Zarb-e-Azb & Spirit of 1965 War

By Sajjad Shaukat

Military thinkers agree that although the physical force will determine the type and scale of war, yet it is the will to fight or moral force which determines the outcome of war. Clausewitz puts it this way, “One might say that the physical force seems little more than the wooden hilt, while moral factors are the precious metal, the real weapon.”

In his book, “Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945”, Creveld identifies the elements of moral force, whom he calls “fighting power, the willingness to fight and the readiness, if necessary, to die”. The greater these elements, the less vulnerable an armed force will be to demoralization. Moral force, then, is the crucial factor in determining the combat power of any belligerent.

During the 1965 war such elements like will to fight and moral force have been more found in the personnel of Pakistan’s Armed Forces then those of India.

When, on September 6, 1965, India started the war, and its forces crossed the international border, on the western front in Lahore, Pakistan’s Armed Forces quickly responded. Indian Regiment had also crossed the BRB canal and captured the town of Batapore (Jallo Mur). The same day, a counter offensive by Pakistanis soldiers, consisting of an armoured division and infantry division forced the Indian 15th Division to withdraw to its starting point. In this regard, the huge credit goes to the all men of Pak Army, who were deployed in the Lahore areas of Wahgah, Burki etc. Without bothering for their lives, they fought bravely. Among them, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti played a huge role in the outcome of the Lahore battles and was martyred (Shaheed).  

Similarly, in case of Sialkot, several soldiers of the Pak Army sacrificed their lives to stop advancement of Indian tanks. The 1965 war witnessed some of the largest tank battles since World War II, and was fought at Chawinda in Sialkot sector—The Battle of Chawinda resulted into victory of Pakistan whose armoured forces destroyed 120 tanks of India.  

As regards aerial warfare between Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Indian Air Force (IAF), the latter emerged as victorious in the I965 war because, at the cost of their personal safety, the personnel of Pakistan Air Force defeated India. During that war, PAF had destroyed 100 Indian aircraft on ground and in the air, while damaged more than 10—not counting the undermined losses inflicted by PAF’s night bombing. In this regard, Squadron Leader M. M. Alam set new records in history of air warfare on 7th September by defending Pakistan’s airspace, and shot down five Indian aircraft in less than sixty seconds at Sargodha. 

In relation to the sacrificing spirit, let us take the example of Flight Lieutenant Yunus Hussain who fought in air battles fearlessly. During one such engagement, he fought singly against 6 enemy aircraft and shot down 2 Hunters. On 6 September, while attacking Halwara airfield, his small formation was intercepted by a large number of enemy, and although his aircraft was hit, he refused to break off the engagement by disregarding his personal safety, and was martyred.  

The role of Pakistan Navy in the Indo-Pak war of 1965 is also appreciable. Securing Pakistan’s coasts, it played a vital role in defeating India. The Operation Dawarka marked was launched by Pakistan on September 7. Indian town of Dwarka was chosen to be a target of the attack. The Pakistani operation was successful and its warships harboured in Bombay, making the Indian Navy unable to sortie. In this context, Ghazi, the only submarine successfully attacked heavy ships of the Indian Navy, aiding Operation Dwarka.

However, there were many national heroes like Brigadier Ahsan Rashid, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti, SQN LDR M. M. Alam, SQN LDR Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui etc. who fought courageously with the Indian forces.  

In fact, it was due to the moral force that despite Indian surprise invasion in 1965 and the qualitative and numerical superiority over Pakistan, while showing courage, and by sacrificing their lives, the Pakistani forces not only recaptured the territories from India, but also took Khem Karan from Indian forces including various regions of Rajastan, Sindh, and Chumb in Kashmir. Indian defeat was owing to demoralization of its soldiers.

It is due to the same spirit of the 1965 war, shown by the soldiers of Pakistan’s Armed Forces during the successful military operation, Zarb-e-Azb, which compelled Taliban to retreat from North Waziristan Agency. Notably, since June 15, 2014, the jets of Pakistan Air Force have bombed militants’ hideouts in North Waziristan, and killed thousands of insurgents including foreign militants, while Pak Army has also killed several terrorists through ground offensive and many of them surrendered before the Army. And during street to street fighting, without bothering for their lives, and by air-dropping commandos at the risky places, our forces made a great headway in disrupting the Taliban supply routes and links.

While, the primary intelligence agency ISI captured several terrorists in Pakistan’s various regions, including suicide-jackets and weapons—thus thwarted their subversive acts. Operation, Zarb-e-Azb which has been extended to other tribal area and provinces of Pakistan, including Karachi is obtaining its objectives rapidly, as the Armed Forces have broken the backbone of the militants.

While addressing a ceremony of the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1965 war, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Raheel said on September 6, this year that the operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched at a time when terrorist networks had solidified in the country, and the Armed Forces had been fighting an untraditional war for the past many years, elaborating, “our success is the result of our martyrs and ghazis—in Karachi and Balochistan, peace has returned, where militants have been surrendering their arms.”

