Indian Consulates Involvment in Baluchistan Unrest

Morsi awarded the death sentence

By Muhammad Jamil

Unemployed youth along with other sections of society, including the opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood, came out in droves to protest against the government

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced former president Mohamed Morsi and 106 others to death for a mass jail break in 2011. However, the verdict will be referred to the grand mufti, the highest religious authority in Egypt, for confirmation and the court will pronounce its final verdict on June 2, 2015. The verdict has drawn condemnation from Amnesty International and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan but most European countries that have banned the death sentence are mute. Even though the Brotherhood has long opted out of violence to pursue its objectives through acceptable, peaceful means and had been winning elections even before the Arab Spring, it was outlawed as a terrorist outfit in 2013. Its assets were frozen and seized, and even voices sympathetic to it were muzzled and silenced. Hundreds of its members have been killed and thousands incarcerated. Not even female members were spared the deep state’s campaign to decimate the Muslim Brotherhood into extinction. Morsi was deposed by his then military chief and minister of defence, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, after mass protests against his rule in the summer of 2013. Following the coup, the former president’s supporters launched a series of protests and sit-ins across the country culminating in a crackdown by security forces that left hundreds dead. Egypt’s military junta declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation on account of a deadly bomb attack on the police establishment in the country’s Mansoura city. However, the responsibility of that bombing has been claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, an al Qaeda aligned outfit, hostilely disposed towards the Brotherhood for its renouncing violence and joining the political mainstream. 

In September 2013, an Egyptian court banned the Muslim Brotherhood and the ban was extended to the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing. Last month, an Egyptian court sentenced Morsi and 12 other defendants to 20 years in prison for ordering the arrest and torture of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012. The junta charged ousted president Mohamed Morsi as a ‘terrorist’ for meeting with Hamas leaders during his term in office even though the meetings were in the context of long-standing Egyptian attempts to broker a Palestinian rapprochement. In fact, there is a long history of banning the Muslim Brotherhood; it was banned in Egypt in 1948. It was accused of attacks on prime ministers, government functionaries and judges, and an attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser’s life was made in 1954.
In the 1970s, President Sadat allowed the Brotherhood and Islamists to regroup in an effort to use them against the Nasserists and socialists. In 2005, the Brotherhood was a banned organisation and fielded its candidates as independents, managing to get around 20 percent of the seats. One could see that the Brotherhood had changed stripes coming out of clandestine activities and treading the democratic path. It was able to mobilise the people to get rid of Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. After the January 2011 revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood was allowed to form a political party, the FJP. In June 2012 elections were held, and the FJP managed to get 46 percent of parliament’s seats. But within one year after forming the government, protests started. The protestors on the street were, in reality, the inveterate traditional opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

They found a chance to achieve what they could not at the ballot box but their hopes came crashing down when they found that the beneficiary of the protests would be someone else. They are concerned that a new Hosni Mubarak is in the making in the strong man el-Sisi, who had thrown his hat in the ring for elections and was elected. Of course, Morsi’s government had neglected the economy, which was in shambles. Unemployed youth along with other sections of society, including the opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood, came out in droves to protest against the government. Events leading to the ouster of Mohammed Morsi as the president of Egypt have reinforced the widely held belief that, for a democratic government to be meaningful, it should deliver and always be sensitive to the interests and aspirations of the people. 

Just as the military rode on the back of 18 days of popular protests to topple Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-old government to pave the way for the emergence of Morsi, once again the Egyptian army lent a helping hand to millions of protesting crowds to get rid of president Morsi, who came to power on the basis of the religious fervour of his supporters. Rather than integrating diverse interest groups with different religious, political and social affiliations in order to mould a cohesive society, he was accused of playing the politics of alienation and discrimination. The first sign of trouble for Morsi came when he attempted to incorporate a clause into a draft constitution to grant him sweeping and unrestricted powers. The plan was quickly abandoned following sustained pressure mounted by the people through days of street protests. The clause would also have conferred on him immunity from judicial oversight.

