism in India by propagating ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism).
Especially, assaults on Christians and Muslims including their places of
worships and property have been intensified by the fanatic Hindu mobs.
While, New Delhi has introduced various laws and
new battalions, but the same has failed in suppressing various freedom
movements and uprisings all over India.
As regards India’s relations with neighbouring
countries and role in SAARC, there is no neighbour around India, which does not
suffer from her arrogance. Whenever the situation is favourable for a
meaningful dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi, RSS driven BJP creates
conditions to cook up lame excuses to pollute the diplomatic ambiance.
BJP government‘s trademark allegations against
Pakistan and incessant demand for probe or cooperation on various orchestrated
issues by the Indian intelligence agencies are also noteworthy. In this
respect, blame game against Pakistan for its failures has always been the
favorite tactics and an easy way out for New Delhi. In this context, regarding
terror attacks in Mumbai, Gurdaspur and Pathankot or any other incident, the
blame on Islamabad came within minutes of the incident, forgetting the fact
that a large numbers of separatist movements are active in India, in addition
to its unruly extremist politico-religious elements.
Let us take the example of Pathankot incident,
Indian demand for cooperation and probe is unjustified as no substantiated
evidence has been shared with Pakistan, despite repeated demands by Islamabad.
Pakistani media may highlight Samjhota express, Maligaon and such like other
incidents which clearly indicated the involvement of Hindu extremist
organization elements/ serving Army officers, but the culprits are either set
scot free or exonerated by the India extremist influenced Judiciary.
Returning to our earlier discussion, Indian Home
Minister’s Rajnath Singh’s visit to Pakistan has badly failed in wake of recent
violence by the Indian occupying forces which keep on killing the innocent
Kashmiris.
India’s Undeclared War against Pakistan
By
Sajjad Shaukat
India had already
started the undeclared war against Pakistan, which has been accelerated after
the leader of the ruling party BJP Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of
India. This war includes all the tactics of psychological warfare, propaganda
and secret operations against Pakistan.
In this
regard, while addressing a ceremony during his Bangladesh tour, Indian Prime
Minister Modi openly stated on June 7, 2015 that Indian forces helped Mukti
Bahini (terrorists) to turn East Pakistan into Bangladesh. He elaborated that
former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had played an active role in
separating Bangladesh from Pakistan, and he had also come to Delhi in 1971 to
participate in the Satyagraha Movement, launched by Jana Sangh as a volunteer
to garner support for the Mukti Bahini members.
During his address on
the Independence Day of India on August 15, 2016, Modi went aggressively
further in a diatribe against Pakistan by claiming that people of Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and
Kashmir are thankful to home for raising voice for their suppressed rights.
In
fact, in wake of continued
siege and prolonged curfew, Indian security forces have martyred more than 80
innocent persons who have been protesting since July 8, 2016 against the
martyrdom of the young Kashmir leader Burhan Wani by the Indian security forces
in the Indian-held Kashmir. Without caring for severe criticism all over the
world and even within his own country and especially in Pakistan, BJP-led
Modi’s extremist policies continue unabated.
As growing frustration
in the Indian-occupied Kashmir situation brings more pressure on BJP- led
Indian government, Modi has chosen offensive Psychological Operations against
Pakistan. It is being manifested through all tools of Non Kinetic Warfare (NKW),
mainly media and diplomacy. Since Indian NKW apparatus is quite effective
within and outside India, Pakistan must expect this tirade to gain momentum in
coming days.
Since New Delhi is
trying to internationalize the fabricated issues of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan
and Azad Kashmir (AK), Pakistan’s government and media need to counter the
Indian anti-Pakistan moves and to develop a response at international
level as well. They must point out that Indian tirade in Balochistan is
violation of UN charter and an outright non sense.
As part of the
undeclared war against Pakistan, American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad
want to obtain the clandestine aims of their countries, particularly by
sabotaging China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In this respect, a
deadly suicide bomber in Quetta-the provincial capital of Pakistan killed at
least 74 people on August 8, 2016 in an attack at the government-run Civil
Hospital was part of the scheme. However, especially, the US and India are
playing double game with Islamabad.
In this context, based
in Afghanistan, operatives of CIA, Mossad and RAW which are well-penetrated in
the Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL) the Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), and their affiliated Taliban groups are using their terrorists
to destabilize Tibetan regions of China, Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan and
Pakistan’s Balochistan province by arranging the subversive activities. As part
of the double game, these foreign agencies are also in connivance with the Afghan
intelligence agency-Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) and have
arranged various acts of terrorism inflicting harm to Pakistan, especially
Balochistan.
As regards Balochistan,
every Pakistani knows that separatist groups like the Balochistan Liberation
Army (BLA), and their affiliated outfits, including Jundollah (God’s soldiers),
Lashkar-i-Janghvi which have been creating unrest in the Balochistan get
logistic support from RAW and Mossad with the tactical assistance of CIA. In
the recent years, these terrorist outfits massacred many persons through
suicide attacks, bomb blasts, targeted killings and sectarian violence. In the
recent past, these externally-supported insurgent groups kidnapped and killed
many Chinese and Iranian nationals in Pakistan including Iranian diplomats.
They have claimed responsibility for a number of terror assaults, including
those on Shias in Balochsitan and Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan.
