Malik M Ashraf
THE statement by the PML-N leader and former Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq on the floor of the House insinuating that Pakistan released captured Indian pilot Abhi Nandhan out of fear of an imminent Indian attack is very regrettable to say the least. Irrespective of the authenticity or otherwise of what he said he is guilty of breaching the trust reposed in him as a political leader participating in a meeting of highly sensitive nature related to security of the country. Unfortunately the atmosphere of political confrontation has reached a level where politicians while taking a dig at each other lose their sense of proportion and the ability to judge the repercussions of their words. We have also seen similar episodes in the past as well when the political parties in the opposition did politics on issues of national security. This is crass politics.
Attributing the release of the Indian pilot to fear of the Indian attack, to me, also seems logically wrong. Had it been the case, Pakistan would not have retaliated in the broad day light after having announced its determination to give a befitting reply to the Indian aggression. The contention of the DG ISPR that it was a collective decision of the political and military leaders to release the Indian pilot in conformity with the Geneva Convention to announce peace-loving credentials of the country and also to defuse the situation notwithstanding the fact that Pakistan had a upper hand in the exchange of hostilities seems more realistic in the backdrop of the outcome of the conflict. Pakistan surely gave India a bloody nose to India. It cost India two planes and capture of one pilot causing humiliation and embarrassment for its inflated ego. India ended as a defeated party.
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after this episode corroborated Indian defeat when in a statement he said” The events of last week, which saw skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani air forces and an Indian pilot being captured and returned, would have turned out differently if India already had Rafale fighter jets in its arsenal. Today, the lack of Rafale is being felt. The country is saying in one voice that had we had the Rafale [fighter jets] now, what all could have happened? Putting self-interest and politics before Rafale has seriously hurt the nation.” He was lamenting inordinate delay in the acquisition of high precision French made Rafael planes as well as the stiff resistance by the Opposition to the revised deal that he signed. Reportedly India has now got first batch of 5 Rafael planes and inducted them into the Indian Air Force.
The fact is that gesture by Pakistan to release Abhi Nandhan was appreciated all over the world. The statement by Ayaz Sadiq has not only given the enemy an opportunity to deride Pakistani stance but has also gone to belittle the significance of the victory which our armed forces scored against India. Such statements by the national political leaders are also morale sapping for the sons of the soil who are out there to sacrifice their lives for the defence of the country The gesture to release Abhi Nandhan was also in consonance with our national narrative for peaceful co-existence with neighbours and resolving the mutual disputes through peaceful means. It was a prudent decision from another perspective. Pakistan and India are both nuclear powers and an armed conflict between them could have produced unimaginable consequences not only for both of them but the entire region. What Pakistan did was a proof of her being a responsible nuclear power.
While Pakistan is ready and capable of thwarting nefarious designs of its enemy, it has an abiding commitment to peace. It is out of her commitment to peace and security in the region that Pakistan has been seeking intervention of the international community and the UN in spite of provocative actions by India. Prime Minister Imran since his address to the UN General Assembly has repeatedly warned the world community about the designs of the Modi regime and the danger posed to peace and security of the region by supremacist ideology of RSS being faithfully pursued by India within its own territory as well as in the Indian occupied Kashmir. In his latest interview to a German newspaper he has again repeated this warning by characterizing Modi government as a fascist regime out to destroy regional peace inebriated by the RSS ideology of Hindutva. He has also rightly urged USA to treat India and Pakistan equally because her efforts to prop up India as a counter-force to burgeoning Chinese influence in the region was encouraging India in her aggressive designs against countries of the region. India is acting as a war-like state and it has dispute with almost all the countries of the region. The security situation in the region and resultant challenges to Pakistan call for impregnable national unity as far as defence of the country is concerned. Under the circumstances the politicians need to act more discreetly.
— The writer is freelance columnist based in Islamabad.
