India’s State-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan
INDIAN quest for hegemony is not new as the history of its sinister designs and the urge for domination goes back to the 1970s. Back then, Indians were burning to avenge the defeat of 1965. New Delhi has repeatedly used terrorism to destabilize Pakistan. Border Security Force (BSF) has provided conclusive evidence of their involvement in cross-border terrorism, even before 1971. BSF is India’s border guarding organization on its borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India and was raised in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. It played key role in inciting 1971 war, against Pakistani forces in areas where the Regular Forces were thinly spread; BSF troops took part in several operations including the famous Battle of Longewala. They have publicly admitted to have operated terrorist training camps inside India before 1971 War. India has introduced proxy wars in South Asia.
The events of 1971 indicated, no neighbour of India is safe from a possible, unprovoked, Indian invasion or military action if circumstances allow. Five target centres were opened by BSF in Tripura to train Mukti Yodha at Simna, Kathulia, Bagafa, Patharkandi & Ashrambari. More camps set up by BSF at Hingalgang, Hasnabad, Taki, Itinda, Boyra, Betai, Shikarpur, Jalangi, Gourbagan, Patiram, Papri & Tapurhat. BSF had trained, supported and formed part of Mukti Bahini and had entered erstwhile East Pakistan before the actual hostilities broke out. BSF had played a very important role in Liberation of Bangladesh which Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman had also acknowledged.
India had prepared a plan which was a mix of conventional attacks, terrorism and propaganda in their neighbouring East Pakistan which was 2207 km away from West Pakistan. Indian artillery was used extensively in support of rebel operations in East Pakistan. Before the direct military intervention, Mukti Bahini was being provided military, logistic and economic support by India. According to Archer Blood, an American diplomat – who served as last US Consul General to Dhaka – “Indian soil was made available for training camps, hospitals and supply depots for the Mukti Bahiniand they had a haven to which they could retire for rest, food, medical supplies and weapons.”
After starting proxy wars in the region in 1950 and after the unprovoked invasion of Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, the unprovoked nuclear detonations of 1974 and the wave of Indian terrorism in Pakistani cities in the 1980s and 1990s, India returned to Afghanistan in 2002 to use Afghan soil against Pakistan, much like it did in 1950.For BSF, the war on the eastern front had started well before the war actually broke out in December 1971. BSF also resorted to unprovoked firing on civilians across the working boundary on the Sialkot sector in 2017 which killed six innocent Pakistani civilians.
India attempted to assemble a coalition of terrorist groups, including TTP and Baloch militant organizations BLA, BLF and BRA. As a result, there was yet another uptick in terrorist attacks in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. BLA was created during the 1960s and 1970s by India which was used unsuccessfully between 2002 and 2012 to try to incite a civil war inside Balochistan. Moreover, the Indian authorities established links to terror groups collectively known as TTP. TTP was kept alive through funding and training in Afghanistan despite coming close several times to being eliminated by Pakistani military.
Indian intelligence operatives aided this decades-long Indian terrorism in Pakistan. Various Indian spies have been captured by Pakistani intelligence agencies which prove their involvement in sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.
- In 1973, Pakistani intelligence arrested Kashmir Singh disguised as Ibrahim on the Peshawar-Rawalpindi highway. He was a former Indian Army soldier turned operative for Indian intelligence.
- Surjeet Singh was arrested in Pakistan in 1982 and, like Sarabjit Singh, confessed to working with Indian intelligence and spying on Pakistan. He was released in June 2012. Surjeet admitted he was recruited by BSF officer to sneak into Pakistan for espionage and he also told the Indian media that Sarabjit Singh was a “terrorist” whom India sent to kill Pakistani civilians.
- Sarabjit Singh was a terror agent who was arrested in Lahore for involvement in a series of bombings in markets and public places in Faisalabad, Lahore and Multan in 1990, a bomb-maker with a mission to kill, an operative of the Indian government sent to kill Pakistani civilians, spread panic and instability in Pakistani cities, recruit and organize local cells for Indian spy agency and train recruits to execute bombings in cities.
- Kulbhushan Yadav was arrested in Balochistan on charges of terrorism and spying for RAW. He was a commander in the Indian Navy who was involved in subversive activities inside Pakistan and was arrested on 3 March 2016 during a counter-intelligence operation in Balochistan.
India has so far given the terrorist organizations Rs. 22 billion. Additionally, a 700-member militia that is supervised by 10 members of RAW, had been organized to target CPEC projects. Pakistan suffered the most, with 8,000 killed and 25,000 wounded, while India only had 3,000 dead and 12,000 wounded during 1971 war. The war is a proof that India is pursuing its agenda of hegemonic designs through propaganda and proxy wars. India is fuelling terrorism in the region through its subversive activities.
—The writer has remained associated with the Institute for Strategic Studies and ISPR.
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