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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Terrorising Pakistan: part 2

A guest post by Asif Haroon Raja 


In accordance with the chalked out plan, terrorism was intentionally pushed into Pakistan to destabilize the country. The two extreme flanks of Pakistan , FATA and Balochistan were inflamed to make things difficult for Pak Army, fundamentally poised to guard eastern border. Apart from CIA and FBI gaining a strong foothold in Pakistan under the pretext of chasing and nabbing terrorists’ right up to Karachi , the US Administration increased its influence inside Pakistan so comprehensively that Boucher and Negroponte started to micro manage its domestic affairs including local bodies’ elections and 2002 general elections and reduced the parliament into a rubber stamp. American intelligence agencies helped RAW to make inroads in trouble spots.    
Pakistan was first harried on account of nuclear proliferation in 2004. Hue and cry was made over AQ Khan Network, and Iran and Libya put under intense pressure to establish a connection. Although Pakistan refused to make available Dr AQ Khan for interrogation after he made a public confession under duress, Pakistan inadvertently accepted that nuclear proliferation had taken place. It assured USA and IAEA that network had been effectively disabled. Pakistan thought that the matter was closed but it was never let off the hook and its nuclear program came under unceasing vicious smear campaign.
After 2005, The US began to change colors and became more intrusive and difficult. This change occurred because of resurgence of Taliban in southern and eastern Afghanistan , development of Gwadar Port with Chinese assistance, Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, and Pakistan economy getting robust. Pakistan was whipped by USA , India and even landlocked Afghanistan holding it responsible for their difficulties in Afghanistan. Pakistan bore the pain of whips and degradation to ensure US support and flow of US dollars. Pakistan kept chasing the faceless enemy without a comprehensive plan, intelligence, low intensity conflict training, counter terrorism equipment and motivational program. These shortcomings became serious impediments in tackling terrorism and allowed the Tehrik-e-Taliban to gather strength and expand its influence.
Having sufficiently embroiled the Army in war on terror and weakened its institutions the US started to inch closer towards achieving its goals and became more demanding. It repeatedly asked Pakistan to do more without compensating it for the immense sacrifices it was rendering. Instead of rewarding Pakistan for taking the main brunt of war on terror, the US rewarded India in the form of lucrative civil nuclear and defence deals, well knowing that instead of curbing terrorism India had inflamed it through covert means. Ironically Pakistan didn’t raise even an eyebrow on this grave development. Its lackadaisical stance resulted in materialization of Indo-US nuclear agreement in 2008.
After vainly trying to put the ISI under Ministry of Interior in August 2008, the US exerted extreme pressure on Pakistan leadership to let its military intrude into FATA. Several aerial raids, artillery fire and a ground attack in Angoor Adda in September 2008 were carried out. These blatant intrusions indicated American growing impatience and their desperation to directly meddle in Waziristan . While Pakistan gave its tacit approval to drone attacks since this understanding had already been given by Gen Musharraf, Pak military under new commander Gen Kayani did not agree to the proposal of joint operation or any unilateral action and took a firm stand. Had this proposal been ceded to, it would have amounted to allowing the head of a camel to enter the tent. Entry in FATA would have encouraged US military to keep creeping forward and to gradually envelope whole of Pakistan under the pretext of striking non-state actors. Mention of Quetta , Peshawar and Karachi as hiding places of high profile terrorists and main base of Al-Qaeda in FATA and Taliban Shura in Quetta exposed its intentions.
While attitude of US officials became belligerent, Indo-Israeli-US propaganda campaign became fiercer. Mumbai drama was stage managed on 26 November 2008 to give an excuse to India to heat up eastern border. Throughout 2009 India remained in a highly offensive mood. Pakistan’s policy of appeasement was taken as sign of weakness and subjected to unabated pressure to make Pakistan agree to Indian unfair demands of proceeding against suspects without evidence and to dismantle Indian specific terrorist network. The US instead of acting in a fair and unbiased manner brazenly supported Indian stance.
None of the accusers took into account the hard fact that Pakistan had suffered as no other country in the world had from foreign sponsored terrorism. Its economy suffered a loss of over $45 billion and it lost over 8000 lives in the blowback of the militants in retaliation to military operations. Pakistan bore maximum brunt of foreign sponsored terrorism during the years 2008-09 and is still suffering. After targeting Peshawar incessantly, Lahore is the current target of RAW. From March 2009 onwards, dozens of terrorist and suicide attacks have taken place in capital city of Punjab and hand of RAW was visible in each incident.
