Pakistan is increasingly coming into focus of world community as the real home of terrorism in contemporary times. Its intelligence agencies raised and patronized a number of terrorist groups on its soil with flamboyant warrior names like Lashkar, Jaish, Jund, Jihad etc. to revive the history of the days when legions in the early periods of its conquests had made their name. Essentially, Pakistani ISI and Army raised what is now called non-state actors, the groups of jihadi fanatics trained on its soil in terrorist acts and subversion in the neighbouring country of India. In the process, Pakistani jihadis established links with such religious factional groups as could raise enormous funds to systematize terror. However, as these groups increased in power and found enormous funding at their disposal, they expanded and carried the message of domination through muscle power over the entire world as its mission.
Jammu and Kashmir was made a plank to whip up anti-India sentiments among the people in Pakistan and also among vulnerable sections in India and other countries. When Pakistan raised Taliban in Afghanistan so that she could comfortably carve out strategic depth westward, she aligned the two branches of terrorists to work simultaneously in Kashmir (India) and Afghanistan.After forging connection with Osama bin Laden on Af-Pak soil, Pakistan- sponsored terrorism become over ambitious and in the process focused on the US as the villain of the peace. Finally the Americans had to retaliate and thus came into existence the Afghan front. Afghanistan became the battleground for Pakistan’s proxies and the American-NATO forces. At the same time Kashmir became the battleground between Pakistan’s proxies and Indian forces.
All these years of the rise and prevalence of jihadi terrorism, the US went on mollifying Pakistan in the hope of reversing its terrorist related agenda. The US went on giving huge financial packages to Pakistan army since Pakistan posed to be on the side of US against Osama whom it had kept sheltered in Abbotabad, few kilometers away from the GHQ. Now that the US would want to withdraw the bulk of her forces from Afghanistan, Taliban have accelerated attacks on Afghan national forces and civilians with the strong terrorist bands of Haqqani remaining in place.
Now the US has realized, albeit belatedly, that the real problem is Pakistan. Critical situation in Afghanistan has forced the State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner to tell Pakistan to stop sending terrorists to her neighbouring countries without naming India and Afghanistan. Whether Pakistan will heed the warning or not is not clear. History tells us that she may not be disposed to heed the warning as she has had such warnings in the past as well. But there are other symptoms to show that Washington is likely to take the matter seriously. In its annual report Pentagon has comedown with scathing criticism of Pakistan for double-speak. F-16 fighter deal has been revoked and the US is not going to give Pakistan 300 million dollars of military aid because the Defence Secretary has not certified to the Congress that Pakistan has done enough to dismantle terrorist edifice in that country. It is for the first time that the US spokesman has talked about Pakistani terrorists targeting neighbouring countries.
In another development, Indian Home Minister who had gone to Pakistan to attend the 7th SAARC Home Ministers meeting on August 4, said in his address in the Indian Parliament that he had told the SAARC meeting that countries should desist from making terrorists as heroes and lionizing them because in fact they were terrorists responsible for atrocities. He said that a terrorist may be hero for some but for us in this country he is a terrorist. Rajnath Singh said that Pakistan should stop making distinctions of good and bad terrorists. He endorsed what the US spokesman said that Pakistan was selective in defining and treating terrorists. It means that while Pakistan takes the TTP and Baluch nationalists as terrorists and wages war against them, it calls terrorists in Afghanistan and Kashmir as freedom fighters.
Pakistan is increasingly coming under pressure of world community to shut down the terror shop it has opened and cooperate with the world community in meeting this challenge because Pakistan itself is faced by the grave challenge. Its army has been waging a war against the terrorists and it should understand that if it does not stop its double standards, there are few chances of Pakistan escaping a disaster.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel