PAK WILL NOT CHANGE

The set-piece address by Nawaz Sharif in the UN General Assembly on Wednesday was on expected lines. There was no way he was going to say anything else. Raking up Kashmir, talking about the alleged human rights violations, celebrating the jihadi commander Burhan Wani, seeking thirdparty intervention in Kashmir were all on predictable lines. Poor fellow! Those who saw him read out the script could not help but feel that he was being remote-controlled, like a robot doing the command of his namesake and super-boss, Raheel Sharif, the Pakistan Army Chief. Well before the publication of Panama Papers, which exposed the Sharif family’s un-Sharif business practices, the Rawalpindi GHQ was already in control of the country’s policy towards India. However since then, the Pakistan Premier is in a much weaker position, unable to resist the pressure from the generals even on the appointment of the country’s defence minister. Therefore, what Sharif read in his address to the General Assembly truly reflects the views of the Pakistan Army, and not necessarily those of its civilian leadership which is a prisoner of the former. It is thus important for India to get the message that despite the atrocity of Uri and the talk of a tough response, the Pak Army is in no mood to relent. Certain in the knowledge that India’s options, especially against a nuclear-armed Pakistan, are limited, Pakistan is unlikely to shun its evil ways. We should be prepared for further jihadi assaults in the coming days, weeks and months. Keeping the Kashmir cauldron simmering serves two distinct objectives of Pakistan. One, it incites and eggs on the separatists and other jihadi surrogates in the Valley to carry on with their anti-India operations. And two, it helps the generals to continue to lord over the civilian leadership while claiming a bigger and bigger share in the Pak budget and simultaneously of enriching themselves at the cost of ordinary Pakistanis. In short, Kashmir keeps the Pakistani Army in clover. Happily, despite Sharif’s plea for the UN intervention in Kashmir, the latter categorically ruled it out. Pakistan’s ability to impress the world powers has diminished considerably over the years due to its duplicitous conduct. America has poured billions in the belief that Pakistan would help it stabilise Afghanistan. But instead, Pakistan has engaged in sheltering, training the Taliban which targets US interests in that god-forsaken country and which shows no sign of returning to normalcy anytime soon. Unfortunately, America has no stamina to continue fighting in Afghanistan and would like to leave as early as possible, a fact being exploited by Pakistan to prop up its own creation, the Taliban. Should the US handover Afghanistan to the Taliban, there will be a greater threat to India from the jihadi groups relieved from the Afghan sector. It is of utmost importance for regional peace that Afghanistan does not slip into the Pakistani hands through its proxy, the Taliban. Pakistan, a failed State mired in internal conflict and divisions, has diverted a disproportionately large part of its public finances on waging an overt and covert war over Kashmir. India has managed to grow militarily and economically without yielding an inch of Kashmir after the initial folly of allowing it to retain what is now called Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

The pros and cons of a tough response to Pakistan do not, honestly, lend themselves to any clarity. We can launch an attack and risk disruption in our progress. Or we can keep on bolstering our defences, border and internal, institutionalise security processes to prevent the kind of lapses which allowed the four jihadis to attack the army establishment in Uri. There were several breaches in the standard operating systems put in place to guard against exactly such attacks. The responsibility for Uri lapses must be fixed and the guilty punished. We reiterate that the most cost-effective response to Pakistan is to whittle down the special status of Kashmir. If those who swore loyalty to the Indian Constitution do not keep their solemn word, India should be under no obligation to keep its on granting them extraordinary autonomy. Meanwhile, exercising its right to reply to Sharif since he had specifically blamed India in his address, an official representative of India did well to nail the white lies the Pakistani leader had uttered in his 20-minute address in the UN General Assembly. On Monday, we can count on Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to hold a mirror to Sharif and Sharif.