His decision to back out and flee the presidential palace, however, did not stop the Egyptians from pressing ahead with more demands, asking for more secularity in governance, as against the bid to subject their freedoms, through an uncalled for constitutional amendment, to the authority of the strict Islamic law, sharia. Even though the sagging economy was one of the reasons for the rise against Mubarak, Morsi had absolutely no idea how to reverse the free fall nor did he appreciate the necessity to do so at all. Indeed, protesting voices are now ruing woefully their actions against Morsi, as they will have to bear the brunt of another dictatorship for a long time to come. However, if the vengeful campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood does not come to an end, the organisation is sure to go underground and peace will elude Egypt for a long time to come. 

Our wanting counter terrorism effort

By Khalid Iqbal

Whenever those responsible for counter terrorism claim success, terrorist make their presence and power felt through increasingly ferocious attacks. While one understands the complexity and enormity to terrorist activity, matching counter terrorism effort is glaringly missing. In the forefront is lack of will to implement the policies at the middle and lower levels of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). Every time there is a high profile attack, new laws are made, LEAs and trial courts are given additional powers, politicians hold meetings under pomp and show and rhetoric is uttered; for a couple of days bureaucrats run from here to there, but end result is zero. Within weeks, another high profile incident takes place, and the previous one is passed on to distant memory. This cycle is going on at least since 2008. Over the years, LEA’s, bureaucracy, political parties, religious outfits and other state and private institutions have become complacent and take acts of terrorism as a matter of routine. Number of deaths of personnel of law enforcement agencies far exceeds the fatalities suffered by terrorists, which indicate poor professional skills of LAEs. Likewise number of deaths of noncombatants is phenomenal. This clearly indicates that something is seriously wrong somewhere and national counter terrorism effort needs a revisit at professional and technical levels. 

Mere empowerment of these entities, without compatible structural reforms, won’t lead the country anywhere. We have examples that whenever there was requisite will, successful operations were conducted and the terrorists were nailed in. We can certainly do it even now. External and internal factors of terrorism need to be handled concurrently and conjointly. There is a welcome change at policy level, external factors contributing towards acts of terrorism are now being exposes openly and squarely.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad has recently said that Indian RAW is involved in terrorist activities across Pakistan; he disclosed that matter had been taken up a number of times at the highest level with India through diplomatic channels. This position should have been taken by the foreign office a long time ago; now time has come for issuing demarche not only to India but also a number of other countries involved in similar acts. During Prime Minister’s visit to Afghanistan on May 12, Pakistan has told Afghanistan that RAW should not be allowed to operate against Pakistan from Afghan territory; by now, this has been done so many times that repetition is nothing more than a joke. At appropriate time, after collecting solid and irrefutable evidence, the matter may also be taken to the United Nations Security Council. Involvement of RAW and other external factors in fermenting acts of terrorism in the urban centres is all too well known. However, this can’t be put up as an excuse for our failures to counter them. Rather it exposes gaps in our counter intelligence effort. By now effective measures should have been in place to neutralize RAW and associates.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has very pertinently emphasized the need for a more proactive and coordinated role of intelligence agencies for an effective counter-terrorism campaign, and to counter hostile agencies’ moves to destabilize Pakistan.
One could agree with the army chief that most of the achievements and successes of intelligence agencies go unnoticed, but this is how it is supposed to be. Their activities are not meant for attracting immediate glamour and hit news headline; but they never go unregistered and unrewarded. It would be better if we let the results speak for themselves, and let the people be the judge. 

Need of the hour is to strengthen all intelligence agencies at professional level so that they anticipate actions of RAW and other affiliated outfits and prevent their plans from translating into horrible acts of terrorism; this is what professional intelligence agencies are expected to do. Attributing the acts of terrorism to enemy agencies, ant yet being unable to counter them is certainly an indicator of failure of own boys. Once on ground results are good, the appreciation would automatically come. Likewise, all front men executing the plans of external agencies are local Pakistanis. Which itself speaks about inability of non-military intelligence agencies in carrying out their surveillance related functions. Army chief is right in stressing the need for a combined civil-military intelligence effort at national level by providing requisite support to the intelligence agencies, and developing modern intelligence techniques—so let’s do it.
Certainly, ISI is doing good job in preventing numerous terrorist attacks, however the number of attacks taking place is good enough to radiate a perpetual feeler of insecurity amongst the public at large. More attention should be paid toward locating and destroying the sleeping cells of foreign intelligence agencies. This is certainly not an easy task; but we may not succeed in stemming out acts of terrorism without accomplishing this tedious potion of the intelligence job. 