Nonetheless, either it was the Indo-Pak war of 1965 or the present different war against the militants; it was owing to the superior moral force of sacrificing their own lives, noted in Pakistan’s soldiers, which caused demoralization among Indian forces and the Taliban—resulting into victory of the guardians of the country in both cases.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

India’s Unrealistic Counterinsurgency Strategy

By Sajjad Shaukat

Learning no lesson from the past, and depending upon state terrorism, Indian Central Government has finalized the raising of Indian Reserve Police Battalions (IRBPs) in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and Naxal/Maoist hit states or Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Out of the total 25 IRBPs proposed, five will be for IOK and 12 for LWE affected states whereas rest of 8, IRBPs for other states.

These battalions will be raised by recruiting local youths. In case of Naxal hit states, 75 per cent vacancies will be filled up by youths from the 27 worst-affected districts. In IOK, the recruitment process will concentrate on insurgency prone areas.

At present, there are 144 IRPBs in various states. In addition, Central Government has recently approved raising of eight additional IRBPs, four each of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The cost of raising each of the battalion will be around Indian Rupee, 61 crore and 75 per cent of it will be provided by the Central Government. This cost is much lower than raising of a paramilitary battalion which costs around Rs. 160 crore.

Personnel of IRBPs are normally deployed in their respective states, but they can be deployed in other states too, if there is a requirement. The current raising is outcome of demand by respective states government in wake of the ever growing/persistence insurgency and freedom struggle.

Within a span of approximately six months, Central Government of India has approved the demand which reflects the surge of militants/insurgent activities in the LWE hit states/ IOK. It also highlights the manifestation of focus to curb militancy and raise the force level to meet the challenges, which have been repeatedly expressed by Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh has also repeatedly highlighted his focus to build the capacity of security forces engaged in fighting insurgency. The mentioned increase is a part of overall drive against Naxal/Maoist hit states and IOK.

Off late the insurgent/militant activities in LWE and IOK regions have seen a significant surge whereby Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have suffered causalities. Therefore, immediate attention has been paid towards the new strategy.

While, despite concerted efforts—capacity, capability, weapons, equipments and training, the Indian security forces could not effectively counter/reduce the insurgent activities in these states.

The recent surge of insurgents/militant activities in the Nexal affected states of India has compelled the Central Government to enhance counter insurgency efforts in other parts as well. Therefore, the Home Ministry has given a go ahead for not only raising the additional battalions, but also pursuing the support of helicopters/UAVs to cover/ assist the security forces engaged in anti-Naxal/Maoist activities in the affected states.

It is mentionable that under the mask of democracy and secularism, Indian subsequent regimes dominated by politicians from the Hindi heartland—Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), used brutal force ruthlessly against any move to free Assam, Kashmir, Khalistan, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Tripura where wars of liberation continue in one or the other form. In the recent years, Maoist intensified their struggle, attacking official installments. In this context, Indian media admitted that Maoists have entered the cities, expanding their activities against the Indian union. While, even under the rule of Congress which claims to be secular party, Indian extremist parties like BJP, RSS, VHP, Shev Sina and Bajrang Dal have missed no opportunity to communalize national politics of India. They also intensified anti-Christian and anti-Muslim bloodshed.

After serving the BJP for 30 years, Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party for praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah and echoing the pain of the Indian Muslims in his book, “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence.” While pointing out the BJP’s attitude towards the minorities, Singh wrote: “Every Muslim that lives in India is a loyal Indian…look into the eyes of Indian Muslims and see the pain.” He warned in his book, if such a policy continued, “India could have third partition.”

Past and present history of Balkan gives ample evidence that insurgency and movement of separatism in one country have drastic impact on other neighbouring states. Similarly, civil war and unrest either in Somalia or Sudan have affected all the states of Darfur region, while violent uprising in Egypt, Syria etc. has radicalized a number of the Middle East countries. Indian state terrorism in the Indian-held Kashmir will further radicalize India, giving a impetus to separatist movements in other regions of India.

It is noteworthy that currently, more than half of India’s budget is allocated for armed forces, and defence purchases, leaving even less to lift millions of its citizens from abject poverty. Hence, various injustices have further accelerated regional and ethnic disparities in India, particularly, under the Modi government.

It is worth-mentioning that the one of the important causes of the disintegration of the former Soviet Union was that its greater defence expenditure exceeded to the maximum, resulting into economic crises inside the country. In this regard, about a prolonged war in Afghanistan, the former President Gorbachev had declared it as the “bleeding wound.” However, militarization of the Soviet Union failed in controlling the movements of liberation, launched by various ethnic nationalities. On the other hand, while learning no lesson from India’s previous close friend, Indian fundamentalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP extremist party is acting upon the similar policies.

At present, undoubtedly, India is witnessing increased incidents of violence and killings related to communal violence and insurgencies. Nevertheless, such incidents project security weaknesses and failures of the Indian government in curbing insurgent tendencies and problems of the public.

While, Indian government is raising Reserve Police Battalions to continue state terrorism, and on the parallel axes, announcement of rehabilitation schemes, development projects and incentives for surrender have been implemented to cope with the insurgency and uprising. It shows contradictory policy of New Delhi.

Instead of redressing the grievances of the Maoists by eliminating injustices against them and the Kashmiris by granting them their legitimate right of liberation, Indian government is again acting upon brutal force to suppress these movements through force. Therefore, India’s unrealistic counterinsurgency Strategy will badly fail, culminating into political suicide of the India union.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Does India Want Nuclear War?

