CURRENT dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan arises from cross-border aggression along the Durand Line.
Armed groups cross into Pakistani territory, attack civilians and security forces and spread terror. By every moral and legal measure, these acts are terrorism. The militants entering from Afghanistan demand that Pakistan revoke the merger of the former tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, withdraw its security forces and let them operate freely. In essence, they want Pakistan to give up its sovereignty over its own land and abandon its citizens to armed groups. This also means restoring the old Frontier Crimes Regulation system, which denied the people of those regions their basic rights.
Pakistan’s position is simple: armed groups from across the border must not enter its territory. Neither the militants nor the Afghan interim administration, influenced by India, accept this fair demand. Their obstinacy has compelled Pakistan to act against terrorism. Most Pakistanis, including those in the merged districts, understand this and stand with the state. Yet, some apologists of the Taliban regime prefer revisiting old matters instead of supporting Pakistan’s right to defend itself. They often mention Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef’s arrest as if it justifies today’s violence.
I remember that period well. The Taliban’s Consul General in Karachi once told me that Zaeef’s arrest was the act of one man, General Musharraf, not of the Pakistani nation. Therefore, he said, the Taliban bore no grievance against Pakistan’s people. Today, after Pakistan has lost nearly a hundred thousand lives fighting terrorism, some Pakistanis are echoing what even Afghan diplomats once avoided. This is nothing less than disloyalty to their own country.
Amid this tension, Afghanistan has announced plans to build a dam on the Kunar River to limit Pakistan’s water supply, following India’s example. This plan is criminal and contrary to international law. Whether Afghanistan succeeds or not, the threat itself deserves condemnation. Yet those who defend the Taliban regime remain silent. Their silence and misplaced arguments are irresponsible and against Pakistan’s interests.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif recently noted that many Afghans live illegally in Pakistan, benefit from our economy, engage in smuggling and still speak against the country that shelters them. In comparison, the silence of certain Pakistanis toward the Taliban regime’s hostile behaviour is an even greater offense. Wordplay may temporarily conceal the truth, but the Pakistani people cannot be deceived.
A critical question arises: is it a crime to condemn those who cross from Afghanistan to kill Pakistanis? The Taliban’s defenders justify this bloodshed by recalling Mullah Zaeef’s arrest and the US invasion of Afghanistan, implying that because Pakistan once cooperated with the United States, terrorism against it is now legitimate. But can one wrong justify another? Retaliating through wrongdoing is a primitive tribal mindset that leads only to ruin.
In truth, Pakistan did not arrest Zaeef inside its borders; he was apprehended in Afghanistan and handed over because of his questionable activities. And as for blaming Pakistan for the US invasion—without Pakistan’s support, could the Taliban have returned to power at all? Pakistan cooperated with the US, yes, but it also ensured that the Afghan resistance was not completely destroyed. During those years, the families of resistance fighters lived safely in Pakistan, supported by Pakistani resources.
Those who list Pakistan’s alleged crimes should also count its sacrifices. If they do so fairly, their judgment will change. These same people do not even condemn Afghanistan’s attempt to deprive Pakistan of its water by building a dam on the Kunar River. Some even argue that every country has the right to build dams on rivers within its borders—refusing to recognize Pakistan’s corresponding rights. Such a mindset, rooted in prejudice and narrow vision, amounts to advocacy for the Taliban regime. As Iqbal said long ago: “The only cure for such blindness is a change of vision itself.”
—This writer is former advisor to the President of Pakistan, author & mass media theorist.
(farooq.adilbhuta@gmail,com)
