Present Situation in Pakistan

 ll Hari Om ll

We have been seeing what has been recently happening on the Line of Control between India and Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir. Pakistan violated the ceasefire between the two countries which was in-force since 2003. Pakistani Army regulars crossed the Line of Control and beheaded 2 Indian Army soldiers in the most inhumane and barbaric manner. Further to this the violation of ceasefire has continued from the Pakistani side in the form of unprovoked cross border firing. Even after all this Pakistan Government has very purposefully and vociferously taken up the public campaign of denial of responsibility of the incidences through its senior-most ministers and bureaucrats.

The ceasefire violations with India and beheading of Indian Army personnel by Pakistani Army seems to be a tactic which Pakistan have been using for years to divert the attention of the common Pakistani people whenever the Pakistani Government has faced internal challenges and accusations . In this context I would like to give the excerpts of the editorial published in daily Pratyaksha recently.

Pakistan’s New Enemy

Finally, the truth seems to have dawned upon Pakistan’s army that terrorism and not India poses the greatest threat to Pakistan. This has come to light in Pakistan’s recently published ‘Military Doctrine’. Pakistan’s newly found wisdom, however, appears to be a case of too little too late. Terrorism has virtually eaten into the insides of Pakistan; but it took the military brass of Pakistan far too long to realize that.

Pakistan got a unique dose of terrorism when, over the last few weeks, Taliban extremists attacked a team of medical volunteers who had embarked on the polio vaccination drive. The reason advanced was that the polio vaccination drive was a conspiracy of the CIA who, apparently, had used the same means to track down Osama Bin Laden. The public at large, too, appears to be looking at this initiative with suspicion, largely because of the widespread hatred and anger towards the USA. As a result, attacks have taken place even where Taliban does not have a presence. Pakistan’s so called intelligentsia has argued that it matters little if the vaccination does not happen, as there are far greater issues that are plaguing Pakistan.

The adverse effects of this are already being seen. Certain parts of Pakistan are seeing a large number of new polio cases and these are increasing by the day. As it is, neither Pakistan’s government nor its system has the wherewithal to provide medical care for life threatening diseases. In such a situation, if help that is forthcoming from international agencies is refused and stopped, it is bound to present a grave threat to the health of the children of Pakistan.

After being witness to its country gradually degenerating into a country of lame and handicapped, Pakistan’s army seems to have eventually woken up to the reality that terrorism and not India is its prime enemy. However, by now, things have become far too complicated for working out a solution. There is no province in Pakistan where there is an iota of peace and stability. Karachi, which is considered to be the financial capital of Pakistan has been reeling under the sectarian clashes. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has gone to the extent of criticizing the political parties of Pakistan of being no less than the mafia.

Due to this all-pervading instability, the financial health of Pakistan has virtually touched rock bottom. The Pakistani government is finding it difficult to even provide basic necessities such as electricity and cooking gas. The country is virtually on the verge of collapse. Under these circumstances, it has become quite evident that the people of Pakistan are fast losing faith in their own country. Of late, it is increasingly coming to light that more and more people of Pakistan are busy acquiring passport of another country to secure their future. The Pakistani army is now seen to be making efforts to counter terrorism. However, the Taliban is fully aware of the limitations of the Pakistani army. Basically, there is very little to distinguish between the Taliban and Pakistani army. Pakistan present chief of army, General Ashfaq Kayani had announced a few years back that the Taliban was Pakistan’s most effective weapon against India.

This so called ‘effective weapon’ has, in fact, boomeranged on Pakistan. The ever proliferating terrorism on its own soil seems to have convinced Pakistan’s army  to the that terrorism is indeed the real threat. By the time realization had dawned, grave harm had already been caused to the country. However, none of leaders of Pakistan seem to have the guts to question Pakistan’s army and hold it accountable for the state of affairs prevailing in the country. It should be noted that Pakistan’s people do not seem to be aware, so as to be asking the question as to why the Pakistani army nurtured terrorism for so long.

A section of people in Pakistan with vested interests, have propounded a convenient theory that it is because Pakistan supported the USA in their acts of aggression in Afghanistan, that terrorism has found its way into Pakistan. They have succeeded in keeping the general public under a misconceived notion that if Pakistan were to withdraw support to the USA in its war in Afghanistan, then Pakistan’s terrorism woes would end. It would not be long before this ‘bubble’ is burst.

ll Hari Om ll

 

 

Published at Mumbai, Maharashtra – India