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| Relations between BJP and Pakistani Army, Ayesha Siddiqa exposes BJP | | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, July 19: This writer has been repeatedly pointing out in these columns that the so-called patriotic BJP and the Pakistani Army, whose writ runs in the country, appear to be on the same page. Why have I been pointing out that it appears to be so? Why because while the Army feels that the BJP can deliver, the BJP, on the other hand, believes that since
the Hindus pin their faith in this party, it would be very easy for it to reach any kind of settlement with Pakistan and put the same in the Hindus market for sale, who would buy it as an elixir to the national life. (Muslims would be no problem, as they would accept the settlement very cheerfully.) The BJP leadership is living in a world of the past. The Hindus of the country are not that foolish who would make common cause with the BJP and barter national interests.
That the BJP under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani had planned to negotiate a truce with the Pakistani president and Army Chief Pervez Musharraf became evident for the first time in March 1999, when the senior BJP leader and the then country's Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, who happens to be a great admirer of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, (who ensured the partition of India on the basis of two-nation theory) and Pakistan Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz met at Colombo (Sri Lanka) to discuss various proposals worked out to surmount the so-called Kashmir problem and establish friendly relations between the two countries, one aggressor (Pakistan) and the other aggressed upon (India). It is obvious that before that the back channels had prepared the ground or set the agenda for the meeting.
It was a very successful meeting. Both the Foreign Ministers, according to Sartaj Aziz, reached an agreement that, among other things, provided for demilitarization of J&K, maximum possible autonomy for Kashmir and its adjoining areas and division of Jammu province along the Chenab River on communal lines. This was what Musharraf had suggested in 1999 and consistently thereafter with minor changes here and there. This was also more or less consistent with the Kathwari's plan and Owen Dixon's divisive and communal plan. The two Foreign Ministers had decided to meet again a month later to give final touches to the settlement reached between them, which was to be implemented within a time span of four to five years. They could not meet. In the meantime, there was Kargil misadventure that changed whole of the country's political environment. The BJP also lost very badly in the 2004 general elections and the result was that the BJP and the Pakistani Army could not finalize and sign the truce.
However, the BJP and those who matter in Pakistan remained in constant touch. Musharraf was very much there. He was playing the shots and pulling the strings. In 2004, when the Indian electorate voted the BJP-led NDA out of power, a Pakistani delegation met the Leader of the Opposition, LK Advani, in New Delhi. Advani told the delegation that Pakistan should not lose patience; it should wait for some more time; the BJP would again come to power; what the BJP could give to Pakistan no other party could give and since the Hindus had their faith in the BJP, whatever the BJP would do would be acceptable to them. A Pakistani delegation again met senior BJP leaders, Vajpayee and Advani, in 2007 and they gave the same advice to it: Wait for sometime; BJP would give Pakistan more as compared to any other political party. Obviously, they were referring to the Congress party.
Not only this, between 1999 and 2004, the Indian back channels like RK Mishra and even the Vajpayee's point-man Brijesh Mishra continued hobnobbing with the Musharraf's men in their desperate bid to reach a settlement with Islamabad. RK Mishra was also the point-man of Vajpayee. The Musharraf's point-man was former diplomat Niaz Naik. That the BJP-led NDA government had been hobnobbing with the Musharraf administration and thinking in terms of granting maximum possible autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir was proved by none other than the former National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Vajpayee, Brijesh Mishra, when he told Barkha Dutt during the "We the people" programme that "we had been working for years in this direction." He made this revelation when asked as to what the BJP thought about what NC president Omar Abdullah and APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had been demanding. It is important to note that both Omar Abdullah and the Mirwaiz were participating in the debate on Jammu and Kashmir. When Barkha Dutt asked Omar to comment on the revelation made by Brijesh, his response was: after what Brijesh had revealed, there was no need for him to make any comment. It was fine.
It bears recalling that the local BJP had lodged a strong protest against Brijesh Mishra the very next day by organizing a press conference, which was very largely attended. (To be continued)
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