By Sajjad Shaukat

By setting aside Indian commitment to observe restraint, as agreed during the recent meeting of the Directors-General Military Operations (DGMOs) of both the countries, India has accelerated unprovoked firing at the Line of Control in Kashmir and Working Boundary across Pak-Indian border. Even without bothering for nuclear war, New Delhi has continuously been ignoring Islamabad’s protest.

In this respect, India again cancelled National Security Adviser (NSA)-level talks with Pakistan, scheduled to be held in New Delhi on August 23-24. In this context, Spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup said that New Delhi opposes Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz’s meeting with pro-independence leaders of Kashmir.

India neglected the fact that the Hurriyat leaders are true representatives of the Kashmiri people of the Indian occupied Kashmir, and could help in finding a lasting solution of the Kashmir dispute. During the talks between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Minister Nawaz Shariff and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ufa, Islamabad conveyed to New Delhi a comprehensive agenda to discuss all outstanding issues, including Kashmir as well as terrorism. But, Indian insistence to restrict the dialogue-agenda to terrorism or cross-border terrorism only shows that India is not serious to resolve any issue with Pakistan. Hence, Indian firing across the LoC and pre-conditions are part of its delaying tactics, based upon anti-Pakistan approach, followed by shrewd diplomacy against Islamabad. In fact, by promoting Hindu chauvinism on the basis of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans, extremist party, BJP won a landslide victory in the Indian elections 2014. Now, leader of the BJP and fundamentalist Prime Minister of India Modi has been implementing its party’s agenda. He has given a free hand to the Indian forces to go on aggressively with the border violations in wake of hostile statements by Indian leadership against Pakistan.

In order to defame Islamabad, from time to time, BJP-led government also orchestrates a drama to malign Pakistan’s security agencies. In this connection, in the recent past, prior to the US President Obama’s second visit to New Delhi, Indian intelligence agencies orchestrated a boat drama to defame Pakistan, allegedly reporting that a Pakistani fishing boat as a Pakistan-based outfit group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was intercepted by Indian Coast Guards, off the coast of Porebandar, Gujarat. And Indian Coast Guard crew set the boat on fire and it exploded. But, its reality exposed Indian terrorism, because, some Indian high officials admitted that there was no such boat which came from Pakistan. Similarly, on July 27, 2015, three gunmen dressed in army uniforms killed at least seven people, including three civilians and four policemen in the Indian district of Gurdaspur, Punjab. Without any investigation, Indian high officials and media started accusing Pakistan, its banned militant outfits and intelligence agencies for the incident. Indian Police remarked that the attackers were from Indian-held Kashmir, and some stated that they were Sikh separatists, while Indian Punjab police chief claimed that the three gunmen were Muslim, but as yet unidentified. Contradicting speculations, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament that the gunmen came from Pakistan. Recently, Indian Army orchestrated a drama in the Indian-controlled Kashmir by killing an innocent person, showing his connections with Pakistan. When, it was exposed, the Indian government admitted the fault of its security forces.

Besides, New Delhi earnestly found various pretexts to cancel peace talks, while shifting the blame to Islamabad. For example, in 2002, under the pretension of terrorist attack on the Indian parliament, India postponed the dialogue process. Again, in 2008, India cancelled the ‘composite dialogue’ on the pretext of Mumbai terror attacks.

Particularly, on May 27, 2014, Indian Prime Minister Modi’s meeting with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shariff in the oath-taking ceremony proved faultless, because, while raising baseless issues like terrorism as pre-condition to advance the dialogue process, he said that slow pace of trial against the terrorists of the Mumbai 26/11 terror case; being held in Pakistan is main hurdle. But, he ignored the fact that on July 19, 2013, the Indian former home ministry and ex-investigating officer Satish Verma disclosed that terror-attacks in Mumbai in November 26, 2008 and assault on Indian Parliament in January 12, 2001 were carried out by the Indian government to strengthen anti-terrorism laws.

In this respect, some online reports of foreign media has revealed that Indian media has recently been up-beating the negative theme that LeT, in connivance with Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI, are planning to conduct Mumbai type terror attacks inside India. It has been assessed that the campaign against Pakistan by India is fraught with the danger of India trying to create a reason for waging a ‘short’ and ‘swift’ war against Pakistan. Recent statements of the Indian army chief also endorse the same view.

Undoubtedly, New Delhi is destabilizing the regional countries in general and Afghanistan and Pakistan in particular to obtain its secret designs, aimed at augmenting Indian hegemony in the region. Therefore, India is foiling the peace process between Afghanistan and Pakistan by managing terrorist attacks like the recent ones in Afghanistan which revived old blame game against Islamabad. India is also thwarting the peace process between the Afghan officials and representatives of Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan, which started in Murree, Pakistan, on July 8, 2015 through a meeting, hosted by Islamabad, and in it, Chinese and American representatives also participated.

Besides, India wants to divert the attention of the international community from the involvement of RAW which has well-established its network in Afghanistan, and is fully assisting cross-border incursions and terror-activities in various regions of Pakistan through Baloch separatist elements, Jundullah and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). On a number of occasions, these insurgent groups claimed responsibility for their subversive acts.

