If the past is anything to go by, the security agreement between India and Afghanistan is a sign of danger. To think of this agreement as dangerous, one would have to adjust their perceptual framework i.e. one would have to think of India as the ‘traditional enemy’ and one would have to think of this agreement with Afghanistan as ‘scheming’ of said ‘traditional enemy’. To further strengthen this idea, one would also have to recall the agreement between India and the erstwhile USSR which was reached during riots in East Pakistan and after which India attacked East Pakistan and that led to its cessation.
Immediately after independence, we had started to convince ourselves that India had not accepted our creation. We were sure that it was out to get us and we made this perpetual fear the nucleus of all our future plans and policies of which defence came out on top. Sixty-four years later, this fear still persists. We’ve poured all our resources into amassing weapons and building our army. Despite all this, we lost half our country and still have not been able to get independence for Kashmir, which we avow is our jugular. We’ve been living without it for 64 years now and are still alive but we still persist in calling it our ‘jugular’. Our fear couldn’t even be assuaged by making the mighty bomb. We’ve made more than a hundred and the fact that India has now made an agreement with Afghanistan surely necessitates the making of more of these nuclear crackers.
Whenever some peace effort with India failed, I used to say that in our obduracy to remain enemies with India, we won’t be able to do anything to it (and we haven’t been able to) but it can create a lot of problems for us. When the Soviet army entered Afghanistan, I thought that we now had another enemy to fight with. At that time, the Soviets and the Indians were allies and I thought that the spectre of our enemies at the north-western border would compel us to look to avenues of peace. We, after all, weren’t capable of fighting off enemies at both borders.
If Z A Bhutto had been alive, then he definitely would have opened the option for peace given the vast geographical expanse of the region. A leader who had found a hope for peace in the defeat of war could definitely have found peace without getting into the fracas of war itself. The US was well aware of this. This is why before drawing the Soviets into Afghanistan, it installed its pawn in the shape of Zai-ul-Haq in the country.
By making Zia their point-man, America wanted to square off its dues with the Soviet Union. The US exacted revenge on the Soviet Union for Vietnam and was able to break it up in the 90’s. But it left Pakistan with the highly explosive gifts of narrow-mindedness and extremism and left us to our own devices. That explosive material now courses through our veins. We are a powderkeg repeatedly set off by the smallest of sparks. In Karachi. In Balochistan. In Swat. In Fata. In Lahore. In Islamabad. We bleed gunpowder and breathe fire.
Only if we had come back on track after America had left the region after achieving its ends. But the mujahideen – who had been prepared under the aegis of American dollars and a special American-brand Islam – were turned into our strategic assets that were then used to turn Afghanistan into our strategic depth. We armed and trained the Taliban and the plans to capture Afghanistan were made by our own agencies and quarters. The Taliban were successful in capturing a large part of Afghanistan but they refused to become guarantors of peace. Peace depended on coming to a peaceful solution to the Durand Line problem. We time and again asked the Taliban government to come to a bilateral agreement about the demarcation of the Pak-Afghan border.
When the Al-Qaeda started its international terrorist activities, the US asked Pakistan to use its influence with the Taliban to ask them to uproot the Al-Qaeda network in the country. But some genius in the army decided to oust Nawaz Sharif from his seat before this could be acted upon. Nawaz Sharif had been galvanising the international Islamic community to ask the Taliban to expel Al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. The very day Nawaz Shairf was arrested, he had convinced Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nayhan to form an association of Muslim countries under the leadership of Saudi Arabia to ask the Taliban to dissociate themselves from Al-Qaeda. The Taliban leadership would’ve found it hard to refuse the Saudi leadership and if the comity of Muslim countries had succeeded, the horrendous war started after 9/11 could have been averted.
But the military mindset knows of only one thing. To get more arms and money, whether by hook or by crook. After 9/11, when the US asked of Pakistan’s military ruler to convince the Taliban to delink itself from the Al-Qaeda, our military leadership did the opposite. They told Mullah Omar to stand their ground in the support of Al-Qaeda and that the US would not be able to harm them. It is my belief that the offensives on Afghanistan by two superpowers were totally facilitated by Pakistan’s military rulers. The Soviet invasion happened by an American conspiracy that was aided and abetted by Zia. And the American invasion took place because of the plan hatched by Musharraf and his cronies. They wanted that America land in the region and we hit a jackpot; that is exactly what happened. We got arms, we got money and we got an assurance of a counterweight to Indian aggression. We also got the chance to prove to the world that Pakistan has been able to put the US in a corner in Afghanistan.