Slight change in Indo-US-Afghan belligerence occurred after Pak Army’s successful fight against well-entrenched militants in Malakand Division, Swat, Bajaur and South Waziristan (SW) at a heavy price. These successes were achieved at a time when nothing was going right in Pakistan . Political situation was in a mess, economy had become fragile, law and order had worsened and Pak Army’s image had been badly dented due to an orchestrated smear campaign. Pakistan was being viewed as a failing state unable to protect its nuclear assets. Stories of balkanization or break up were in circulation and a very gloomy picture was painted. It was propagated that Pakistan’s security forces were incapable of fighting the militants and protecting nuclear assets. US Special Forces started to fine tune their contingency plans to take away the nukes before falling into wrong hands. Indian strike formations had taken up a forward posture and Indian military had started beating drums of war.
It was under such daunting challenges that Pak Army fully supported by the government and the public turned the tide and blunted coordinated external and internal onslaughts and left the detractors gaping with wonder. CIA-RAW-Mossad supported Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is on the run; its liberty of action is curtailed. During the operations, the Army came across irrefutable evidence of involvement of RAW in all the restive regions. Besides arresting Hindu RAW agents, some disguised as Taliban, heaps of Indian origin weaponry was captured. Israeli made Uzi weapons and telescopic rifles were also found. It was a surprise to find highly encrypted communication system in use of TTP which could not be intercepted but could jam and listen to Army’s telephone/wireless network. Mossad had provided Israeli made specially designed transmitters for FM radios to Fazlullah which played a key role in expanding his influence in Swat and Malakand Division?
In June 2009 when Pak officials confronted Washington with evidence that terrorists in Pakistan were using sophisticated American weapons, the US media quickly leaked stories about US weapons missing from Afghan National Army. The figure of losses ran into thousands and it couldn’t be that ANA soldiers were operating without weapons or with locally manufactured weapons without being noticed by superiors.
No sooner was TTP base routed in SW that the US started exerting pressure on Pakistan to mount another offensive in North Waziristan (NW), painted as epicenter of terrorism. Several RAW created terrorist groups including Asian Tigers and some runaways of TTP have sprouted in NW to create anarchic conditions. Gen Kayani has rightly remained firm that no further stretching into NW till full consolidation of Swat and SW, which includes rehabilitation of IDPs, rebuilding of destroyed infrastructure and transfer of power to civil administration. For this he needs expeditious delivery of promised funds. He has also desired speedy delivery of counter insurgency equipment for achieving long term tangible results.
148,000 troops are already committed in FATA and Swat. Army cannot afford to further thin out troops from eastern border as long as Indian intentions are hostile. India has so far not closed training centres and Pakistan specific consulates in Afghanistan wherefrom covert operations are being launched. The US has been told that Pakistan would not like any military role for India in Afghanistan including training of ANA after the departure of US-NATO troops. Kayani prefers training of Afghan security forces by Pakistan Army. This has been partly agreed to and hopefully Afghan officers would be sent to attend training courses in various schools of instructions.
Pakistan has also been urging Washington to facilitate settlement of disputes with India . While little headway has been made on Pakistan ’s requests, the US is relentlessly asking Pak Army to speedily jump into boiling cauldron of NW irrespective of consequences. Hilary Clinton, Holbrooke and Adm. Mike Mullen are fixated on NW and have hinged successful outcome of Afghanistan war on neutralization of NW. All three in quick succession have issued tough statements to maximize pressure on Pakistan . They see Osama hale and hearty living in Pakistan . Minuscule Haqqani network and diminutive Lashkar-e-Taiba are being portrayed as most dangerous monsters. As a super power, the US should have felt ashamed in even making a passing mention of these insignificant entities. But such are the ways of bullies who by design project a Lilliputian into a Gulliver.
The US rules out scope for negotiations with Haqqani network in NW whereas it has given a blank cheque to Karzai to hold negotiations with Taliban and has not put any pressure on Gen Petraeus as to why he is not expediting operation against Kandahar. Instead of making some headway, visitors from 27 countries in Kabul were given fanciful news that ISAF would be able to hand over security of Afghanistan to ANA by 2014. While remaining fixated on NW, the US is least concerned about fast deteriorating security situation in Balochistan and Karachi where RAW and Blackwater in concert with local anti-state elements are actively involved in target killings. It betrays US sincerity of intentions.
Brig Asif Haroon Raja is Staff College and Armed Forces War Course qualified, holds MSc war studies degree; a second generation officer, he fought epic battle of Hilli in northwest East Bengal during 1971 war, in which Maj M. Akram received Nishan-e-Haider posthumously. He served as Directing Staff Command & Staff College, Defence Attaché Egypt and Sudan and Dean of Corps of Military Attaches in Cairo . He commanded the heaviest brigade in Kashmir . He is multi-lingual and speaks English, Pashto and Punjabi fluently. He is author of books titled ‘Battle of Hilli’, ‘1948, 1965 & 1971 Kashmir Battles and Freedom Struggle’, ‘Muhammad bin Qasim to Gen Musharraf’, Roots of 1971 Tragedy’; has written number of motivational pamphlets. Draft of his next book ‘Tangled Knot of Kashmir ’ is ready. He is a defence analyst and columnist and writes articles on security, defence and political matters for numerous international/national newspapers/websites. Email: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com
Tailpiece