It is mentionable that on September 18, this year, the TTP militants attacked a Pakistan Air Force camp in Badaber area, Peshawar and martyred 29 people including an Army captain and four security personnel. In this context, confirming the death of 13, militants, DG ISPR, Maj-Gen Asim Bajwa said that valiant personnel of the security forces thwarted the attempt of the heavily-armed TTP terrorists by stopping them to enter inside the base—and they came from Afghanistan.

Notably, Pakistan has decided to raise the question of Indian cross-border terrorism and RAW involvement in Pakistan at the UNO forum, with strong evidence in light of open statements of Indian defence minister and prime minister who recently confirmed assistance to anti-Pakistan elements including separation of East Pakistan.

Pakistan has also decided to raise the issues of Indian cross-border shelling and human rights violations in the Indian controlled Kashmir. But, it is regrettable that the US is still showing double standard by asking both the countries to settle these disputes through bilateral dialogue.  America should know that Dr. Subramaniam Swami, the leader of the Indian ruling party BJP stated on July 12, 2014 that India needed only two years to defeat Pakistan militarily, and the only solution of Kashmir was war, as “there is no peaceful, democratic solution”.

However, Indian irresponsible moves are alarming for peace-loving countries of South Asia including those of the world. In this regard, even BBC pointed out that it seems that New Delhi wants a war with Pakistan.

Nevertheless, it is wishful thinking of the BJP leaders that they can wage a conventional war with Pakistan. While both the neighboring adversaries are nuclear powers, India is neglecting the principles of deterrence, known as ‘balance of terror.’

After the World War 11, nuclear weapons were never used. During the heightened days of the Cold War, many crises arose in Suez Canal, Korea, Cuba and Vietnam when the US and the former Soviet Union were willing to use atomic weapons, but they stopped because of the fear of nuclear war which could eliminate both the super powers. Therefore, the two rivals preferred to resolve their differences through diplomacy.

Likewise, many occasions came between Pakistan and India like the post-Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 when New Delhi started a blame game against Islamabad in wake of its highly provocative actions like mobilization of troops. Islamabad had also taken defensive steps to meet any Indian prospective aggression or surgical strikes. But, India failed in implementing its aggressive plans, because Pakistan also possesses atomic weapons.

In the past too, Indian rulers had intended to implement their doctrine of limited war in Kashmir, but they could not do so owing to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. However, in the present circumstances, BJP is badly mistaken, if it overestimates India’s power and underestimates Pakistan’s power.

Nonetheless, in wake of dangerous developments, created by the fundamentalist Indian government, question arises that does India wants nuclear war with Pakistan.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Victory Day of the 1965 War

 By Sajjad Shaukat

September 20 is being celebrated by every Pakistani as the victory day, as on this very day; Pakistan won the 1965 war which India imposed on the latter on September 6, 1965. The day has come at a time when BJP-led government of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already planned to celebrate the golden jubilee of that war, which New Delhi had never celebrated in the past. In order to propagate that the 1965 war was won by them, they had decided to celebrate September as a victory month. They started preparing campaigns for print and electronic media besides other social events, depicting the war to have been a “one sided” affair. On the other side, Pakistan is quite justified in relation to its golden jubilee celebrations of the Indo-Pak war of 1965, because it defeated India.

It is notable that in his book, titled “The Duels of the Himalayan Eagle: The First Indo-Pak Air War”, recently released, Ex-Indian Air Marshal Bharat Kumar admitted Indian defeat in the war of 1965, as disclosed by The Times of India.  

However, on the 6th of September in 1965, India crossed the international border, on the western front marking an official beginning of the war. An attempt to cross the BRB canal was made over the bridge in the village of Barki, Lahore. Besides the Kashmir and other sectors, similarly, Indian forces launched an offensive towards Sialkot.

Pakistan’s Armed Forces rose to the occasion in wake of Indian sudden attack, and in Lahore, they held the bridges over the canal or blew up those it could not hold. Indian Regiment had also crossed the BRB canal and captured the town of Batapore (Jallo Mur). The same day, a counter offensive, consisting of an armoured division and infantry division forced the Indian 15th Division to withdraw to its starting point. In this regard, the huge credit goes to the all men of Pak Army, who were deployed in the Lahore areas of Wahgah, Burki etc. Among them, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti played a huge role in the outcome of the Lahore battles and was martyred (Shaheed).  

As regards Sialkot, the 1965 war witnessed some of the largest tank battles since World War II, and was fought at Chawinda in Sialkot sector—The Battle of Chawinda resulted into victory of Pakistan whose armoured forces destroyed 120 tanks of India.

Regarding aerial warfare between Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Indian Air Force (IAF), the latter emerged as victorious in Indo-Pak war of I965. Pakistan Air Force gained a lot of credibility among Pakistan military and international war writers for successful defence of Lahore and other important areas of Pakistan and heavy retaliation to India. During that war, PAF had destroyed 100 Indian aircraft on ground and in the air, while damaged more than 10—not counting the undermined losses inflicted by PAF’s night bombing.

