India sabotages South Asian peaceSajjad Shaukat Mumbai carnage of November 16 and Lahore terror-attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team on March 3 cannot be seen in isolation as both the tragic events are part of the same Indian designs to sabotage the South Asian peace. In this regard, question also arises in the mind of every intellectual and the non-intellectual as to how it is true that New Delhi has been thwarting regional peace, while more than one billion Indians are themselves living in one of the biggest state of South Asia. However, there is clear answer to this question, if one analyses the ground realities along with the Indian clandestine policy which is always being implemented by its secret agency, RAW. In the post-Mumbai mayhem, Pakistan had repeatedly offered its full cooperation through joint investigation and sharing of information, but India rejected flattery. Instead of detecting the real culprits, New Delhi and its media anchors launched a deliberate propaganda campaign, pointing finger to Pakistan and its intelligence agency, ISI in connection with the tragedy. Its External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while accusing Islamabad of "using terror as an instrument of state policy," repeatedly said that terror-infrastructure is located in Pakistan and it should "dismantle terrorist training camps" inside its country. His similar illogical statement again appeared on March 3, 2009 regarding the terror-attack on the Sri Lanka's cricket team, allegedly reiterating that the incidents in Mumbai and Lahore are part of terror-infrastructure of Pakistan. And Islamabad is responsible for it. Besides a number of developments like Indian mobilization of military troops, violation of Pakistan's air space, creation of war hysteria and suspension of composite dialogue by setting aside Islamabad's actions against the extremist organizations—rejection of Pakistan's realistic approach that non-state actors in the region are behind the Mumbai catastrophe has clearly proved that Indians intend to isolate Pakistan diplomatically in the comity of nations. In fact, acting upon their old enmity against our country which itself takes origin from Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), Indian leaders even do not bother for the South Asian peace which is essential for a region where almost all the countries are facing multiple crises like political instability, economic dilemma and social strife. And majority of people are living below poverty level, lacking basic necessities of life like health facilities and even clean drinking water. In the prevailing adverse circumstances, Islamabad did not blame New Delhi for Liberty terror-incident of Lahore prior to inquiry which is still under process. It displays that our country wants to restore the previous cordial environment so that composite dialogue could again be restored in order to settle all Pak-Indian disputes including the core issue of Kashmir. In this context, Pakistan is paying a greater attention to South Asian peace; while on the other hand, New Delhi is thwarting every effort of the former by taking it as policy of appeasement without caring for the development of the region. The fact of the matter is that Indian ambition of regional dominance has continuously been sabotaging South Asian peace. For this purpose, since its creation, Indian RAW has been advancing New Delhi's hegemonistic goals through its invisible warriors who have their presence in almost all regional countries, implementing various tactics of psychological warfare, which vary from country to country as RAW's covert incursion in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar etc. has entailed support to separatism, insurgency and lawlessness.. Indian acquisition and further development of sophisticated arms including missiles are part of its dream to become a superpower of Asia under the pretext of counterbalancing a peace-loving China. Indo-American nuclear deal of 2008 is noticeable in this new game. Without any doubt, it was New Delhi which tested first atomic bomb in South Asia in 1974 and conducted five nuclear experiments in 1998, forcing Pakistan to follow the suit. Islamabad has already announced to depend upon the minimum deterrence. In this context, India has also been increasing its defence budget every year, giving negative signal to Pakistan which has faced three Indian wars in the past. Nevertheless, South Asian nuclear arms race has been initiated by India which is a greater threat to the regional peace. It is mentionable that by following the modern world trends such as renunciation of war, peaceful settlement of disputes and economic blocks, EU countries are making rapid progress so as to provide their general masses with more development opportunities, but on the other side, it is misfortune of South Asian people that by pursuing the by-gone days of the Cold War era, India with the tactical aid of US has entangled Pakistan and China in a deadly arms race at the cost of peace in the region where many persons especially in the Sub-continent are compelled to commit suicide due to acute poverty. Particularly India, while considering a 'nuclearised' Pakistan an obstacle in its way of regional dominance, leaves no stone unturned in maligning the latter by every possible tactic. For this aim, New Delhi has launched a perennial campaign against Pakistan by supporting unrest, insurgency and separatism. A number of suicide attacks, bombblasts, and sporadic fighting in the tribal region of our country including terror-attack on Sri Lankan cricket team might be noted as instance. It is of particular attention that Pakistan's leadership and some responsible circles of the west have repeatedly said that extremism is common enemy of South Asia from Kabul to Mumbai and from Lahore to Colombo and the Indian-held Kashmir, but Indian rulers are only manipulating the ongoing phenomena of terrorism by implicating Pakistan alone. While Pakistan has not yet complete investigation in connection with the Liberty attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers, New Delhi is even utilizing this opportunity to blame Islamabad without taking cognizance of the fact that Pakistan itself is the major victim of terrorism. However, if one goes in depth of this incident in light of various developments in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka including some other countries, he will definitely point finger to Indian intelligence agency, RAW which have tried to fulfill a number of sinister designs in accordance with Indian external policy of South Asia. It is noteworthy that under the pretext of Mumbai carnage, India had cancelled the scheduled visit of its cricket team to Pakistan, while Sri Lanka accepted the invitation of Pakistan. Indian rulers and its media anchors had expressed their displeasure at Colombo's decision. But New Delhi clandestinely pressurised Sri Lanka's government to withdraw the decision. It could be judged from the fact that even Sri Lankan sports minister Gamini Lokuge revealed that Pakistan "tour had become a diplomatic issue". Its Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama said that he decided the trip, taking it as a sporting issue as his country promoted "people-to-people visits" among South Asian member states. In fact, despite Indian duress coupled with a sense of jealousy, Sri Lanka remained determined and sent its cricketers to Pakistan. So India has punished Colombo through pre-arranged terror-attacks, conducted by well-trained and well-equipped terrorists of RAW. In this respect, it is mentionable that in the recent months, striking a blow to the Indian backed militants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), by capturing their strongholds; Sri Lankan security forces have successfully dismantled the Tigers' mini-state in northern Sri Lanka where the rebels have lost 98 percent of the territory, and now are retreating even from their last bastion. On March 7, 2009, Sri Lankan Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama, while showing solidarity with Islamabad, categorically expressed Sri Lanka's firm opposition to isolate Pakistan in the sporting arena or in any manner internationally over the incident of March 3. Indian awkward strategy of mixing politics and sports is totally strange. Whether Indian team plays with Pakistan and that of Sri Lanka with our team have positive impact in restoring peace in South Asia, but regrettably, it is only anti-Pakistan and anti-Sri Lanka agenda of India whom politics and sports make no difference. And India seems determined to sabotage South Asian peace. If non-state actors are problem for India, these take origin from its own state terrorism, being perpetrated on minorities and the freedom fighters of other six states, fighting for independence. In such a situation, New Delhi should not seek revenge against Pakistan and Sri Lanka by conducting terrorist acts there through RAW-trained agents in order to divert its attention from Indian home-grown terrorists. Facing reality, New Delhi must better unearth the forces behind the Mumbai attack and Lahore mayhem. While, the US new strategy which will still pay a greater concentration on elimination of terrorism from Afghanistan and Pakistan's FATA must consider India to be responsible for terrorism in the region. And solution of Kashmir is very essential to combat militancy in the region as well for South Asia peace. |
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