The belligerent President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari is acquainted with the fearsome might of the extremists actively operating in Pakistan. Very recently he said, “The Talibans has established itself across a large part of Pakistan, forcing the country to fight a war against the hard-lined Islamic group for Pakistan’s own survival.” President Zardari also admitted that “his police and army had been unable to control Islamic extremists in his country”. But yet world leaders failed to understand his appeal and left Pakistan to mend her own fences.
After 2002 Afghan War, the US and allied forces over threw the Talibans from power. The Talibans, getting support and patronage from Pakistan, established their bases in the tribal areas of Pakistan. President George Bush though succeeded in persuading President Musharraf to act against the terrorists; he failed to visualise the ulterior motive of egregious Pakistani President. Musharraf, who loved to ‘run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’ for tactical reasons, created a safe haven for the Talibans and al Qaeda in Pakistani territory and made relentless efforts to reestablish a Taliban authority in Afghanistan. Pakistan has always perceived Afghanistan as her courtyard, a pivotal area to be defended from India’s strategic design. She failed to co-operate with a pro-Indian Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan. Rather, she thought it wise to engage Talibans and al Qaeda as a neutralising factor to tame India. She explored all possible avenues to help the extremists. As days passed by, the Talibans, al Qaeda and many other terrorist outfits received assistance from Pakistan in terms of arms, weapons and slowly and steadily they mingled with the social fabric of the country.
Pakistan, after 62 years of its separation from India as a Muslim country, failed to forge a national identity of its own, for which foreign elements easily coalesced with her fragile nationality and is now threatening the existence of the country.
Pakistan’s politico- religious objectives received a clandestine support from her defence establishments and clergies. The mullas or clergies in Madrassas indoctrinate the young mind of the society and force them to wage war in Afghanistan to liberate it from the clutches of the west who are the enemy of Islam. Tomorrow the mantra of the same clergies would be to liberate India from the hands of the Hindus. An example will amplify how dangerous are the Talibans. It was on June 13, 2008 they attacked the well fortified Kandahar prison bemused the NATO and Afghan National Army and rescued over 400 jailed Talibans in motor vehicles without being intercepted by the Canadian forces stationed there. Islamabad wants this type of daring militants as their ‘Proxy Force’ to counter growing Indian international status and her expanding interest in Middle East and Central Asia.
If the Talibans take control of Pakistan, will the secular fabric of India succeed to guarantee her security? Will it provoke resurgence of Hindu fundamentalism in India? How 16 per cent of Indian Muslims view the uprising of Talibans in Pakistan? Will they treat it as a threat to moderate Islamic ideology or opt for a wait and watch policy? To what extent the fundamentalist Islamic groups in India will lend support to Taliban ideology?
The ISI of Pakistan has created Taliban and a few days ago, the Chief of Pakistani Army said “Taliban is a Pakistani asset”. It is Pakistan’s shortsighted fatwa that is responsible for worldwide breeding of terrorism, social unrest and a sense of insecurity that prevails in present day world.
The Pakistani Taliban imitated the stone-age rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan and forced the Pakistani people to follow their command. They restricted girls’ education and imposed draconian version of Islamic law on a beleaguered population in various parts of the country. In some areas they even use radio to undermine governmental control, urging people to take their help to settle all issues. Moreover, there is neo-Talibans imbued with al- Qaeda ideology, has attained mental catechesis to stage suicide attack as and when required.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, ‘Pakistan poses a mortal threat to the security and safety to our country and the world’. According to her latest observation, Pakistan government is ‘basically abdicating to the Talibans and the extremists.’ Islamabad, which is now less than 100 km away from Taliban controlled areas, executed two agreements with the Talibans and the Taliban linked groups operating in Pakistan. Now with Pakistan government’s agreement with the Talibans in Swat Valley, they will spread their version of Jihad covering the whole of Pakistan and Afghanistan endangering the security of India with whom Pakistan fought three wars. It was through the indirect involvement of Pak President Zardari that Islamabad agreed to impose Islamic Law or Shariah in Swat Valley. The concessions offered to the Talibans through flawed agreements would potentially threaten the peace and stability of the region and embolden the extremists to expand their base, recruit more teens into their fold and make this only habitable earth unsafe for human habitation.
The Talibans are now targeting strategically located city of Peshawar, where recently they destroyed over 100 trucks carrying supplies to the US and NATO forces. Declassified documents from the US, clearly illustrate the fact the Taliban was directly funded, armed and advised by Islamabad itself. Infact, secretly Pakistan misguided the US and waged war against her and the allied forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan dishonoured the international norms, betrayed a trusted friend US and deserve punishment for her heinous behaviour. Pakistan, to one’s utter surprise took risk of US antagonism and never exerted pressure on Taliban, rather extended their helping hand in Talibanisation of Pakistan.
Now, as the Islamic Republic is getting crowded with Jihadis from all over the world with different ideologies and motives, Pakistan foresee the mistake she committed in supporting the militants. It came to light that the Laskhar militants oppose harsh Islamic laws propagated by the Talibans and it is feared that an internecine warfare among the heavily armed militants may aggravate the situation further. It is reported that the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, a reclusive one eyed cleric is actively engaged in supporting the Talibans with logistic and financial assistance. As a result the city of Quetta in northern Pakistan becomes the centre of political and administrative hub of the Talibans and al Qaeda.
Now questions arise as to why it took so many years for the US to realise the implicit relation of Pakistani government and the extremist organisations? Why the US failed to respond to the lie game played by Pakistan repeatedly? Why the then Bush administration instead of taking tough action against the arbitrators of terrorism, appeased Musharraf as a natural alley of ‘war against terror’? How Obama will react, if Talibans take control of Pakistan? Will the US design any plan with India to thwart Taliban’s attempt to rein Pakistan? What the US or India will do for the safety and security of Pakistani nuclear arsenal? Would the US persuade the UN to take the possession of Pak nuclear establishment before it falls into the hands of the Talibans? How the world will react if Pak army hand over nuclear weapons to the Taliban or smuggle it to the Swat valley in an apparent drama to misguide the world community?
The arc of instability is spreading rapidly from Afghanistan to Pakistan and the dangerous design of the Taliban to spillover her ideology across the Line of Control has reasons to horrify India. The Kargil War and the devastating massacre in Mumbai provide incontrovertible evidence that we are not safe within our own territory. Hence India should have to reconsider her geo-strategic and geo-political security parameters outside her defined boundary. Any slackness on India’s part would invite persistent border clashes with the Talibans, illegal narcotics trafficking, terrorism and rekindling of communal tension in the sub-continent.
(The writer teaches Geography in Jagiroad College) ASSAM TRIBUNE
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