Indo-Pak relations hostage to Pakistan denial and deceit ?

  

                                    

 

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                                   Indo-Pak relations hostage to Pakistan denial and deceit ?

  

                                                                         By

  

                                                             M.M.Khajooria 

The current phase of Indo-Pak relations   - a serious and sensitive issue  by any standard  had been reduced to a perennial farce since the mega oath taking ceremony  of  Narender Modi as the Prime Minister. The bonhomie  between Prime ministers, Modi and Nawaz  primarily caricatured by our Prime minister  and an unprecedented shift from classical  diplomacy to   social outreach   as the medium of nurturing relations between the two hostile  neighbours  were the only constants  since- a period otherwise marked by 180degree policy  U turns.  The plot , however thickened with National Security Advisors of two countries holding a "Secret' meeting in Bangkok proceedings whereof were  interestingly officially broadcast , the encounter between Modi and Nawaz in Paris  and the visit of External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj   who appeared to have suddenly discovered the need and urgency of wooing  the country conducting a proxy war against India  for over quarter of a century in which thousands had perished and   whose Military doctrine placed India as "enemy number one to be bled by thousand cuts ".  And then came the high drama of Modi inviting himself to Lahore to wish Nawaz Shrief "Many happy returns of the day" on his birth day and his  participation in the marriage of Shriefs' grand daughter at his ancestral home where he also paid respects to Pakistan Prime ministers mother.  Inspired by the exchange of gifts for mothers of two prime minister a suggestion emerged in the public domain  that  grand old ladies  summon their sons and make them sort out their problems in their benign presence  like good boys. While Modis' men in the BJP were gloating over their leaders "Master stroke" and  common man in Pakistan appreciated Modis, "good manners"  the high value strategic asset of Pathankot Air base  came under attack from  Paki terrorists. Many across the borders saw this as repeat of Vajpayees' Pak visit fallowed by the Kargil aggression. Of course ,minus the theatrical that preceded  the Pathankot episode

 For some unexplained reason  the reaction to the war like act  evidently  perpetrated from the soil of Pakistan that outraged the entire   nation , Prime minister Modi's reaction  was  uncharacteristically subdued .He feebly blamed "the enemies of the humanity who did not want good relations between the two countries" for the dastardly  act - a far cry from  the "chest thumping  and  lesson teaching" stance  that had become his trade mark  in  dealing with belligerent neighbour.   Who ever coined this "Enemy's of humanity" jibe  dwarfed the Indian Prime ministers stature in the eyes of the people of India.  The entire ruling fraternity appeared to be under orders not to blame Pakistan government ,Pak army or even ISI for the despicable crime. Significantly, Prime minister Nawaz Shrief  and his  foreign ministry also did not go into  traditional denial mode, condemned the attack and undertook to fallow  the "leads provide by India".

In a telephone conversation with his Indian counterpart following the attack, Prime Minister Sharif had assured Narendra Modi that Islamabad would not hesitate to take "prompt and decisive action" if the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the attack on the Indian airbase was proved beyond doubt .  " On the strength of  hard evidence collected till then, India found that Jaish-e-Mohammad  terrorists  based in Pakistan were responsible for the Pathankot Air base attack on January 2 which left seven Indian security personnel dead. This details of evidentiary clues  were conveyed to Pakistan .  Significantly ,  Moulana Masood Azhar , the JEM supremo was  named as  the 'Mastermind'. The   'Plot' was hatched in Markaz in Pakistan.

  on 13th January  Pak  prime minister's office claimed that the government had made "considerable progress" in investigating the attack, and it wanted to send a team of special investigators to the Pathankot air base in India. adding that "Based on the initial investigations in Pakistan, and the information provided, several individuals belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, have been apprehended. The offices of the organization are also being traced and sealed". The statement was released after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level civil-military meeting  to discuss the regional security situation and the investigation into the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack. The meeting was attended by  top civilian and military leaders, including Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PM's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, and other senior officials . 

Pakistan  media quoted official sources  to say  that Azhar Massod, the JEM chief , his brother Raouf and number of  their associates had been taken into "custody", which was later described as "Protective custody", whatever it meant. This was confirmed by a Pakistan minister. News of "the arrests" were released  48 hours before  the meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries was tentatively scheduled .The "action take by Pakistan government was welcomed all around. 

In its editorial captioned   'Crack doenonJeM ' dated January 14th, 2016 daily Dawn commented "For too long, militant groups that have been banned by the state have simply changed their names or gone temporarily into hiding, only for them to reappear stronger and more resilient. In the case of JeM, the state's failures have been exceptionally egregious. Until yesterday, when he was reportedly detained, Masood Azhar was a free man; other well-known leaders of the group apparently routinely roam the country preaching jihad. It is fairly obvious that leaders of banned outfits publicly exhorting violence is likely to lead to some kind of disaster or crisis. Pathankot has certainly been the former, though mature political leadership on both sides of the border has prevented it from becoming a full-blown crisis.

