Xpressions Brigadier (retd) Arun Bajpai Despite Sharif, Pak army back to its old game
Elected Pakistani Prime Minster for the third time, Nawaz Sharif, who took oath of office on June 5, publicly declared that he would go out of his way to improve relations with India.
Two days later, the Pakistani army opened unprovoked firing, killing a junior commissioned officer of the Indian Army in the Poonch sector. This was the third ceasefire violation within a fortnight of Nawaz Sharif having won the general elections.
In this firing incident, the Pakistani army used sniper rifles and grenade launchers. The sniper rifle is a specialised weapon which has high resolution telescope fitted on it and is used by specially trained snipers to take out individual targets. In other words, the Pakistani army wanted to kill this JCO, who was leading this patrol of the Indian army. The grenade launchers were purposely used to kill as many soldiers as possible out in the open. By this act of theirs, the Pakistani army has sent a clear message that Sharif or no Sharif, they will not change their ways.
Very recently, former Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabani Khar, in her interview to a leading Indian newspaper, had claimed that by January this year, under the leadership of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani cabinet had made up its mind to grant India the most favoured nation status in trade, something which India has been asking for a long time. All political parties of Pakistan were also on board. Just then, the Pakistani army and the ISI ambushed and beheaded two Indian soldiers. The furore that followed put paid to this initiative.
Since the time Pakistan got its independence, the Pakistani army has had complete control on India-Pak relations, irrespective of the fact that whether it was a civilian government ruling Pakistan or the military. Come what may, the Pakistani army will not let go its say over it because the only way it can retain primacy in Pakistan is if people of Pakistan fear India and look at the Pakistani army as their savour. Even now, 42 Pakistani army-sponsored jehadi training camps are functional in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the head of the jehadi organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba and mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai blood bath in which 166 people died, roams free in Pakistan spitting fire against India in his various rallies. Recently, the hardline Pakistani army chief general Kayani called on Nawaz Sharif to advise him to go slow on improving relations with India.
Nawaz Sharif is a shrewd businessman and the head of one of the largest business houses of Pakistan. Owing to poor governance and the jehadi mindset of Pakistan, its economy is bankrupt. Nobody is investing in Pakistan. The major cities in Pakistan are experiencing 10-hour power cuts on a daily basis. There is an acute shortage of gas and petroleum
SHARIF IS A SHREWD BUSINESSMAN AND HEAD OF ONE OF THE LARGEST BUSINESS HOUSES OF PAKISTAN. OWING TO POOR GOVERNANCE AND THE JEHADI MINDSET OF PAKISTAN, ITS ECONOMY IS BANKRUPT
products. There are no jobs for the burgeoning youth population. Good trade relations with India means import of power from India through the Wagha border as also quick supply of petroleum products. The economy will also get a major boost from both countries optimising their trade potential.
In 1999, immediately after Kargil operations when the then Pakistani army chief general Musharraf had overthrown the Nawaz Sharif government in a military coup and had jailed Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani Army would have put him to gallows like Bhutto, but for the intervention of Saudi Arabia and the jehadi organisations like LeT, Sipah-e-Sahiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
As a result, Sharif was spared. He knows that he cannot annoy Hafiz Saeed.The fact that Nawaz Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is ruling Pakistan’s Punjab, has granted to Jamat-ud-Dawa, a front organisation of the LeT, a grant of 61 million rupees as also another grant of 350 million rupees for opening a knowledge centre is a case in point. The socalled knowledge centres are basically madrasas which teach hate India lessons to its pupils.
We in India will have to understand that whether it is the hardliner Kayani or the softliner Nawaz Sharif, neither is enamoured of India. Their current stands are the dictated by necessity. We have no option but to play along with Pakistan, without getting overenthused by the Hindi-Paki Bhai Bhai concept because that will never happen.
At the same time we must inform Nawaz Sharif that we are prepared to walk an extra mile if he can rein in his army. We should have no hesitation in making available to Pakistan power, petroleum products and any other needs they have. Carrot and stick policy is the answer. As for Nawaz Sharif, the answer is trust but verify.