It is of particular
attention that arrest of the Indian spy Kulbushan Yadav in Balochistan has
exposed Indian undeclared war against Pakistan. While addressing a joint press
conference with Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rasheed, Director
General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa
said on March 29, 2016, “Kulbushan Yadav’s arrest is a rare case that does not
happen very often.” He disclosed that Yadav was an active officer of the Indian
Navy prior to his joining RAW. He also served as a scrap dealer and had a
jewelry business in Chahbahar, Iran, after he joined RAW in 2013.
A video was also shown
during the press conference in which Yadav confessed that he spied for
India.Yadav admitted that he was assigned with the task to create unrest in
Karachi and Balolchitan by stating, “I supported the individuals who worked to
destabilize Pakistan…I promoted the criminal mindset that was there in
Balochistan.” Another task assigned to him was to target the Gwadar Port. Yadav
also confessed—funding Baloch separatists along with other terrorists. During investigation, RAW agent Yadav admitted 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.
Regarding
Indian inteference in Pakistan, a website the “www.theworldbeast.com” has also
published a number of articles.
However, Pakistan’s
future lies in a happy and prosperous Balochistan and CPEC would be a game
changer in the region. Various projects within Balochistan soil will get boost
as a result of CPEC. India is actually working against interests and the future
of people of Balochistan.
Balochistan has made
tremendous progress in last three decades and is opening up through
infrastructural developments and major industrial projects. Gwadar Deep sea
port, Kasa Marble, Chamalang Coal Mines, Sandak Gold Copper mines, Coastal
Highway to Gwadar, Quetta-Gawadar Road etc. have placed Gwadar on a path of
strategic development.
Pakistan Army has made
tremendous contributions for Balochistan in shape of Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and National Logistic Cell (NLC).
The country is paying due attention to human resource development in
Balochistan with active participation of the Army, Navy and Air Force. These
include Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Quetta, Medical College, and host of
new Cadet Colleges like Sui, Ormara, Gwadar Technical Institute, Frontier
Constabulary (FC) Public schools, Balochistan University of Information,
Science and technology (BUITMS), BITE etc. Baloch officers are joining Pakistan
Defence forces in large numbers.
Despite RAWs effort to sabotage
Balochistan’s peace through the Quetta blast, recent celebration of the
Independence Day across all areas within Balochistan province is a clear
manifestation of the fact that Baloch people are with Pakistan.
Within Baloch population
only, few angry brothers, which are as less as 2500 are part of the so- called
separatist groups like BLA and BRA, That is not even 02% of entire population
of Balochistan.
It is noteworthy that
the Baloch separatist leader Brahamdagh Bugti is being backed by the above
mentioned foreign countries. Some online reports say that there are indicators
that Bollywood would make a Blockbuster on Nawab Akbar Bugti, this could have
major consequences for war of perception within Pakistan.
At this crucial hour,
Pakistan must counter India’s undeclared war. Time has come to ruthlessly curb
Indian media ingress within Pakistan. Islamabad can start ban Bollywood in
Pakistan, ban Indian advertisements and ban cultural exchanges within Indian
and Pakistani academia.
Besides, Sikh diaspora
across the globe is gearing up for a referendum on Khalistan and has even
approached Pakistani friends to help them build a case for Independent
Khalistan. Pakistan could develop enhanced focus through all tools of NKW.
There have been encouraging statements by Sikh leadership within and outside
Indian Punjab, which need to be focused.
Apart from Kashmir,
these topics could cover major movements of secession and independence within
India. Pakistan’s top officials and media could focus on Naxalites, Bodos,
Nagas, ULFA ultras, Gorkhas etc. operating across Indian Eastern Seaboard and
Seven Sisters. Indian North South fault line also needs to be exposed. Entire
Hindu caste system and plight of religious minorities like Dalits and
Christians also require concentration.
While, 350 million
Dalits are suffering at the hands of Brahmin Raj, BJP’s militant wings like
Shiv Sena and RSS have made the life of Dalits and Muslims as a hell hole and
Dalits within India have started collaborating on issue of human rights and
also raised their voice in international forums. Time has come for “Dalitstan”
as an independent entity.
History of Indian
hegemony in South Asia is also of particular attention. India absorbed Sikkim
(60s), fought with China (62), Bhutan was made nominally independent, Nepal was
and is being exploited, Sri Lanka was invaded and subjected through Tamil
Terror, and even Maldives was not spared. Despite the so-called
India-Bangladesh brotherhood, 70% Bangladeshis detest Indian intervention;
Farrakha Barrage is a case in point. Pakistan is the only country in South Asia
which gives a ray of hope to other regional countries against Indian hegemony.
With longest
un-demarcated border in the world (4000 kms) between India and China, it is a
powder keg waiting for explosion. New Delhi has already sided with the US,
Japan and Australia in building up the Asia Pivot against China and Russian
Federation, why should India be tolerated in the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
(BRICS) when it is working against two of its major partners.
Nevertheless, despite
the ingress of Shining Indian themes in western world and Middle East, India’s
growing population is considered as a threat. Some research needs to be done to
highlight why Indians are not considered for US visa lottery and why Australia
is shy of Indians.
Some online sources have
disclosed that there is a RAW-NDS-ISIS-TTP nexus which is also linked with
terrorism within Afghanistan to create further unrest in the war-torn country,
so that India could continue fulfilling sinister designs against Pakistan and
Iran. And Indian attempt to raise the case for free Balochistan will give a
fillip to Iranian Sistan-Balochistan as well. This is what the anti-Pakistan
and anti-Iran CIA, Mossad and especially RAW want.
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