When the US asks us to move against the Haqqanis, our rulers laugh at how they’ve got hold of the world’s only superpower – as if by a bull ring. They know that the US is at wit’s end, not because of the Haqqanis but because of Pakistan’s ‘war strategy’. Our rulers are somehow convinced that America will have to leave Afghanistan with its tail between its legs and the subsequent government will be under our influence. This military mind disregarded the Soviet-India pact and still invaded East Pakistan. It seems as if history is repeating itself. The same military mind seems to be disregarding the Indian-Afghan pact and its implications.
When such pacts are agreed upon, they lead to many years of analyses and drafting of new strategies in light of the new details. The 1971 pact between India and the Soviet Union took place so that the Pakistan army (aka America’s ally) could be driven out of Bengal. America knew that it was difficult for its ally to remain there and it tried to dissuade our generals but they would not budge. India has only made two security pacts in its history. One with the Soviet Union and the other with Afghanistan with now. The former and latter were both formed keeping Pakistan in mind. If we want, we could seize the chance which this pact presents to look for peace or we could embroil ourselves in another bloody war, whose outcome will not be to our liking. What are the ways we could benefit from this agreement? An expert on foreign affairs, Akram Zaki, has alluded to them in one of his articles. If possible, next time I will say something about that keeping Mr Zaki’s ideas in mind.
The writer is one of Pakistan’s most widely read columnists.
As always Mr Naji at his best. Hope Pakistan Army takes a note and become part of the peace in the region. Make no mistake, Indians take lots of time to decide. However, once they decide, they will act with full force. India genuinely wants peace in the region. There is no way India will let Pakistan spoil the peace. Learn to settle the issues across the table and not through Jihadi proxies.
Pakistan feared about presence of India in afganistan and its strength in development of infrastructure, distribution of modern literature of entertainment, education likewise. Also feared of intelegence sharing as India got almost all information about Pakistan’s strategic open & hidden plans which pakistan had resulted failured exercises in punjab, kashmir and internal terrorsites in india. Pakistan is like itself sitting on clusterbombs of so many problems internally which on the set off to explode which’ll result into pieces of nation, but when?
How do you Nazir Naji, Qurtobal and Africa?
Hinges or Advert?
Adventis or Obscure behavior?
The treaty between India and Afghanistan is between two sovereign states. It does not need the approval of or acceptance by the terrorist nation of Pakistan. You are but a small , poor and illiterate country, depeding on American alms to stay alive. Do not punch above your weight.
Your objections do not count. Get used to it.
@Chimera,
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Not so. The 19 terror pilots of Sep 11 2011 were less than 1% of the number of fatalities they caused. The number of terrorists fighting in various al-Qaeda franchises are *again* less than 1% the number of fatalities they cause.
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Pak-mil, ISI & Jihadi outfits number less than 1% of all the deaths they've caused in Pakistan & India.
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So, the numbers are not important. Even though USA, UK, etc have Nukes, not one of these nations have the spine or the heart to use the nukes. But, Pakistanis actually have not just the heart, but a well-outlined intent to use nukes – even if it might lead to the complete destruction of Pakistan itself.
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One terrorist with an AK 47 can easily make 100 other civilians act like brainless zombies. So, one small, poor & illiterate country can quite easily & remarkably make the richest & powerful nations (like China & USA) fall on their knees and weep.
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One small Israel defeated the entire plethora of Arab nations – not once but multiple times. One small Bengali organization "Mukthi Bahini" lead to the creation of a new state of Bangladesh. The list is endless.
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And yes, I do agree to your conclusion "Your objections do not count. Get used to it.". In a major or influential way, Pakistani apprehensions and objections don't count at all. But, that's a risk the world (& especially India) is taking. If ISI can train terrorists to set-up IED bombs, how much time & effort will it take for the ISI to use the same terrorist infrastructure to put in a nuke bomb? Not much, really. It just needs to get the right excuses & scape-goats.
