Zaheer Bhatti
The US in total disregard to the enormous sacrifices Pakistan has made in men and material
against terrorism putting its economic and state security on the line just to appease the ever ungrateful United States of America, has in its recent report denigrated Pakistan’s contribution in fighting global terrorism and put a spanner yet again in Pakistani efforts by accusing it of not doing enough against alleged terrorist activities of Lashkar-e-Taiyaba and its former Ameer Hafiz Saeed. Pakistan, which is guilty of submitting to UN and American sanctions against its most loyal religious and philanthropic leadership blindfolded, now must stand up to defy all such restrictions, and henceforth demand concrete evidence against them and not act on the basis of opinions expressed or coined by think tanks and bodies loaded against Islam.
My Google search has led me to no concrete evidence about Hafiz Saeed or Maulana Masud Azhar or the social service bodies they have headed, of any terror activity or terror-funding against any country, except that they have been ardent supporters of freedom of Kashmir from Indian occupation, as have been the 220 million Pakistanis in various forms; some urging to free them militarily while others expecting the civilized world to force reality upon usurping India to respect the wishes of the people of Kashmir they had caged in the largest prison on earth to decide their own fate, destiny and ultimate abode.
The time has come when self-respecting nations like China, Iran, Turkey and North Korea, will be followed by others like Pakistan to tell the United States, India and Israel to quit double standards over the affairs of smaller but sovereign nations; Hats off to the Malaysian Chief Mahatir Mohammad, who has stood fast debunking Indian ban over imports from Malaysia in retaliation to Mahatir’s condemnation of the illegal Indian occupation and categorical support of Pakistan’s position over the issue of Kashmir which he reiterated while addressing India on its soil. Mahatir has demonstrated the courage of his conviction and a principled stand which not only Muslim nations but also others must emulate at the call of their conscience and lend their voice to justice regardless of economic and political expediencies.
On the 9th of November 2019, Pakistan displayed exemplary commitment to peace and respect for minorities by bringing to fruition its promised opening of the Kartarpura Corridor from India into Pakistan. Despite India’s intransigence and persecution of Muslims in its occupied territory of Kashmir, Pakistan in opening the corridor to the holiest Sikh shrine Baba Guru Nanak’s last abode which happens to be in Pakistan, has by contrast demonstrated Pakistan’s humane gesture, respect for other cultures and religions and compassion for fellow-beings which should chasten the world to review its mindset plagued and poisoned by Indian falsehood against Pakistan ever since its creation.
The gesture was praised and acclaimed all over the world by the Sikh community besides the discerning international press and civil society organizations. But by contrast, the Indian Supreme Court, the supposed emblem of Justice smeared its face forever that very day, handing down a totally biased verdict authorizing construction of a Hindu temple over the site of the historic Babri Mosque in Ayodhiya which was demolished by the RSS goons years ago, while admitting that there was no evidence of the site ever being a Hindu temple. This in itself explodes the myth of Indian secularism which had been hoodwinking the world all these years.
But might one ask who the Pakistani Prime Minister was seeking to please or impress with his gestures such as the Kartarpur Passage, or restraining Pakistanis and the divided families in Azad Kashmir from marching towards the Line of Control in protest over illegal merger of that part of the State into India by Modi. While opening of Kartarpur should be a slap on the Indian face, Syed Ali Geelani’s letter to Imran Khan which he hinted as his last owing to the Hurriyat leader’s deteriorating health, was in fact not only an impassioned appeal but an implicit message of desperation from the caged Kashmiris whose persecution and butchery at the hands of Indian forces was being haplessly witnessed by Pakistan instead of doing anything concrete, and continuing only to pay the usual lip service. It is time for Mr. Khan to act beyond rhetoric and goodwill gestures.
The parliamentarians from the US and the European Union as also Amnesty International and the Genocide Watch etc., agitating against Indian atrocities in Kashmir, will be of little consequence unless the Big Five officially rein in India through the UN Security Council to undo its vile excesses and cause the long delayed plebiscite to take place. This is also a shake-up call to the Muslim world; which rallied together to harness its collective potential but only briefly through initiative by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto under the flagship of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 1974, but has since submitted to its narrow self-interests and expediencies in the hope of finding safety and security in the lap of imperialist forces rather than relying on their own potential and Almighty’s grace which has favoured the righteous and the brave, not merely reflected in the Holy Quran but amply demonstrated in contemporary times by the resourceless but resolute Afghan Taliban against the collective might of the NATO.
Voices of reason and conviction for justice like those of Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Martin Luther King of the US, Imam Khomeini of Iran, Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Shah Faisal of Saudi Arabia, though are beginning to resurge and resonate in the 21ist Century with the emerging leadership of People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, North Korea, Turkey and Iran showing resilience, progress and development in preference to lust for power, rancor and hegemony upstaged by Western Imperialism which was fast declining after being exposed; signifying hope at the end of the tunnel.
—The writer is a media professional, member of Pioneering team of PTV and a veteran ex Director Programmes.