It is notable that the then Squadron Leader  M. M. Alam rewrote the history of air warfare on 7th September by setting new records, while defending Pakistan’s Airspace against the aggressors, and shot down five Indian aircraft in less than sixty seconds at Sargodha. He can genuinely be branded as a “hunter of the hunters”. 

The role of Pakistan Navy in the Indo-Pak war of 1965 is also appreciable. Securing Pakistan’s coasts, it played a vital role in defeating India. The Operation Dawarka marked was launched by Pakistan on September 7, 196. Indian town of Dwarka was chosen to be a target of the attack. The Pakistani operation was successful and its warships harboured in Bombay, making the Indian Navy unable to sortie. In this context, Ghazi, the only submarine was deployed to attack heavy ships of the Indian Navy, aiding Operation Dwarka.

Besides, Pakistan Army launched a number of successful covert operations to infiltrate and sabotage Indian airbases and military installations. On September 7, 1965, the Special Services Group (SSG) commandos were parachuted into enemy territory. According to Chief of Army Staff General Muhammad Musa, about 135 commandos were airdropped at three Indian airfields. The commando mission affected some planned Indian operations.

Nevertheless, despite Indian surprise invasion in 1965, while showing courage, and by sacrificing their lives, the Pakistani forces’ counterattack not only recaptured the territories from India, but also took Khem Karan from Indian forces including various regions of Rajastan, Sindh, and Chumb sector in Kashmir.

Notably, during the war, the whole nation showed solidarity with Pakistan’s Armed Forces and the air of the country was full of anthems and patriotic songs, especially in Noor jehan’s voice which prompted every soldier to fight harder. There were a lot of national heroes like Brigadier Ahsan Rashid, Major Raja Aziz Bhatti, SQN LDR M. M. Alam, SQN LDR Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui etc., most recognized, many unsung, we remember them always and particularly on September 20, marking the victory day.

It is noteworthy that unlike Indian false claim of victory, Pakistan won that war. In fact, when Indians were at the edge of loss, some of their officials went to the USA and requested for ceasefire, because they did not want further loss.

India’s Prime Minister Shastri suffered a fatal heart attack soon after the declaration of the ceasefire through Tashkent Declaration.

It is worth-mentioning that the “Official History of the 1965 War”, drafted by the Ministry of Defence of India 1992 realised Indian miscalculations. According to it, on 22 September when the Security Council Security was pressing for a ceasefire, the Indian Prime Minister asked commanding Gen. Chaudhuri, if India could possibly win the war, were he to delay accepting the ceasefire. The general replied that most of India’s frontline ammunition had been used up and the Indian Army had suffered considerable tank losses.

Air Chief Marshal (R) P.C. Lal who was the Vice Chief of Air Staff during the conflict, points to the lack of coordination between the IAF and the Indian army.

These statements and ground realities prove that there is no doubt that Pakistan won the war of 1965 by defeating India.

Undoubtedly, despite the qualitative and numerical superiority of India, it was due to the spirit of sacrificing their own lives, motivated by Pak Army’s Motto–Iman, Taqwa, Jihad and Fi Sabilillah that Pakistan’s Armed Forces fought bravely and courageously. In this context, in his historical address, the then President of Pakistan, Field Marshal Ayub Khan gave reference of Kalama-e-Tayyaba.  

Nonetheless, while celebrating the victory day, and the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war, Pakistanis pay tribute to every Shaheed and Ghazi whom they salute to symbolize country’s love for those men in uniform, as they would live alive due to their deeds.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

National Action Plan against Terrorism Revisited

By Sajjad Shaukat

Still, some political entities are creating controversy about the National Action Plan (NAP) which is essential part of Pakistan’s war against terrorism, as it has co-relationship with the military operation Zarb-i-Azb which has broken the backbone of the militants.

In this respect, while heading a meeting of high level apex committee, (Of civil-military high officials) on September 10, this year regarding overall progress on implementation of NAP against terrorism, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that provincial governments were following its several provisions accordingly, however, attention should be paid to other points as well.

Just like the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and chief minister of the Sindh province, Syed Qaim complained that the federal investigation agencies and the Rangers were interfering in the matters of provincial government.

The leaders of these entities forgot that on January 2, 2015, besides the chiefs of other political parties and military top officials agreed on a draft of legislative measures which paved the way for establishment of special military trial courts. It was unanimously agreed that the 20 points (National Action Plan) enunciated in the All Parties Conference (APC) Resolution of December 24, 2014 is being acted upon—the bill as 22nd (Constitutional) Amendment was enforced soon after its approval from the parliament. Now, special military courts have been established and the ruthless terrorists facing death penalty are being hanged.

These political elements are again reminded that the National Action Plan includes important points—execution of convicted terrorists, establishment of special trial courts, ensuring no armed militias are allowed to function in the country, strengthening and activation of National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), countering hate speech and extremist material, choking financing for terrorists and terrorist organizations, ensuring against re-emergence of proscribed organizations, establishing and deploying a dedicated counter-terrorism force, taking effective steps against religious persecution, registration and regulation of Madrissas (Religious seminaries), ban on glorification of terrorism and terrorists organization through print and electronic media, FATA reforms, dismantling communication networks of terrorist organizations, measures against abuse of internet and social media for terrorism, Zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab, taking the ongoing operation in Karachi to its logical conclusion, Balochistan reconciliation, dealing firmly with sectarian terrorists, policy to deal with the issue of Afghan refugees, revamping and reforming the criminal justice system.