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MN
What do you think, Mr. Gandhi, If India stays neutral in Afgan or elsewhere in the world, terrorists from muslim region wll also also stay neutral? Mind it, again, Pakistan is ruled by people who like to earn moneys from illegal works, they donot like Law system. They are involved allwhere the world. Any good law system they think hurdle in their earnings. This us the perfect time to freege these people from doing their business. Remember of Mahabharat, Lord Krishna & Parth Arjuna Situation. Already we’ve lost around 2 lacs people in this battale, and we’re on the verge of Win over terror. So donot afraid of terrorists, if they want to kill you then you will be killed in any condition. Better to kill these terrorists and the terror.
@Sandeep,
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Agar aap ko angrezi nahi pasand hai, toh please hindi me bataiye. It was very difficult to read (let alone understand) your comment. What's meant by the following words,
"allwhere the world", "time to freege these people"
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I'm not advocating cowardice and I'm not asking Indian forces to keep quite when LeT, JeM, HuJI or SIMI or any terror organization is trying to attack. All I'm saying is this:
a. I am a hard-working Indian guy and I pay lots of taxes (Income Tax, Property Tax, Value-Added Tax, heck even my Airtel post-paid phone bill has an "Education Cess").
b. A majority of the Indian people I associate myself with are auto-walas, taxiwalas, dabbawalas, chaprasi, factory-workers, construction-area day laborers & (of course, obviously since I'm also an) IT workers – and they pay taxes too (sales tax even on the 1 rupee water-packet).
c. I don't want my tax rupees to be spent training some other nation's military or security-forces – it doesn't matter if the other nation is Israel or Sri Lanka or Pakistan or Afghanistan or Burma or Nepal or Bangladesh.
d. Use my tax money to help me & my people here in India. Don't spend it on other people & other countries.
e. There are enough big corporate entities that will be more than happy to mine Afghanistan for all its mineral richness. Ambanis alone will be able to pump in a hell lot of money into mining projects. So, make FICCI, CII and other business organizations work closely with the Afghan society. Allow China & Pakistan & Iran to take care of the security situation. And each of these nations should also get a cut of the mining-profits directly linked to the security they can provide.
f. This will lead to societal development for Afghanistan. Thereby those mujahideen fighting USA or Israel or foreign armies will start fighting poverty, jobless-ness & backwardness – by working and uplifting their societies. And, I can bet a thousand rupees they'll emerge victorious in these new wars against poverty, illiteracy.
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Now, what's wrong with that?
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MN
Did you forget to take your medication today?
no diesel, did you forget to take your illegal sleeping meds?
"India has only made two security pacts in its history." – really? Then what are the following?
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1. India's recent MONGOLIA security pact: Is Mongolia anywhere even *NEAR* Pakistan?
"http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2301932.ece"
2. India's other security pacts & overseas bases:
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Armed_Forces#Security_pacts_and_Overseas_Bases"
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India operates an airbase from Tajikistan. India has permission to operate Air Bases from Iran in case of a Pakistani belligerence. India is one of 3 countries that Japan has a security pact with (others being USA & Australia). India is *obligated* to treat any aggression against Nepal, Bhutan as an aggression against itself & take suitable action. India is *obligated* to support Qatar from external threats.
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Now, why'd you state India had made only 2 security pacts in its entire history? And I'm considering only the partial history after imperialist-independence.
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Before the bloody barbarians from Middle-East (starting around 700 A.D.) with their sick evil blood-letting concepts started looting the people of Pakistan, there were far more "security pacts" from that land too. Heck, it's the intellectual & religious concepts established in Pakistan (the Buddhist kings) that have conquered China and even Japan (which continue to remain Buddhist even today) with *love* & *rationality*.
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MN
I would like to say to Mr Naji thank you for a great article!
Mr. suri, this is the trajedy that most of people will be influenced by such articles, and keeping thanks…But no one is thinking about exact and right remedies. Pakistan people need to acquire human rights like food, medicines, money, employement and cultural freedom. These were kept in lock by government and military. There is no any external enemy of Pakistan but from inside. Think wisely and act for….
Mr. Duratma_Gandhi:
Never mind!
Peace…
Mr. Naji:
Great article! Thanks!
Any thoughts about Pakistan's check-book? How would it look in 10-15 years?
Social, political, power implications? I don't believe there would be any emergence of a national leader by that time. But who knows…
Calvin,
Does Sue know yet? She will!
