PAKISTAN DIABOLISM IN KASHMIR
It is disconcerting for Indo-Pakistan relations that the army is on the ascendant in Pakistan and the elected government of Nawaz Sharif is on slippery ground with the probe team appointed by the country’s Supreme Court recommending a fresh corruption case to be filed against him.
The army has indeed made it known that it wants Nawaz Sharif to step down but unless the apex court clearly sacks Sharif, the Prime Minister is hell bent on continuing. Nawaz has been playing the army tune on India but what comes after him could well be worse.
All eyes are on the legal twists and turns and there is not even the lip service to condemnation of the terror incident which claimed seven innocent lives in the Rajouri sector of the Kashmir valley on Monday night. That the dastardly attack was the handiwork of Lashkar-e-Taiba has been established, but the Sharif government in Islamabad is unmoved even for the record. The governments of US, Germany and France have assailed the use of terror against India as exemplified by the Rajouri gunning down of bus passengers who were on a pilgrimage to Amarnath but Pakistan from whose soil terror emanated is silent.
If the Pakistan army or the country’s Supreme Court manage to get Nawaz Sharif to relinquish office, the army would ensure that it assumes greater control of governance. For quite a while it has been ruling the country by proxy, it could in the future continue to do so or be more overt about it.
The generals who have long nurtured grudges against India for the dismemberment of the country when Bangladesh emerged as a separate nation with Indian help, and the humiliating surrender of 93,000 Pakistani troops to the Indian army, have never reconciled to friendship with India. That is why they have consistently sabotaged peace talks between the civilian administrations in the two countries. With Nawaz Sharif out of office, the army would predictably get even stronger and its support for and nexus with the ISI would become even more audacious and brazen as would its covert support to terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, all of which work against India assiduously.
Internally in Pakistan too discontent could get exacerbated when the realisation of military dominance seeps into the minds of the people. The economy, which is in disarray could suffer more reverses. Externally, Pakistan could well go into greater isolation and fall further into China’s waiting lap which has sinister designs. The terrorist attack in Rajouri had several objectives the most diabolical of which was to try and drive a wedge between the Hindus and Muslims in the country and engineer communal disharmony and riots which could be held out on the international scene as evidence of the minorities not being safe in India.
With elections due in Gujarat later this year and the State having a history of communal riots, it was thought expedient to inflame passions there by targeting tourists from that state. Gujaratis are known for their religiosity and it was not difficult to find a bus carrying tourists to Amarnath. Besides, the Prime Minister belongs to Gujarat and it was considered prudent to target his home state for propaganda value.
The administration in Gujarat needs to watch out against threats to public order and it would be a challenge for the BJP government in that state to prevent communal incidents. A close vigil would be required and Sangh Parivar leaders would need to be watched for any signs of fomenting trouble. Already, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has given a call for a bandh which could be used as a trigger to engineer riots.
It would indeed be dangerous for the BJP or its Parivar outfits to seek to polarise people on communal lines with Assembly elections in mind. If there is polarisation, the party or the government would be playing into the hands of the schemers in Pakistan, especially the ISI and the army, the fundamentalists and the terror outfits.
The Pakistan establishment must be grinning from ear to ear at the lack of restraint shown by the Indian opposition parties in the wake of the terror strike. The principal opposition party, the Congress, has shown poor judgement in taking on Modi and the governments at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir for not taking steps to avert the terror strike. One Congress leader on a TV news channel went to the extent of making the preposterous claim that Modi has a soft corner for terrorists and separatists.
It is such loose talk by Congressmen, by Left leaders like Sitaram Yechury and Modi-baiters like Mamata Banerjee and Lalu Prasad Yadav that is alienating the people further and further from these parties and hitting their credibility grievously. Propriety and good sense required these parties and their leaders sto have expressed solidarity with the government in combating the terrorists and sunk their differences at least for the time being. That they chose to criticise the government from the word ‘go’ is a sad commentary on the politics they play.
The hush hush manner in which Congress heirapparent Rahul Gandhi chose to call on the Chinese ambassador in India to apparently carry forward his (Rahul’s) Modi-baiting and perhaps discuss the standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies on the Bhutanese border were acts that were not only highly improper but bordered on anti-national activity. That the BJP did not make a big issue of it is surprising indeed.
THE army has indeed made it known that it wants Nawaz Sharif to step down but unless the apex court clearly sacks Sharif, the Prime Minister is hell bent on continuing. Nawaz has been playing the army tune on India but what comes after him could well be worse.