These hostile entities should know that corruption is the essence of terrorism. Hence, people want that this menace must be eliminated from the country as part of overall war against terrorism. In this context, on June 10, 2015, while showing the progress of the Zarb-e-Azb, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Raheel Sharif said, “Terrorists have been cleared from their strongholds in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency and fight now is moving into last few pockets close to Afghan border.” He laid emphasis on “continuation of the operations till elimination of the last expected and probable terrorists groups and sanctuaries.” While addressing a ceremony of the golden jubilee celebrations the 1965 war regarding Pakistan’s victory and defeat of India, Gen. Raheel again stated on September 6, this year that the operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched at a time when terrorist networks had solidified in the country, and the Armed Forces had been fighting an untraditional war for the past many years, elaborating, “our success is the result of our martyrs and ghazis—in Karachi and Balochistan, peace has returned, where militants have been surrendering their arms.” He reiterated his resolve to eliminate “abettors, financiers, sympathizers, and facilitators” of terrorists at all costs.

Notably, since June 15, 2014, the jets of Pakistan Air Force have bombed militants’ hideouts in North Waziristan, and killed thousands of insurgents including foreign militants, while Pak Army has also killed several terrorists through ground offensive and many of them surrendered before the Army. While, the primary intelligence agency ISI and other law-enforcing agencies captured several terrorists in various regions of Pakistan, including suicide-jackets and weapons—thus thwarted their subversive acts. They have successfully broken the network of the terrorists.

However, in order to dismantle the terror-financing networks, elimination of corruption is an important part of Pakistan’s National Action Plan, devised to counter extremism in the country following the Peshawar school massacre of children. Similarly, reforming the religious seminaries is also its key part.

In this connection, without any discrimination, several persons involved in corruption have been arrested in Karachi and other parts of the country, while similar action is likely to be taken in Punjab and other provinces of the country, which has almost stared.

A regards religious seminaries, recent meeting of military, political and religious seminaries have vital importance. All the participants reached a mutual consensus. While assuring unconditional support to National Action Plan, representatives of Madrassas, Ulema (Religious scholars) said that culprits and black sheep in religious institutes should be dealt with iron hands. They agreed that “Pakistan is our motherland. We on our own have to protect its integrity.” They also agreed for reforms in the religious schools through introduction of new curriculum, registration, and funding process. Earlier, the chief ministers agreed to all the proposals put forth by the interior minister regarding important issues including regularization of affairs of NGOs.

Meanwhile, according to online sources, the Police have checked documents of 2,994 students of 11 Madarasas in Karachi and their administration has been ordered to ban entry of any student who is without documents, and arrested several proclaimed offenders and court absconders from different areas of the city, during a search operation of various hotels, inns, guest houses, bus terminals and railway station. During a crackdown against drug peddlers, Police also arrested drug pushers, recovering charas and hashish including illegal weapons, and rounds of ammunition. Similar action was also taken in Islamabad and some other parts of the country.

It is notable that unfortunately, it is because of lack of unity among our politicians, leaders and media that foreign opportunists have been manipulating the chaotic situation of Pakistan in order to fulfill their secret agenda by destabilizing the country which is the only nuclear country in the Islamic world. In the past few years, nefarious designs of some foreign secret agencies like Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad can be gauged from a number of anti-Pakistan developments such as their support to insurgency in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, separatism in Balochistan and targeted killings especially in Karachi coupled with subversive acts all over the country. Pakistan which has become special arena of this different war faced terror-activities such as suicide attacks, bomb blasts, targeted killings, ruthless beheadings of the innocent people, assaults on security personnel and prominent religious figures. Besides blowing children schools and attacking the female teachers in order to deny education to girls, the terrorists, particularly of the Indian-backed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also targeted mosques, Imambargahs, mausoleums, temples, churches and disgraced dead bodies.

At this critical moment, the implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism demands true national unity, which must be shown practically. Our political leaders must pledge that they will not manipulate their regional and provincial differences at the cost of the national interests so as to grab political power. For this aim, in order to castigate the conspiracy of the external enemies against the integrity of the country, our political leaders, media, religious scholars and human rights groups must also stop manipulating any crisis against Pak Army and ISI. Instead, they must show solidarity with Pakistan’s Armed forces including law-enforcing agencies which are coping with the menace of terrorism.

Although, Pak Army has ever conducted a large-scale reconstruction and rehabilitation programme in FATA, yet it is not easy to resettle 2 million people. War against terrorism will remain incomplete, unless all segments of society and politicians try to win the hearts and minds of the tribal people by providing financial resources for their rehabilitation. The vision of a peaceful, prosperous and developed FATA is necessary to foil future plans of the terrorists.

Moreover, selfless national unity against terrorists and the foreign enemies requires that our rulers and leaders of other political parties including Ulema must create national cohesion among various institutes of the country.  