Love thou wife…
Long standing peace can only be achieved by equals, that is the precise issue why the question of independence rose pre-1947 – muslims not feeling their rights were being fairly addressed by Gandhi & co . The question arises now; does India really see the need of peace with equals or prefers Pak to "submit" to their demands for the region…
Unfortunately, South Asians are still riddled with post-colonial complexities when its comes to seeing 'the bigger picture' or 'moving on'. Whilst a minority group exists on each side of the border, genuinely preferring to move on. Yet in reality too much distrust and complexities exist leading to a hawkish behaviour towards each other.
Pak should see this as an opportunity for peace yet the model presented by US/India to train/assist the minority (northern alliance) is not realistic or workable in the long-term unless the majority pashtun voices are heard and NOT via a crony like Karzai.
The US would like to remain in the region to keep a watchful eye over China and Russia (plus the oil reserves all around the region), but due to public opinion and their current finances they need to "outsource" this to India – who crave international recognition – other than their strides in IT services. China has prospered largely due to a economy based on cheap labour and a non-antagonistic foreign policy – India is not close to their economic might yet has agreed to take on this risky project (mission)…
One thing most of the US and Indian policy makers forget is the history of the country and how pashtun's take to outsiders…..an infamous quote by the Taliban yet very poignant and memorable :
"You might have the watches, but we have the time……"
Most would-be conquerors have never lasted the distance or had the appetite for the long haul……India be prepared!
p.s. as an optimist, i'd hope a friendly rivalry could exist between Pak and India, as that of the West….but we have to forgive and forget when it comes to the past – that goes for both sides to truly become progressive in State and mind..
"peace can only be achieved by equals"…
How does Swiss live — how are Bangladeshis living now? Post independence how many muslims migrated from India to Pakistan under oppression? Institutionally, how did India respond in Sri Lankan civil war?
What makes you think "equals" is defined by a certain attribute of your arbitrary choice? How is Canada & USA living? How about Mexico & USA? What about Russia & China – and Russia-Mongolia & China-Mongolia? What about Singapore-Malaysia?
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Equality need not necessarily be measured by money or land or people or power or influence or any material scale at all. It's a state of mind – it's a thinking – a perspective. Do you think all Mongolians think they're "equal" to Russia or China? I doubt it. But they are assured that their existence will be unhindered as long as they don't harm others. The Jaina concept "Live & Let Live".
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Given enough time & influence of Iran, B'desh will soon start it's own wars against it's perceived enemy – just wait for a few more decades. Remember, China supports both Iran & Pakistan – and it's in China's interest to have an influence on B'desh; and turning it against India.
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India – Sri Lanka. PLOTE was the earlier movement of Tamils; it was hijacked by Mrs. Priyadarshini Nehru-Feroze using R.A.W. that lead to creation of LTTE. Her son double-crossed the LTTE by sending in the IPKF on the war-front supporting the SL Army. Result: A bloody slaughter in Sriperumbudur. NOTE: Today, a majority of Tamil Nadu politicians are asking for amnesty to the convicts of that blast.
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Exactly like what USA did with pumping in money & funds to grow the frankenstein monster named mujahideen fighters to oust USSR out of Afghanistan, the Priyardshini-era R.A.W. too influenced the LTTE. The USA is now paying for it's past sins; mainly because it left the monster abruptly after decimation of USSR. And the monster was influenced by bin-laden type of thinking, resulting in a back-fire for the US. On the other hand, India did not abruptly leave it's monster. It actively supported the SL Army in it's genocide of Tamils and thereby complete annihilation of the LTTE. Today, there's no LTTE. In other words, India destroyed the monster it created.
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MN
@Naeem,
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Why double-standards? On the one hand you call Karzai a "crony" and unfit to represent pasthoons. On the other hand you think the current Indian administration ("allegedly" influenced by an Italian ex-maid Antonia Maino with ex-KGB links) is representative of the diverse indian people from the Panun Kashmiri Pandits to the Malai-kallars of the south.
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It's not "India" that is trying to work as USA's second fiddle – it's the current Indian administration.
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And hopefully when the next administration comes to power (if it has enough Communist influence then) this USA-deal will be thrown into the sewage. However, if it's the Congress-BJP-and-friends, I expect even more sucking up to the USA.
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This project (mission) of USA to India will also lead to a plethora of massive frauds and scams (not unlike the Bofors case). So, Anna Hazare & his team will have more fish to fry.
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MN
If ZA Bhutto was alive he wouldn’t have approved BB and Zardari marriage !!
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