While the US-Pakistan relationship is on an upward trajectory, especially in the context of counter terrorism; effort is on to discredit and derail it. Some biased writers continue to churn out speculative pieces to degrade the prevailing environment of goodwill between the two countries. Seymour M Hersh in his expose published on the London Review of Books website has claimed that Bin Laden was a prisoner of the Pakistan military, whose leadership not only knew of his location, but were keeping him under house arrest and accepting funds from Saudi Arabia for his upkeep. Likewise, Christina C Fair in her article “America’s Pakistan Policy Is Sheer Madness” recently carried by “The National Interest” has ridiculed the necessity of recent congressional approval of counter terrorism specific arms/munitions sale to Pakistan by claiming that: “The items that Washington has conveyed to Pakistan have little utility in fighting insurgents and terrorists; rather, they enable Pakistan to better fight India… Fearing that Pakistan is too dangerous to fail, pusillanimous members of Congress, as well as officials in the White House and the Departments of State and Defense, are wary of moving away from the status quo… One thing is certain: their failure to act now will ensure more terrorism and more death in the future”. This is despite the fact that success of ongoing military operation Zarb-e- Azb in the last bastion of militants in Pakistan—North Waziristan—has earned acclaim from everywhere including American military and political leadership. 

Cover of terrorism is also coming handy for those wishing to disrupt the progress on China Pakistan Economic Corridor; acts of militancy are likely to increase in number and intensity during the coming months. RAW has been assigned this task and allocated $ 300 million as initial grant; RAW chief is personally supervising this project. RAW will seek assistance from its strategic partners as well; it will mastermind some false flag operations to accentuate Pakistan’s traditional ethno-sectarian fault lines. Terrorism confronted by Pakistan is being sponsored by many sources, both external and internal; each having its own objectives; we cannot follow a cut and dry approach to counter it, made of cobbled pieces from here and there. There is a need to evolve Pakistan specific counter terrorism policy right from concept to implementation level. Communities and LEAs have to work together to achieve the end objective—Pakistan free from the fear of terrorism. 

Indian cultural invasion on Pakistan

By Sajjad Shaukat

Socialists agree that historical background and national character play a key role in moulding the behaviour pattern of a country’s people, while customs and beliefs also influence the thoughts of individuals. But electronic media of the rival countries have accelerated the process in formulating the opinion of persons against each other. In these terms, as part of psychological warfare, besides supporting subversive acts in our country, India has started cultural penetration in Pakistan through movies, dramas, shows and advertisements which are directly targeting our own ideology and cultural values. The practice amounts to Indian culture invasion on Pakistan.

In this regard, Pakistan government issued licences to various TV channels with a view to earning revenue, showing utter disregard to the core values of our culture. However, the job of media houses has been facilitated by some of us by encouraging projection of Indian films and dramas including advertisements. Shameless interest groups are promoting foreign contents just to protect their monetary benefits.
Meanwhile, the civil society has resisted this practice through their meagre voice, but those enjoying political, social and economic influence favoured storming attack of external media instruments which have power and the ability to kill without firing a bullet. In such situation, any uncertain and cynic grain of mistrust injected through Indian media will never allow us to strengthen our real values and beliefs as Muslims. Therefore, the hostile elements, as Indian TV channels also target us with their cartoons and animated caricatures. The aim is to capture Pakistan’s loyal audience of the future and injecting them with dissenting thought to challenge the teachings and traditions of Islamic culture including ideology of Pakistan. Indian hostile propaganda against our customs and beliefs advances at a gradual pace, starting with a positive thought and supporting a just event. But, it contains deeply entrenched acrimony to create sense of suspicion amongst our youth who are passing through a formative stage of development and are at the initial phase of understanding their religious beliefs, cultural norms and core values. Besides Indian films and dramas, Pakistan’s cable networks also display Indian commercials on our channels, projecting Indian products and consumer goods. In such phenomenon, people, especially the youth and female audience are likely to prefer brand of Indian products and goods.
On the other side, New Delhi does not allow telecast of Pakistani dramas and movies on Indian soil. In this context, New Delhi has adopted very strict policy of restricting Pakistani channels, having their footprint in India. In August 2009, Indian daily, “The Asian Age” disclosed that the Indian government banned Pakistani TV channels in its country and it was also planning to establish high-frequency transmitters and towers in the bordering areas to stop transmission of Pakistani programmes. But, Indian rulers’ decision was taken as a preventive move to keep the new generation ignorant about other side of the coin—from Pakistani media, while continuing Indian propaganda against Pakistan. Nevertheless, more shocking aspect is that there is not lack of supporters of Indian TV channels in Pakistan. These internal elements neglect the fact that the Indian media, news or entertainment tend to malign Pakistan and to dominate its culture rather than to entertain the audience. In fact, Indian film industry often makes movies against Pakistan which project our country as a villain. Pakistan-bashing, denigrating Pakistan and burning its flag are common in Hindi films. Such films are exempted from heavy taxes and win prestigious awards, even if they totally flop in the Indian cinemas. 

