Salahuddin Haider
SINCE 1947, complaints about Indian designs on Pakistan have been heard interruptedly, strengthening belief that New Delhi was yet to reconcile with the great divide after the English left the subcontinent, bruised badly after the second world war. The three Indo-Pak wars, in 1948 in Kashmir, on the international border in 1965, and the tragic events of 1971, all are matter of record. Almost daily, violation of Line of Control in Kashmir zone, and repeated incidents of terrorism through dissidents of Balochistan, and hidden hands are all now too evident to recount.
Constrained by such painful incidents, military and civilian authorities in Pakistan finally placed before the world a dossier of Indian designs with incontrovertible proofs. The result did produce encouraging results, like the emphasis from UN Secretary General on the need for dispute resolution, Kashmir included. To top it all, a resolution was adopted by the State Assembly of New York in America showing deep concern about human rights charter in Occupied Kashmir, and the need to resolve this issue, pending for over 70 years.
Both these were indeed laudable developments, and the voices raised by Prime Minister Imran Khan, and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and army chief General Qamar Bajwa from time to time. The world conscience seems to have taken notice of the Indian designs in Kashmir, and against Pakistan, where Indians have been sponsoring terrorism.
Suffice here to recall the joint press conference by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar in Islamabad, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi which condemned the recent ceasefire violations by India across the Line of Control (LoC) and said the purpose of the presser was to show “the real face of India” to the world.
“The state that used to say that it was the world’s biggest democracy is [now] becoming a rogue state through its activities. We have information and evidence on the basis of which I can say India is fanning state terrorism. India has prepared a plan to destabilise Pakistan,” .He said that he had been highlighting India’s activities at different levels and fora but it was time to take the nation and the world community into confidence because he believed further silence was not in the interest of Pakistan and regional stability.
The foreign minister said Pakistanis had faced 19,130 terrorist attacks between 2001 and 2020 and suffered more than 83,000 casualties in the war against terrorism. The country also suffered monetary losses of at least $126 billion. “After 9/11, the world saw that Pakistan has become a front-line state. While Pakistan was making sacrifices in ‘blood and treasure’, India was busy laying terrorist networks using its own soil and the spaces in [Pakistan’s] immediate neighbourhood and beyond.
“Today, we have undeniable evidence and we want to show it in the form of this dossier to the nation and the world,” Qureshi said. In the last three to four months, [people] may have felt that terrorism was being fanned in the nation again, he said, citing recent attacks in Peshawar and Quetta as examples.
“Today, the Indian intelligence agencies are patronising banned outfits that are against Pakistan. Organisations like Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA). These organisations were defeated by Pakistan, they were flushed out of the country, [now India] is trying to breathe life into them again. They are being supplied ammunition and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and are being provoked to target ulema, notables, and police officials.”
