Consolidated home front is the best defence
Asif Haroon Raja
In South Asia no country other than India has aggressive designs, or is holding other’s territory illegally, or having border dispute, or is fomenting trouble through covert means, or resorting to water terrorism in neighboring countries. All South Asian countries other than India being economically very poor do not have the means to undertake such expensive and destructive pursuits. On the contrary, India has border disputes with all its neighbors. It is resorting to water terrorism against Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In her bid to get herself recognized as super power of the region, she has been intimidating, blackmailing, coercing and using force against all her neighbors. In order to understand the reason behind unending hostility of India against Pakistan, it will be worthwhile to hark back into the history of the subcontinent.
Hindus hostility against Muslims started building up after the invasion and annexation of Sindh by Muhammad Bin Qasim in 712. Hatred against Muslims welled up when Sultan Ghaznavi made Punjab integral part of his Ghaznawid Empire. Thereon, series of Muslim Sultans trounced India and established their empires. Zaheeruddin Babur laid the foundation of Moghul Empire in India in 1526 and Mughal flag kept fluttering till 1858. All lower caste Hindus, Buddhists and Jains suffering under the oppressive yoke of high caste Hindus welcomed the Muslim rulers who were just and benign.
When the Mughal Empire began to totter after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb because of weak rulers and destructive invasions of Taimur lung and Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Marhattas under Shivaji tried to capture power but were decisively defeated in the battle of Panipat by Abdali. Once the British East India Company gained a firm footing in Bengal after the battle of Plassey in 1757, the Hindus hastened to pledge loyalty to the British merchants. Both worked in unison to emasculate Muslims.
Although the British snatched power from the Mughals in 1858, the collaborating Hindus socially catapulted by the British started to behave as masters of India because of their majority. It is a well recorded fact of history how the British turned the Muslims from lords to serfs and Hindus from servants to landlords. Hindu leaders pent up aversion against Muslims came to light during Congress rule from 1937 to 1939. They refused to accept Muslim League as a separate political entity of the Muslims and to share power with them. Despite repeated requests of MA Jinnah to grant constitutional rights to the Muslims so that the two communities could co-exist harmoniously, Nehru, Gandhi and other Congress and Hindu Mahasabha leaders refused to pay any heed. Drunk with power, they continued to push the Muslims against the wall. Jinnah who was known as an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity was left with no option but to raise the demand of separate homeland for the Muslims as dreamt by Allama Iqbal where they could practice their faith, customs and traditions freely.
Lahore resolution passed on March 23, 1940 rattled Congress leaders. They raised a storm and Hindu antagonism scaled new heights. In collusion with Mountbatten, Congress leaders started to create one hurdle after another to dissuade Jinnah from going his way. Till the very end, they kept trying to kill the idea of Pakistan. Division of Bengal and Punjab and unjust Radcliffe’s Boundary Award were meant to compel Jinnah to change his mind.
When Pakistan came into being on August 14, 1947 solely because of superhuman willpower and steadfastness of Quaid-e-Azam, Indian leaders began to make trouble to kill the newborn in its cradle. Indian wizards professed that Pakistan would collapse within six months under the weight of insurmountable problems and would beg for re-union. Nehru instigated King Zahir Shah to create trouble on Pakistan’s western border by refusing to accept Durand Line as a recognized border and to raise the issue of Pakhtunistan. Khan Brothers were prompted to seek independence or make Frontier Province part of India. Khan of Kalat was also elbowed to stay independent.
India grabbed 565 princely states including those wanting to join Pakistan and forcibly occupied two-thirds Kashmir contiguous to Pakistan. It is still in its illegal occupation and bone of contention between India and Pakistan. Large tracts of rich lands in West Punjab and East Bengal were also usurped. India’s greed has still not been satiated and even now it keeps dreaming of absorbing Pakistan into Indian Union.
After truncating Pakistan in 1971, India is striving hard to further balkanize Pakistan. RAW which had played a key role in subverting the minds of people of East Pakistan and in fomenting insurgency is now actively involved in Balochistan, FATA and Karachi. TTP and BLA backed by RAW, CIA and others are replicating the role of Mukti Bahini to destabilize and dismember Pakistan. Karachi is being systematically bled to cripple Pakistan economically.
Apart from sabotage and subversion, India makes full use of propaganda war duly backed by the West and Israel together with false flag operations to discredit Pakistan and its prime institutions. Stage-managed terrorist attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and in Mumbai in 2008 and terrorist attacks in different Indian cities between 2002 and 2008 were falsely pasted on Pakistan, Kashmiri freedom fighters and Indian Muslims. It has now been admitted by Indian Congress Government that all those were the handiwork of Hindu terrorist groups. It has also been established that Indian Army officers are linked with BJP patronized Hindu terrorist groups. Even after such huge embarrassments, Indian military and BJP feel no shame and continue to cook up stories and stage false flag operations to score a point against Pakistan. Indian media and public start jumping in fit of rage and create war hysteria to make the world believe that they have been stabbed.
After exhibiting extreme hostility in the aftermath of Mumbai attacks for a long period, India wore the mask of friendship and started giving friendly signals in mid 2012, but it reverted to its old stance over a trumped up incident along the LoC in Kashmir in January this year, alleging that Pak soldiers had beheaded an Indian soldier. While Manmohan was warmly responding to newly elected Nawaz Sharif’s friendly gestures, Indian military was up to its old monkey tricks to spoil the peace game. It has created a fuss over alleged killing of five Indian soldiers in Poonch sector on 6 August allegedly by Kashmiri Mujahideen dressed in Pak uniforms at the behest of Pak Army.
This farcical drama was enacted to cover up cruel act of Indian soldiers, crossing into Neelum Valley on July 30, kidnapping four unarmed civilians, killing them and dumping their bodies across the LoC with weapons, and then claiming that they were terrorists. 6th August action could have been a retaliatory act of Kashmiri militants, while Indian military’s continued belligerence along the LoC is probably because of heating up of Jammu & Kashmir owing to unjust hanging of Afzal Guru. There is no taking for Pakistan to activate its eastern front when western front is turbulent, its two extreme flanks in turmoil, Karachi soaked in blood and Pakistan groaning under the weight of knotty problems.
Even after lapse of 65 years, Hindu Brahman leaders have not reconciled to the existence. They feel that Pakistan is the only hurdle in the path of India leading towards the cherished goal of becoming a world power and hence must be demolished. They are continuing to expand and modernize Indian armed forces as well as up grade nuclear program to overawe Pakistan. In order to frustrate the evil designs of our arch enemy, our leaders should strive hard to put our house in order because consolidated home front is the best defence.
The writer is a retired Brig, defence analyst, columnist and author of several books. asifharoonraja@gmail.com