Particularly, the religious scholars and seminaries should play their role in discouraging sectarianism and terrorism and a campaign to eliminate such tendencies should be launched by developing a counter narrative.

Pakistan is in the state of new warfare, being waged by the Armed Forces and intelligence agencies against terrorists. Hence, all segments of nation must be on one page, which is necessary to implement the National Action Plan which itself is essential to win this war against terrorism.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

The 6th September Demands

By Sohail Parwaz

The 6^th of September is not just a calendar date to be remembered. It’s now recalled as the fortitude symbol. Fifty years have passed. Those, who born during 1965 are now knocking at the doors of old age. A couple of decades more and then may be no one would be there to relate or recount the firsthand account of this heroic and fearless battle which our gallant troops fought against a three times large adversary. For quite a long time our enemy India kept her face buried in shame and humiliation for two reasons; first they had no justification for this unprovoked and unannounced war and secondly despite waging an surprise war with an army much larger than its neighbor, the Indian government and the forces were disgraced and ruthlessly mortified. Nevertheless, with the passage of time the followers of Chanakya reverted to their conventional unethical tactics and instead of fighting an open war, they opted to fight a war of conspiracies and ploys which they had been doing since centuries against the Muslims like Haider Ali, Tipu Sultan and many others. There was no dearth of conscienceless scum like Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq who claimed to be Muslims and were available even now with new names and faces. After an unethical success in East Pakistan for which the shameless Indians proudly took a credit, our cunning neighbor started looking for more ‘Mirs’ in Pakistan and to their delight and contentment they found ample of them, beyond their expectations.

The Indians planned a parallel war; on media as well as on diplomatic front. In media they easily found the stuff for sale; the people who were otherwise average and so called journalists and were not worth given a damn about and in the political circles they spotted the politicians who were more interested in developing their personal business relations and ties with the Indian counterparts than solving the core issues like Kashmir and Baglihar Dam. Incidentally the combo worked and what they were gaining on political front was blown out of proportion through their media stooges. Gradually and discreetly they developed a force of disgraceful fifth columnists that was tasked to ridicule and belittle the armed forces of Pakistan and especially the Army, criticize them on every forum and front, target them and demonize them. These pseudo intellectuals also known as the liberals gleefully obeyed their masters merely for money and liquor. Many of them were caught red handed several times coming out of the Indian High Commission function after attending wet parties.

These disgraceful parasites, which are living and eating in Pakistan, have a lot of filth and venom to spit against the armed forces of the country but when it comes to praising the sons of the soil, one will find them short of words; may it is operation Zarb e Azb or the war against the economic terrorism. One will suddenly find them vanishing from the social sites like Twitter and Facebook which are otherwise choked with their mudslinging against the armed forces. These paid agents have another smart strategy to follow and that’s to utter every derogatory word against Pakistan and its armed forces in the name of media freedom but whenever they are rebutted or countered they make hue and cry and propagate that paid writers and journalists are writing on the behest of the army and ISI. They make these accusations without looking at their own self and characterless behavior. Well, once it comes to that then one prefers and takes pride in writing for his courageous and chivalrous forces and ISI then writing for the iniquitous and impious enemy India and its notorious agency RAW. Interestingly, they have been tasked to defame Pakistan army and distort the history of September 65 War as well and soon people will find these moles out of their holes.

The time has finally come to put these fifth columnists back in their shoes. It’s high time to fight a war against the media terrorists, after a successful war against the war on terror and an ongoing war against the economic terrorism. No one has any validation to stay in Pakistan and talk against this land of pure and its sacred organisations. If it really bothers them then they may feel free to leave Pakistan and go to their ‘Nanihaal’ (maternal land).

The historic day of 6^th September demands that these subverting elements be put back to the place they belong and that’s the bottom-line.

India Under P.M. Modi

By Sajjad Shaukat

Since the leader of the Hindu fundamentalist party, BJP Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India; Indian society is rapidly radicalizing, as unprecedented rise of Hindu extremism, persecution of minorities, ban on beef and cow slaughter, inclusion of Hindu religious books in curriculum and creation of war-like situation with Pakistan have been accelerated. These nefarious moves have put questions about India under P.M. Modi.

While, the constitution declares India to be a secular state, granting equal rights to the religious minorities, but in practice, ideology of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) prevails. Hindu politics and culture, dominated by the fundamentalist parties such as BJP, RSS VHP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and other extremist outfits have been propagating Hindutva. Provocative utterances of their extremist leaders have resulted into unending violence against the Muslim and Christians including other minority groups.

Radicalization of India by Hindu fanatic parties could be judged from various recent developments. On May 28, 2014, Rashtriya Hindu Andolan, a Mangalore-based Hindutva outfit and activists from various right wing groups organized a protest in Mangalore in front of the office of Deputy Commissioner by demanding the authorities to ban the morning Muslim call to prayer (Azan) across the country. Besides, forcing the Muslim employee in a Parliament Canteen by BJP leader to break his fast by stuffing piece of bread in his mouth, statement of Deputy Chief of Goa, declaring India as a Hindu state, opposition to declaration of Sania Mirza as Ambassador of Indian state by calling her daughter-in-law of Pakistan might be cited as example.