It is mentionable that with the rapid development of science, range of the TV channels has been extended to many countries. And, India has deliberately been sending high electronic waves so that its cultural propaganda could reach every part of Pakistan. In this respect, particularly, Indian films, dramas and special-shows which display dances and songs including cartoons and caricatures are full of obscenity and vulgarity. These sorts of entertainment, seen by our youngsters and teenagers are negatively influencing their minds, as being immature; they are becoming more prone to Indian media’s propaganda campaign. 

It is regrettable that owing to the absence of a clear-cut media policy, some renowned private TV channels of Pakistan are also following suit, and present dance competition shows in imitation of Indian programmes by displaying, as if dance is a part of our culture. There is also a misconception among the supporters of Indian channels in our country that both the neighbouring countries share a common culture.
Pakistan’s viewers must know that in one of his speeches, while explaining separate culture of Muslims, Quaid-e-Azam said, “We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral code, customs and calendar, history and tradition, aptitudes and ambitions; in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life.” 

There are number of countries which allow access of their citizens to the government-controlled Internet only. In order to protect the nation particularly the youth, the concerned authorities must take immediate note of Indian cultural penetration in Pakistan, against our traditions, and values. In this connection, first of all, the right option is that Indian contents should be banned in Pakistan. For the purpose, proper legislation or law could prohibit TV channels and cable networks which show Indian programmes. Will the high-ups in our media regulator – PEMRA – find some time to go through their own law, rules and regulations, and do a bit of their regulatory portfolio to address this foreign media onslaught into the Pak territory?
And, there is need to promote our own culture by helping our TV channels and film industry, making them lucrative so that Pakistani talent could divert their energies in serving their own audience. Once Pakistani artists and audience are satisfied with local means of entertainment, they will not depend on Indian channels. Media houses should also realize their responsibilities and discourage facilitating or proliferating the Indian contents and help the government in its drive. Nonetheless, Indian cultural invasion needs to be stopped through a strong national commitment to ‘Say no to Indian cultural onslaught’ and ‘No Indian movies’ in Pakistan. 

Cultural invasion

S M Hali

The interest of the Pakistani public in the Indian entertainment industry has been aroused to the extent that Pakistani private television news bulletins extensively air reports about the latest Bollywood releases and developments in the Indian film industry
US philosopher Elbert Green Hubbard (June 19, 1856 to May 7, 1915) once commented: “He who influences the thought of his times influences the times that follow.” This lesson has been learnt well by India, although it did not lack tutelage on the subject because of the maxims provided by that master of deceit and guile in statecraft, Chanakya, who professed that the “mind is the ultimate weapon”. The Indian electronic media, comprising film, television, radio and social media, has been more than adept in the art of promoting Indian culture. Sushma Swaraj, the current Indian external affairs minister, in her earlier tenure as minister for information and broadcasting (MOIB) under the BJP regime, had declared that India does not need to invade Pakistan physically as it can conquer the minds and thoughts of Pakistanis through an onslaught of Indian television and film content. 