This article was first published at the 'People of Pakistan' blog on 26 July 2010. This article touches on some of the issues I raised in my last blog post and it introduces some new ones. I do not necessarily agree with everything that Brig Asif Haroon Raja says but I do think that he raises important issues which need to be more widely known. 


You can see the original article by clicking here.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Travel to India, please... it will open your eyes.

You may eventually understand why the rest of the world will not even waste its spit on the failed state of Porkistan....

Sakib Ahmad said...

Good idea this - to travel to India. People numbering several times the population of Pakistan living in abject poverty aren't exactly an impressive advertisement for India, are they?

I recommend that you see the film Slumdog Millionaire at your earliest opportunity - it will act as a rude eye opener for you.

Pakistan today bears no resemblance to the vision of Jinnah. Many sincere Pakistanis are striving to bring about change - only time will tell whether they fail or succeed. I hope to present the vision of the Quaid in his own words soon.

MoinSaddiq said...

Dear Sakib Bhai,

One of my cousins was abducted by Pakistan intelligence service and has not returned since then.

Was the plance crash at Margalla Hills, corruption by Ganja, AAZ, and the floods in AJK and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa all created by Mossad/RAW/CIA ?

We are being punished by Allah for our sins of encouraging terror and killing people in the name of Islam.

Sakib Ahmad said...

Dear Moin,

I am sorry to learn of the tragic disappearance of your cousin. There are thousands of others like him. In the preceding blog post there was a comment by Rehman, whose family has been hounded by Pakistan's secret agencies - you can read more at 'theterrorland' blog (just click on Rehman's name).

The Supreme Court seems powerless against the might of these agencies. In the circumstances, we can certainly protest individually but collective action will be more productive. I wonder if there is a way to write to General Kayani with thousands of signatures and ask him to order the agencies to either release the people they have abducted or try them in a Pakistani court. What the agencies are doing is quite simply unlawful.

Allah is certainly just. He has created a universe with unchanging laws. I agree with you that we have violated those laws and we are suffering the consequences. The solution is to bring about an inner revolution in ourselves and in our society.

Afraad ke haatho.n mein hai aqvaam ki taqdeer
Har fard hai millat ke muqaddar ka sitaara

Additionally, we also need to be aware of the nefarious activities of our enemies. It is in this context that we need to be on our guard against the USA-India-Israel nexus.

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

The Blogger is free to delete any comment of mine. I don't give a damn if he introduced "moderation comment policy". If the Blogger continues to dish out half-baked nonsense, he must be ready to accept some not so-civilised language from readers. The Blogger is free to delete this comment as well.

India may have poverty and several social ills. At least it has a democracy which is functioning. No clergy and fatwas like Pakistan. No lawlessness like Pakistan. The Indian military plays the role of a sentinel, not a ruler as in Pakistan. Economically and industrially, it is far more advanced than Pak. It does not have to take a begging bowel to the US and back stab it in the form of support to terrorists like Al Qaeda and Taliban.