In this regard, in September 13, 2008, the communal riots in Uttar Pradesh killed more than 200 Muslims. In one of the most tragic incidents in Assam, Hindu extremists burnt alive six members of a Muslim family.

Similarly, in the recent years, assaults on Christians, their churches and property have been executed by the Hindu mobs in various cities of India. In this respect, at least 100 Christians have been assassinated by Hindu extremists, mostly in the state of Orissa. In the recent past, frequent incidents of gang rape, specially the rape of elderly Nun shows the ugly face of India, under Modi.

Other anti-Muslim incidents like the discovery of the unmarked graves of thousands of the innocent Kashmiris, killed by the Indian security forces in the Indian-held Kashmir, pre-planned destruction of the Babri Masjid (mosque) in 1992, and participants of the Indian high officials in the events especially be cited as instance. Particularly, brutal killings of innocent Kashmiris by Indian forces –an Israeli pattern followed on instructions of Modi/ BJP continues unabated.

It is mentionable that forced conversions of other religious minorities into Hindus also continue. In this regard, Bajrang Dal, an offshoot of the RSS, converted at least 57 Muslim families (200 people) into Hindus at a ‘Purkhon Ki Ghar Vapsi’ (Coming home of the ancestors) or Shudhi (Purification) ceremony in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Previously, in early September 2014, Christians were also forcefully converted to Hindus which created unrest among Christian clergy. Four months ago, a similar event in Aligarh saw Christian families converting to Hinduism. However, since installment of BJP government in the center, RSS and its offshoots have accelerated their efforts for minorities’ conversion into Hindus.

As regards persecution of minorities in India, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Testimony by Human Rights Watch presented before US Senate Committee (2014) on atrocious attitude of Hindu majority has highlighted the plight of minorities in India.

It is of particular attention that on November 7, 2011, leader of the VHP, Pravin Togadia, in his furious speech questioned the past of Muslims and Christians, and further gave a call to Hindus to capture the Islamic holy places in Arab and Vatican of Europe.

But, it is strange that US government denied visa to Modi on the basis of his involvement in Gujrat pogrom, however, after his election as Indian prime minister, American changed to his favour. Undoubtedly, more than 2500 Muslims were massacred in 2002 in the BJP-ruled Indian state of Gujara where Modi was Chief Minister. Therefore, someone has rightly called him as ‘Butcher of Gujrat’.

In relation to that massive genocide, both Human Rights Watch in 2002 and Amnesty International in 2003 charged the “Gujarat state administration” for involvement in “a massive cover-up of the state’s role in that massacre” and pointed out numerous police officials—specifically ministers, high officials and leaders of the VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal as participants.”

It is noteworthy that particularly, on the basis of anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans, BJP got a land sliding triumph in the Indian elections 2014, and enabled BJP hardliner, Narendra Modi to become Indian prime minister who is implementing his party’s agenda. Therefore, he is also giving impetus to Hindu chauvinism against Pakistan, as under his direction, New Delhi has intensified unprovoked firing at the Line of Control in Kashmir and Working Boundary across Pak-Indian border.

Besides, Modi refused to wear a cap presented by Muslims during election campaign. But, during is trip to the United Arab Emirates, he visited a mosque, while putting on Muslim prayer cap, which shows his ‘hypocrisy”.

Notably, Indian Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, while using the Hindi phrase “kante se kanta nikalna’ (removing a thorn with a thorn) assertively said on May 23, 2015, “We have to neutralize terrorists through terrorists only…why does my soldier have to do it…the issue could not be discussed beyond this…there are certain things that I obviously cannot discuss here.”

In this context, while addressing a ceremony during his Bangladesh tour, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi openly stated on June 7, this year that Indian forces helped Mukti Bahini to turn East Pakistan into Bangladesh. He elaborated that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had played an active role in separating Bangladesh from Pakistan, and he had also come to Delhi in 1971 to participate in the Satyagraha Movement, launched by Jana Sangh as a volunteer to garner support for the Mukti Bahini members. But, Indian former Army Chief Gen. VK Singh confessed that during his tenure, he supervised special army unit, Tactical Support Division (TSD) on the instructions of the then defence minister to sponsor subversive activities in Pakistan, particularly Balochistan, and to bribe the Kashmiri leaders.  

Recently, Modi played his role in the release of Swami Aseemanand, a Hindu right-wing leader who had already confessed during a court hearing that he and Indian Lt. Col. Purohit, including several RSS preachers were directly involved in planning, financing and executing Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca Masjid blasts. Especially, Modi governmet nurtures cold blooded murderers who burnt alive innocent Pakistanis in Samjhota Express.

In fact, Modi who was also a volunteer worker of the extremist Hindu terrorist outfit RSS since 8 years of age is a natural born Hindu extremist, while RSS involved in Muslim genocide, rape of women, demolition of mosques and alive burnings of the innocent persons.

However, these blatant admissions clearly prove that New Delhi has been sponsoring worse kinds of terrorism inside Pakistan, and India. Hence, it is the right hour that the West and especially the US must abandon its double standard by taking appropriate steps against India. Otherwise, dangerous radicalization of India by Hindu extremists, under Modi’s rule may cause World War 111 or clash of civilizations in wake of global war against terrorism.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com