India has indeed invaded Pakistan culturally through the use of all-pervasive media tools. Pakistani society comprises of two schools of thought: one pursuing an orthodox bent of mind and the other a relatively liberal one. The Pakistani electronic media had a head start over India and its content was so strong that it was being followed with interest, awe and admiration in India too. For Pakistani viewers, Indian television’s only appeal was the broadcasting of Hindi films but, before the advent of the satellite dish, only the residents of the border areas could view them. Pakistani television content was moderate and devoid of propaganda elements since it was directed towards domestic audiences. Moreover, the Pakistani electronic media, until 2002, comprised of only the state-owned television channel, PTV, and the PBC radio network. Satellite television and the cable network, which made some ingress into Pakistani viewership in the 1990s, enabled Indian television channels to be accessible to Pakistani viewers. The Kargil incident prompted the Indian government to ban the ingress of Pakistani television channels into India, perhaps because India wanted to insulate its viewers from the truth regarding the Kargil operations, compelling them to accept the Indian version. Pakistan also followed suit and banned Indian television channels from its cable network. 

With the advent of media freedom and the granting of television and FM radio licenses to the private sector, unbridled power was gained by the private media sector. India found it opportune to invade Pakistan’s airwaves by entering into agreements with various Pakistani entertainment television channels to air Indian dramas, talk shows, song and dance programmes and even quiz and infotainment content for children. Indian movies also started being aired on Pakistani television channels and, at a later stage, the government of Pakistan relaxed conditions for Indian movies to be screened in Pakistani cinema houses. 

The result has been explosive; the Indian cultural invasion has pervaded Pakistani minds, especially the youth and the tender thoughts of children. The interest of the Pakistani public in the Indian entertainment industry has been aroused to the extent that Pakistani private television news bulletins extensively air reports about the latest Bollywood releases and updates regarding developments in the Indian film industry.
Resultantly, Sushma Swaraj’s prediction of invading Pakistan culturally appears to have been fulfilled. Song and dance tableaus being presented by Pakistani school children now render Indian film songs and dances instead of following Allama Iqbal, Khawaja Altaf Hussain Hali, Faiz Ahmed Faiz or Hafeez Jallandheri’s nationalistic poems. The Pakistani fashion industry, even our bridal couture, is under Indian influence. So much so that Pakistani children have started mimicking and emulating Hindu customs in their social events. This cultural invasion has softened the stance of average Pakistanis towards India, eliminating enmity, hatred and promoting overtures of friendship. The latter would have been welcome if the Indian government, its intelligence agency RAW and the current Indian national security advisor, Ajit Doval, had not been engaged in machinations to destabilise Pakistan. 

Under these circumstances, the government of Pakistan, especially the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB), which appears preoccupied in day-to-day political firefighting, must adopt policies to check this Indian cultural invasion. One step could be to outright ban Indian movies from being screened in Pakistani cinema houses and Indian television content on local media. This would be a harsh move and could be counterproductive since, in this age of information technology, even the ban of YouTube in Pakistan has not been effective as the youth manages to view it through proxy servers. Instead, the MoIB must adopt measures to motivate the Pakistani film and television industry to produce content superior to Indian media instead of making cheap copies so that Pakistani viewers slowly lose interest in Indian programmes and this cultural invasion can be checked effectively with a counter-narrative. 

Forces behind Karachi massacre

Dr. Muhammad Khan

FOLLOWING the Karachi massacre where 45 people belonging to Ismaili community were killed on May 13, 2015, there arose question, as to who is behind this strategic targeting of those communities and what could be the objective, behind. Ismaili community is the most peaceful community living anywhere in Pakistan. Similarly, the children of APC Peshawar were innocent and so were the Christians, killed during multiple attacks. They all had no enmity or clash with any sect or ethnic group. Then, why these people were being targeted, in a sudden rise of terrorism in Pakistan.