For the state here, the challenge will be to ensure that the initial actions against JeM are converted into sustained and meaningful measures that ensure the long-term dismantling of militant groups. Too often steps taken in haste have unravelled over time". "But why was the group still able to plan and execute such an audacious and sophisticated attack on the air force base " it demanded  to know and declared  " Whatever the JeM militants intended to achieve with the Pathankot attack the governments of India and Pakistan appear to have thwarted with their mature responses. "       It may be noted that according to the ' Dawn' editorial, Masood Azhar  was reportedly detained on 13th January , 2016

Now about the mature response. Pak PM spoke of "considerable progress" in investigating the attack". What kind of investigation was he talking about in absence of registration of any criminal case under its own laws? And what about the detention, 'Protective" or otherwise of Masood Azhar? Affirmations and contradictions of detention of Masood Azher were a galore. Pak  Foreign Affairs spokesperson Qazi Khalillulah  finding himself on very slippery grounds prefaced his address with words " am selecting my words very carefully". I   have  no knowledge about the detention of the Jaish chief Massod Azhar." he said .Announcing that the  scheduled  Foreign Secretary level  had been deferred , he claimed that "Pakistan and India are in touch to firm up a date for the Foreign Secretary level talks."As for as the  Indian position, the Pak press reported that the Indian  and Pakistan NSA's were to meet in Paris and India would take a position only after NSA Doval's briefing .Indian Foreign office spokesperson called the postponement of talks to a later date a matter of "mutual convenience", but the announcement at the last hour indicated that India had held out for more action from Pakistan against the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack before  the talks scheduled  for January 15. 

The claims and  contradiction  about the  "detention"  of Massod had to be viewed in the historical perspective. Azhar    was apprehended by Indian security forces in Kashmir in February 1994 and imprisoned  for his terrorist activities .In 1995 foriegn tourists were kidnapped,  in Jammu and Kashmir. The   demands of  'Al-Faran' kidnapper included the release of Masood Azhar  . He was later freed In  Kandhar December 1999  exchange of passengers of the hijacked  Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC814).   The hijackers of IC814 were led by Masood Azhar's brother, Ibrahim Athar.   His younger brother, Abdul Rauf Asghar  had planned this attack. The  hijackers  fled   to Pakistani  after Masood Azhar was handed over to them.  Pakistan assured the world community that the hijackers  would be arrested if found  in Pak territory. The Pakistani government had  previously indicated that Azhar would be allowed to return home since "he did not face any charges there."

Shortly after his release, Azhar made a public address to  an  estimated  crowd of 10,000  in Karachi  in which he vowed to liberate  Kashmir  from Indian yoke and proclaimed, "I have come here because this is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed India."

 The Masod Azhar ledJaish-e-Mohammad  carried out a string of deadly attacks against Indian targets including the attack on Parliament in December, 201 that brought the two countries to the brink of full scale war. Soon theresfter Pakista authorities went through the motions of hAzhars' sham House Arrest during which he had access to all facilities including communiaion with his fild commanders.He was, however never formally chrged.The Lahore High Court perdictably lifted the Restraint Order on 14 December, 2002.

  

On December 7, 2008, it was claimed that he was among several arrested by the Pakistani government after a military raid on a camp located on the outskirts of  Muzzafarabad in connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks.  Pakistan government denied his arrest  and claimed to be unaware of his whereabouts. Six years  later Masood Azhar reappeared in public  on Jan 26, 2011. He addressed a rally in Muzaffarabad, calling for the resumption of jihad in Kashmir.

There was thus a clearly discernable  pattern to Pak authorities dealing with their protégé , Masood Azhar. Only the tone and tenor of official statements/ press briefings   had changed .The  core content remained intact .

A PTI despatch of 19th January, 2016 exposed the  well crafted Pakistani hoax.

It disclosed that   "initial reports of Azhar being detained for the Pathankot incident were completely false and suspected to be a propaganda by some Pakistani agencies."Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad has not been arrested nor has he been put under house arrest while three of his junior functionaries were detained in cases not connected with the Pathankot terror attack, Quoting intelligence inputs, government officials said no case has been registered against Azhar in connection with the Pathankot terror attack and there has been no visible action against the leader of the terror group responsible for many attacks in India. Three junior-level functionaries of the JeM were detained by Pakistan's security agencies but only for possessing some incriminating documents, which have nothing to do with the January 2 attack on the Pathankot air base in which seven security personnel were killed, besides the six perpetrators." There was therefore no doubt that barring  misleading friendly posturing  and appropriate noises ,Pakistan government and PM Nawaz Shrief  continue to tread the traditional paths of denial, hypocrisy and deceit. When will PM Modi  and the NDA government  shed their  ambivalence and put in place a coherent , sustained and focussed 'Pak policy' based on national consensus to secure and  promote  our  national interest?

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Source : articlesbase.com