Ali Sukhanver
COVID-19 has no doubt played a very important role in adding to the miseries of already troubled people all around the world. The worst impact of this pandemic is that from US to Afghanistan, the situation of law and order in different countries is getting horrible day by day. Unfortunately, there are a few countries which are taking benefit of this horrible pandemic and exploiting the situation in their own interest; the worst example of it is India. According to different reports, since the beginning days of the Covid-19 till now, a shocking rise could be noticed in the incidents of Indian interference into Pakistan and intensity in Indian atrocities against the helpless people of the India-occupied Kashmir. Recently in the second week of October, the Indian troops from across the restive Line of Control (LoC) started shelling in several areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Five civilians and a Pakistan Army soldier were martyred as a result of this unprovoked and indiscriminate shelling. At least 30 other civilians and five soldiers also sustained injuries in this act of brutality. Military sources say ‘it was the biggest escalation in hostilities on the de facto border in months’. In Pakistan’s ‘befitting reply’ to this aggression, India also had to suffer substantial losses in terms of troops and material. A newspaper published from India, The Hindu also confirmed the death of three Indian army soldiers and one from Border Security Force (BSF) as a result of Pakistan’s response to India’s aggression. In short, India’s terrorist activity took many precious lives. After India’s latest violation of the cease-fire Pakistan called on the international community to take notice of Indian sponsorship of terrorism in Pakistan. It is not only the matter of ceasefire-violation along the LoC, India’s Research & Analysis Wing has been operating a network of agents and training camps through its diplomatic missions in Afghanistan since long without the consent of the Afghanistan government. These agents are training, equipping and financing militants operating inside Pakistan.
On 14 October 2020, a joint Press conference of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) and the Foreign Ministry was addressed by Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Director General ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar. The speakers condemned not only the recent ceasefire violations by India across the Line of Control but also condemned India’s interference in Pakistan through the RAW agents. A dossier containing irrefutable evidences was also unveiled in this context. It was also told to the media-men at the press-conference that Pakistan has obtained documents that showed New Delhi had met with and funded members of the Pakistani Taliban, as well as Baloch insurgent groups from the southern province of Balochistan who have claimed responsibility for attacks on Chinese interests as part of an effort to sabotage China’s $65 billion Belt and Road investment plan in Pakistan. The Foreign Minister alarmed the international authorities that for a long term peace and stability in South Asia, a stern check will have to be put on India’s ‘terrorist’ activities in the region. Certainly at this point we cannot ignore a very important question; who is going to bell the cat? Is there any possibility of stopping the world’s biggest democracy from behaving like a rogue state? The most interesting thing in this entire episode is that after the press-conference when the Reuters tried to get the reaction of India’s Foreign Ministry on the allegations leveled by Pakistan, the whole of the India’s Foreign Ministry remained silent.
Destabilizing Pakistan is an old dream of the world’s self-claimed ‘biggest democracy’. To keep her neighbouring countries continuously in a state of trouble and turmoil by patronizing terrorist organizations particularly in Pakistan has always remained India’s priority. It is the result of India’s support to the terrorist organizations that Pakistan lost the life of its more than 38000 citizens and more than 98000 have yet been injured. No other country has ever been such a horrible victim to terrorist activities. The total number of the affected ones must be somewhere more than half a million because every person injured or martyred in such incidents is financial supporter of a family of three to four persons on average. Experts say that the economic loss faced by Pakistan as a result of terrorist activities would be in billions and billions. If the security forces of Pakistan had not been professionally so competent and strong, the loss could have been many times greater. Now India has once again started its malicious efforts to revive terrorism in Pakistan. It has been pointed out by the Intelligence Agencies of Pakistan that it is India’s grand plan to target prominent civilians, politicians, clerics and personnel from the security forces in November and December. Let us see to what extent India succeeds in the achievement of her heinous desires.
—The writer is freelance columnist based in Multan.