Just a week ago, it was revealed during the Corps Commanders’ conference that, the Indian spying network, RAW is involved in organizing the terrorism in various parts of Pakistan. It was also revealed that, RAW is sponsoring the activities of TTP as well as Baloch sub-nationalists. In a recent press conference, a senior police officer of Karachi Police also revealed that RAW is involved in the target killing of Karachi. There are deep-rooted linkages between some political groups of Karachi and RAW.
It is worth mentioning that, the very establishment of this spying network (RAW) in 1968 was aimed at destabilizing the neighbouring states. It was RAW, which planned the insurgency through instigation of locals in former East Pakistan and paved the way for Bangladesh. The activities of RAW in today’s Pakistan are reality. According to Indian media, RAW is the most powerful tool than ever before in the dispensation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, while dealing with Pakistan. Destabilization of Pakistan is part of Indian strategy and India is doing that since decades. 

The current wave of terrorism under the RAW is aimed at sabotaging the economic development of Pakistan, which has just concluded a $46 billion project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The project connect Gwadar Port with the Kashgar, a traditional Chinese business centre in Xinjiang autonomous region. On its part, Kashgar connects China with South and Central Asia, the Gwadar Port provides an excess to Middle East, Persian Gulf and Africa through Arabian Sea besides providing shortest possible land access to Central Asia and Afghanistan. For the development and generating economic activities in Western China, Gwadar port provides shortest possible route to China. CPEC would be a strategic linkage between Pakistan and China, which will benefit not only these two historical and friendly neighbours but other regional countries including India and ASEAN.
In many ways, the CPEC offers a panacea to most of its problems, facing the state and society of Pakistan at economic, social and political level. Besides, the corridor provides China, an alternative overland route for the transportation of its energy needs, especially from Africa and Middle East, avoiding the Chinese Malacca Dilemma. CPEC is a historical opportunity for strategic linkage, but there are many domestic and external challenges, which may be confronted in the completion of CPEC. The security situation in some of the areas along the CPEC route may present a challenging situation, thus need a special consideration. Pakistan Army has already taken the responsibility for the protection of this corridor and facilities linked with CPEC.
Whereas, dealing with the security challenges and desire of people that the CPEC must pass through their areas is a domestic factor, Pakistan can handle efficiently, the regional and global forces, opposing the very construction of Gwadar Port and the CPEC need proficient handling through seasoned diplomacy and political engagements. Upon construction, CPEC will not only benefit Pakistan and China, but contribute towards regional peace, harmony, stability and economic opportunities for all even including India. 

The abrupt increase in the terrorist activities after it was known that, Pakistan and China has finally worked out the modalities to implement this gigantic task means a lot. Indian Shipping Minister made a visit to Iran and offered this Pakistani neighbor to complete the Chabahar port, long pending for its completion. The objective one can abstract from this visit and offer for financial and technical assistance is very clear. India is making all out efforts to counter the operationalization of Gwadar Port and create all out obstructions and hurdles in the construction of CPEC. This speaks of a very narrow approach Indian Government is following. 

Apart from this RAW has strong linkages with some political parties in Pakistan. All the terrorists belonging to such political parties get training, weapon and finances from RAW and carry out terrorism in Karachi and even other parts of Pakistan. The massacre of Ismaili community has to be analyzed keeping in view various angles. Murder of Sabeen Mehmood and killing of Ismaili community has to be seen in the same context. It may an attempt to divert the attention of the LEAs, people of Pakistan and even the media, from the ills and evils of this group. Let us not through the blame of all killings in the credit of TTP or religiously mislead people. Sabeen Mehmood was killed to defame security and intelligence agencies and Ismaili community to de-track the LEAs from chasing the terrorists of political and ethnic parties.

Although the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has chaired a high-level meeting on Karachi’s security situation at the Governor House on May 13, 2015, and assured the grieved families for justice, yet there is a need that the real forces, and their abettors are exposed and brought to justice. It is high time that the province of Sind be governed through rules of governance and justice should be given to the people who have been deprived of this. Pakistan cannot afford such a law and order situation in any part of the country and Karachi is the economic hub of entire Pakistan. This is a clear conspiracy against the state and its perceived economic development. Let us join hand against the enemies of Pakistan and those among us, working against the interests of the state. 

