Mohammad Jamil | The Frontier Post , Posted: 25 Nov 2011

US allegations against Pakistan Government, military and the ISI appear to be based on psychological campaign using technique of Psy Ops, in which information is given forcing the target audience to respond or engage in desired activities. In fact, these machinations and allegations have enabled the Pakistani nation to get united, and gird up its loins to meet the challenges. American administration should understand that denouncing Pakistan government, denigrating Pak Army and accusing ISI of supporting terrorists could prove detrimental to fight against terrorism and undermine the efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan.

Since the endgame in Afghanistan is approaching, the US wants to position India in Afghanistan with a strategic advantage to encircle Pakistan and contain China. But in view of strategic partnership with Afghanistan, if India agrees to send troops in Afghanistan, Afghans in general and Pakhtuns in particular would not tolerate them. The question is when 150,000 American and NATO forces with all the latest gadgetry and arsenal at their disposal could not win the war, how could a contingent of Indian army rein in Taliban and other insurgent groups. The fact of the matter is that stability in Afghanistan will remain a distant possibility till all the stake holders, including Pakhtuns and Taliban, are brought on board. At the same time concerns of regional states like Pakistan, Iran and China also need to be addressed rather than displaying arrogance or show of power.

No doubt it is in the interest of Pakistan to improve her relations with Afghanistan. However, America should let the peace process go forward in line with the declaration of Istanbul Regional Conference to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan. But India is raising alarm of China’s presence in the region, and has stepped up propaganda alleging that elements of Chinese Red Army are present in Azad Jammu and Kashmir areas posing a direct threat to Indian security. It is unfortunate that one TV anchor/analyst commented that Chinese Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan was not to express solidarity with Pakistan during period of crisis (in the wake of US accusations) but to issue a warning to Pakistan for training the terrorists who create trouble in Xingjian Province of China. Anyhow, India continues to raise the bogey of threat from, what it calls Pakistan-China nexus. In July 2010, the Defence Ministry in its annual report stated its concerns over Beijing’s possible use of Jammu and Kashmir to increase its connectivity with Pakistan. “The possibility of (China) enhancing connectivity with Pakistan through the territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have direct military implications for India,” the report said. Stressing the need to remain vigilant, India’s defence minister A.K. Antony, however, hoped that China will reciprocate the initiatives aimed at mutual trust-building. India had reportedly sensed new threat perceptions and aired its concerns on a road connecting China and Pakistan through Karakoram.

Almost three decades ago, when the road was laid, India made a formal protest. Subsequently, the issue was put on the backburner till 2009, but it again cropped up in 2010, and with a view to appeasing the US, Indian government has unleashed propaganda about Pakistan-China nexus. According to Mathew Rosenberg’s report in Wall Street Journal, US held secret meetings with Afghan Taliban (Haqqani Network), and one was held a month before the September 13 attack on US embassy in Kabul. America is displaying double standards. On the one hand US holds Haqqani group responsible for violence in Afghanistan and accuses ISI of supporting the group, while on the other US is making behind the scene efforts to negotiate with Taliban, including Haqqani group. Siraj Haqqani, son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, in a BBC interview, had categorically denied taking orders from ISI, adding Americans were in touch with him to persuade him to enter into talks with Afghan Government. The problem is that America wants Pakistan to go all out to help America win the war in Afghanistan, but at the same time CIA along with Indian RAW is trying to create conditions in Karachi, Balochistan and FATA that could destabilize Pakistan. There are reports that US agents have connections with Pakistani Taliban who launch attacks inside Pakistan. Such acts of sabotage and terrorism are arguably sponsored by the CIA and India. After Professor Rabbani was killed by a suicide bomber, Afghan Defence Minister General Abdur Rahimullah Yusufzai Wardik in a statement had said that the attack was planned in Quetta and that suicide bomber, Ismatullah, was a Pakistani from the border town of Chaman. Afghanistan’s Interior Minister went a step further and alleged that ISI was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Rabbani.

The Indian intent is obvious from the fact that it wants to keep the focus entirely spotted on Pakistan to demonise it as a state, denigrate its agencies and its military, to project it as a state sponsoring terrorism globally, to isolate it internationally with a view to reaping a big harvest of consequent gains. But this path is fraught with dangers because the escalation of tensions and the war between the two nuclear states is not an option. It is therefore in the best interest of both India and Pakistan to resolve all outstanding issues and resume composite dialogue process in real earnest, as it has been established that Pakistan as a state was not involved in any of terrorist acts in India. Indian leadership has to bear in mind that there are more contradictions between the states and the center in India, and there are separatist movements in at least a dozen states. And once the course of disintegration is set rolling, India is much more vulnerable to disintegration than Pakistan. A lot of books have been written in India and in the West, and a brief survey of the shelves of any bookshop will among others show books on India such as “The Corrupt Society”, “Foul play: Chronicles of Corruption 1947-97” and so on.

That point besides, Pakistan should expose Indian RAW’s thuggish activities in FATA, Karachi and Balochistan. Pakistan’s foreign office should abandon the habit of being on the defensive and always responding to India’s allegations.

It should stop playing on the back foot and play on the front foot to expose India’s machinations and artifices to destabilize Pakistan. Since the US and Indian interests converge in the region, it is almost certain that the propaganda blitz against Pakistan has the wink from the former. Pakistani politicians, foreign office and media have not been able to counter that propaganda. There are indeed patriots in Pakistani media, but there is no dearth of the sold-out journalists and palmed off analysts who propagate the views expressed by the US and hostile international media.
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