Bloggers sitting in the safety of England can afford to write propaganda pieces highlighting Pak’s so-called achievements and its “sincerity” in tackling terror. Please take a look at the British PM’s remarks indicting Pak. Moin’s case is one in a million probably which shows the true colors of Pak and its agencies, civilian and military. Pointing fingers at Hindu RAW for Pak ills hardly appear convincing.

Noor said...

I wonder if it would be a good idea to give an English translation of Iqbal's sha'r/couplet that you quoted above?

Sakib Ahmad said...

Poetry tends to lose its beauty, its 'juice', in translation. My fairly mundane translation would be:

In the hands of individuals lies the destiny of nations
Each and every individual is a star in a community's unfolding destiny

Sakib Ahmad said...

Ah! My good friend from across the border comes with another of his gems!

Dear me, David Cameron was too eager to confirm the truth underlying George Bernard Shaw's famous remark about the English being a nation of shopkeepers. He was quite simply disgusting - there is no other word. One Indian commentator crowed that the British once called India the jewel in the British crown but, judging from Cameron's comments, their ambition now seems to be to become the brightest jewel in India's crown!

I wonder when our visitor will cast aside his prejudices and learn to make comments on the basis of truth and justice. An excellent article, which presents the truth about Kashmir in a nutshell, can be read here:

http://thepeopleofpakistan.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/kashmir-–-the-dispute-that-continues-to-rock-south-asia/

Final word: just avoid abusive terms and your posts are safe from deletion!

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

The truth, Mr. Blogger is something you guys whether residing in the terrorist state or outside of it do not wish to see. Pak's duplicity cannot be hidden behind a "veil" like faces. Wikileaks just lifted or should we say pierced the veil for the world to see. People like Moin above are the unfortunate victims of ISI, not RAW. I wish RAW had the means to destroy the terrorist infrastructure erected by Pak over the years.

Instead of harping about casting aside my prejudice, the Blogger ought to see what is the world opinion about Pak. There is unanimity that Pak is the epicenter of terrorism. Kashmir, Mr. Blogger, is a ruse to foment terrorism in India. Nobidy in his proper frame of mind believes that resolving the K issue is going to herald an era of everlasting peace. There are enough terrorists in Pak military and outside of it who will come up with other issues to rock this region. Finally, whether you like it or not why is it that fundamentalists belonging to your religion create problem world-wide - from Philippines in the East to Africa and beyond? Are there no sane voices of moderation? You and your breathren need to sit down and reflect, before dishing out distortions in the name of facts and analysis.

Again, Mr. Blogger is free to delete my comments. A deletion reflects more about the Blogger's intolerance than about my opinion or choice of words.

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

Readers of this blog can read the comments posted by me here on my blog -http://pakistansnemesis.blogspot.com/2010/08/impressions.html

Lost-in-cyberspace said...

I am amazed at this man's determination to turn himself into a pariah at this blog. I more amazed at the patience you show in dealing with him.

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

@ Lost-in-cyberspace (probably forever)
It is Pak which is a pariah today. It is patience of the international community in dealing with Pak that is running out. And that is the most amazing thing. The Blogger at least shows some civility which is missing amongst most of your fellow country-men.

MoinSaddiq said...

Pakistan has become a main sponsor of terrorism and it is Allah which is telling us to change course

Sakib Ahmad said...

Dear Moin,

Pakistan's government and its army are not just supporters, they actually participate in acts of terrorism. Allah asks us in the Qur'an to resist and fight the oppressors. We need to clean up our government and our army and live as free and proud individuals who uphold human values as abundantly explained in the Qur'an.

We need to free ourselves from subjugation to home-grown tyrants as well as their foreign masters, who keep them in power because they serve them so well.

MoinSaddiq said...

Very rightly said Sakib, but at the same time Pakistan army MUST maintain vigil on eastern enemy

Sakib Ahmad said...

Indeed! Pakistan's army is ours for all its faults. We must support it and, at the same time, clean it up.

Our internal divisions will simply play into the hands of the lurking presence across the eastern border, and the suffocating presence of Uncle Sam who already controls the hands holding the reins of power in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

What has the Paki Army done since the last sixty odd years except maintaining vigil and fomenting trouble along the Eastern border. While Pakistan's Western borders are literally chaotic, the focus of the Pakis continues to be on the Eastern borders. Absolutely moronic.

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