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| On Pakistan's Pathankot terror attack probe! | | | Nilesh Kunwar
New Delhi's green signal to
Islamabad's request to send
its team investigating the Pathankot airbase terror attack is good news. But going by the experience of the 2008 Mumbai attack investigations there is little hope that anything material that could nail the perpetuators of the Pathankot terror attack will ever come out from this visit. Furthermore, as this terror attack is the handiwork of Pakistan's 'non state' actors, it would be futile to expect that Islamabad would be genuinely interested in unraveling the truth. This apprehension is further strengthened by the fact that when Pakistani investigators have not been able to make any headway in its probe despite being given call details of the handlers who were controlling the Pathankot attackers, how will a visit to the incident site help?
Right from the time General Zia-ul-Haq permitted the CIA to use Pakistani soil for training mujahideens fighting against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan and provided it the services of his army and ISI for this purpose, the Pakistan army has been deeply involved in creating terror groups. Starting by using terror groups for waging asymmetrical warfare against India and Afghanistan, Pakistan soon became what Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen fittingly described in 2011 as the "epicenter of terrorism in the world." Unfortunately, even though Mullen had also said that this situation "deserves the attention of everybody to do as much as we can to eliminate that threat," no concrete action was taken by the international community and this only further emboldened Pakistan!
Pakistan has been able to get away with sheer murder (literally) only because Washington has been turning a blind eye to its dangerous misdemeanours as it needs transit facilities through Pakistan for its forces deployed in Afghanistan. However, while the Pakistan army may be happy with the havoc its 'non state' actors are wrecking in Kashmir and Afghanistan, the people of Pakistan too are paying a heavy price for the doings of its Generals. Pakistan army chief Gen Raheel Sharif may accuse Indian spy agency Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) of "whipping up terrorism" in Pakistan but the source of this rot that has so badly contaminated the country lies within Pakistan itself.
In an interview given to Der Spiegel in 2010, Pakistan's former President and ex army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf admitted that "We (Pakistan army) poisoned Pakistani civil society for 10 years when we fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980's." In another TV interview given to Dunya TV last year, he also admitted that "We introduced 'religious militancy' to flush out Soviets. We brought Mujahideens from all over the world." Though Musharraf and his ilk remain unrepentant and blame "external forces" (read the Indian and Afghanistan nexus), but in reality it is the lethal cocktail of 'poisoning civil society' and introducing 'religious militancy' that the army brewed which is bleeding Pakistan today!
Pakistan will not put its 'non state' actors on a leash just due to international pressure because for its all powerful military, the terror groups fighting in Kashmir and Afghanistan are 'strategic assets'. Here again Musharraf's reply to a question during his 2010 Der Spiegel interview provides a candid insight into the Pakistan army's thought process. During the interview he was asked if his contention that lack of interest of the West in resolving the Kashmir issue justified Pakistan's right to train underground fighters. To this Musharraf replied, "Yes, it is the right of any country to promote its own interests when India is not prepared to discuss Kashmir at the United Nations and is not prepared to resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner." Lastly, his admissions that "Inter-Services-Intelligence trains Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba militants" and that "terrorist acts and militancy will continue unless we address the core (Kashmir) issue" should leave no one in any doubt about Pakistan army's intentions!"
Regarding the Pathankot terror attack probe Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reportedly told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the "world will see our effectiveness and sincerity in this regard." Washington may humour Sharif by pretending that it believes him as it has nothing to lose but New Delhi needs to remain extremely cautious and not lower its guard. India must talk with Pakistan but only when the environment becomes conducive for dialogue. When someone suffers a broken bone, putting a cast is the only option but still the orthopedic surgeon doesn't do so till the swelling at the bone fracture site subsides. The same holds good for talks because how can fences ever be mended unless the boulder that broke the fence is not removed from the site. Therefore Prime Minister Narender Modi's logical observation that "You can't talk amid the sound of guns and bombs" should become an unalterable ingredient of India's Pakistan foreign policy!
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