Karachi carnage, RAW suspect

By S M Hali

KARACHI incident of 13 May in which 45 innocent Pakistanis (belonging to Ismaili Sect) have been brutally killed has been condemned by all and sundry. Unfortunately, it appears to be the machination of the Indian spy agency RAW, which has been working full time to destabilize Pakistan as well as create disturbances to sabotage the Pak – China economic corridor (CPEC) by indicating to the Chinese that if Pakistan government is not able to provide security to its citizens, how can it protect CPEC. Prior to this incident, Sabeen Mehmood was also killed by RAW to drive a wedge between Balochistan and rest of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, a progressive group in Pakistan is trying to belie our foreign office’s claim that RAW is actively involved in subversive activities in Pakistan. Some pseudo intellectuals would like to sacrifice Pakistan’s security at the altar of human rights. They are demanding that the Foreign Office promise of sharing proof of RAW’s subversive activities in Pakistan with India be made public. They have been holding seminars, writing columns and raising slogans in the name of good practice.
My learned friends have been quoting the example of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the Karachi University (KU), which were discouraged from holding discussions titled ‘Baloch missing persons and the role of state and society’. The event was a commemorative service for the fallen civil rights activist Sabeen Mahmud who was murdered right after hosting a panel discussion on Balochistan’s plight at her Karachi café, The Second Floor (T2F), on April 24, 2015.
At Karachi, when the event was cancelled by the University authorities to maintain the sanctity and sensitivity of the subject, the organizers held the event outside the premises of the University and clandestinely brought in Baloch human rights campaigner Mama Qadeer Baloch to speak on the issue. 

It is being alleged that freedom of speech is being curbed while the free voices are being gagged. It should be understood that Pakistan is passing through very trying times and the very survival of the nation is at stake. If an organization, which is responsible and does not utter a single word contrary to diplomatic nuances, claims that Indian Spy Agency RAW is behind the trouble in Pakistan, it should neither be doubted nor challenged. If the Indian External Affairs Ministry were to challenge the statements of its Pakistani counterparts, it would be understandable for they are the root of the problem. For bona-fide Pakistanis to raise a hue and cry on the subject is questionable. Perhaps such conscientious objectors are not fully cognizant of the gravity of the situation in Balochistan. Security forces, residents of Balochistan, with a different ethnic origin e.g. from Punjab or Karachi are being made to disappear by the scores and the culpable parties are insurgents or those agents of the enemy, who are not fighting for any human rights but are mercenaries or miscreants. Has there been
The Prime Minister of Pakistan flew to Kabul with his team of foreign office and defence advisors, comprising the Advisor on national Security, the Army Chief and the Director General of ISI. Reportedly, before the departure for Kabul high level team, went into a huddle at the PM House, where they discussed threadbare the modus operandi of the visit and talks. High on their agenda was the involvement of RAW in launching anti Pakistan surreptitious operations form Afghanistan into Balochistan, Karachi and rest of Pakistan. One-on-One discussions between heads of states especially of a sensitive nature as discussed above do not reach the Press. This scribe was not privy to the discussion either but has a fair idea of the gist of the matter discussed.
True that Balochistan has been neglected and denied its rights but for the past many years, Pakistan Armed Forces and the Government have bent backward to launch development projects, recruit Baloch youth into the Armed Forces and bureaucracy and uplift the downtrodden province. Many Baloch youth have been misled and recruited by enemies of the state to carry out operations against their own province. 

There are always two sides of an argument. If the government of Pakistan is providing opportunities to the misled youth to lay down their arms and join the mainstream, perhaps their grievances can also be resolved amicably. 

Instead of condemning the armed forces of Pakistan or the law enforcement agencies and blaming them of committing ignoble deeds, it would be prudent to look at the whole picture and not get carried away by occidental vogues of freedom of speech. After all, in the garb of freedom of speech, caricatures of the Holy Prophet (MBUH) and cartoon competitions are also being launched, but all sane minds are critical of such atrocious activities. 

Similarly, in Pakistan, we need to be patient and let the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Interior and Law Enforcing Agencies conduct their operations as they are all collectively fighting the “Battle for Pakistan”. 

If they fail, what to talk of freedom of speech, we will lose our very independence and freedom and become serfs and minions to those who want to subjugate us and use our own brethren against us. Freedom of speech is a favourable ideal but its pursuit sometimes gets glossed over by furtive deeds. 

No one has counted the bodies of the security and the non Balochi people found in mass graves, massacred by those who believe decapitation of humans is justified in the way of demanding their rights. Let good sense prevail.