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PM’s tough I-Day message to Pak: Stop terrorism |
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In a tough message, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told Pakistan to stop the export of terrorism as the dialogue process could move forward only in an atmosphere of peace. In his traditional Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, Manmohan Singh, who for most part of his speech dwelt on his Government’s schemes to improve the quality of life of the people of India, devoted a part of the address to send a strong warning to Pakistan.
Putting the fight against terror at the centre of his Government’s concerns, he warned that Pakistan’s strategy of “inflicting a thousand cuts” – a clear reference to the strategic doctrine behind Islamabad’s support to anti-India terror groups – will not diminish India’s resolve to counter terrorism. “No one can break our will, our unity. No one can make India kneel”, he declared. Telling Islamabad that the dialogue process could move forward only in an atmosphere of peace, the Prime Minister said, “It is obvious that unless Pakistan takes concrete steps to implement the solemn assurances it has given to prevent cross-border terrorism against India from any territory within its control, public opinion in India, which has supported the peace process, will be undermined.”
The Prime Minister also had a word of advice for other neighbours [read Bangladesh] when he said, “All countries in our region must recognize that terrorism anywhere is a threat to peace and prosperity everywhere.” He said, “The dream of a South Asian community, where borders have ceased to matter and where there can be unhindered flow of goods and people, culture and ideas can hardly be realized if terrorist violence and the politics of hate and confrontation continues to cast its shadow”. Referring to the new resolve against terrorism in the wake of the Mumbai blasts, Dr. Singh said, “Terrorists want to undermine our growing economic strength, destroy our unity and provoke communal incidents. We cannot allow this to happen.”
Political observers view the Prime Minister’s views on Pakistan as the toughest that he has delivered so far. The Prime Minister held out no assurance that India was inclined to restart the dialogue and forget Pakistan’s role in the Mumbai blasts. The strong anti-terror statement and the specific references to Pakistan’s jehadi-ISI-Army machine reflected the Government’s growing disenchantment with Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s refusal to contain infiltration and groups planning terror outrages in India.
Security during Independence Day on August 15 this time, which came in the background of the Mumbai bomb blasts and the reports of Al-Qaeda marking its presence in India was the tightest ever in New Delhi and elsewhere.
Revelations by nabbed LeT operatives
If revelations by Pakistani militant Abu Annas arrested by Delhi Police are anything to go by, the Lashkar-e-Taiba has now become an “organized” terrorist outfit with links in the Pakistan Army. During interrogation, Annas reportedly declared that as personal security guard to Zak-ur-Rehman, second-in-command to the LeT hierarchy, he witnessed frequent meetings of his master with Pakistan Army officials and those from the ISI. Annas has purportedly revealed that Hazi Ashraf manages the outfit’s finance, Yusuf Taabi heads its madrassas and Abdul Rehman Maki has been given the job of raising funds. Abu Al-Kama has been made the head of operations in the Kashmir Valley while Azam Cheema and Muzammil have the command of operations outside the Valley.
The Annas disclosures also throw light on the modus operandi employed by the LeT to rope in teenagers from different parts of Pakistan, particularly from villages in the Sindh and Punjab provinces. They mostly target young men not inclined towards studies. The LeT preachers meet the students in schools and colleges and motivate them to join regular LeT meetings. Those who fall into their trap are made to undergo 21-day “Daura-e-Aam” training and arrangements for their stay are made. The trainees at both the “Daura-e-Aam” and the 90-day “Daura-e-Khas” programmes, are woken up at 4 a.m. after which they undergo rigorous physical training. Then they attend “routine” classes. As the main emphasis of the training is on brainwashing the trainees, they are incited to take up arms.
Candle light vigil
In the meantime, while growing bitterness between the two countries remains, as in the past few years, the Independence Day of the two countries on August 14 and 15 was marked by a candle light vigil on the Wagah border organized by the Pak-Hind Friendship Front. A 24-member Pakistani delegation crossed into India from the Wagah check post on August 14 to participate in the function. While the Pakistani delegation was led by Imtiaz Alam, Secretary General, SAFMA. The Indian team was headed by Satnam Manak, General Secretary of the Hind-Pak Dosti Manch. Talking to newsmen, Alam said, India and Pakistan should continue the dialogue and not allow themselves to be held hostage by terrorists.
The Pakistani delegation which started the journey from Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore, also visited the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar and paid tributes to martyrs of the freedom struggle. Later, a seminar on “Indo-Pak relations – Challenges and possibilities” was organized by the Indo-Pak Friendship Front in Amritsar on August 15 where the speakers from the two countries called upon the people to start a movement for a permanent solution to the problems faced by the two nations. They said that a lot of misinformation based on false propaganda had created wrong picture in the minds of the new generation. Veteran Indian journalist, Kuldip Nayar, who initiated the Candle Light Vigil programme a few years ago, urged people from both sides of the borders to rise above religious sentiments. He said he had started this mission with a vision that the people of both the countries should feel secure irrespective of their religions.
Meanwhile, a survey in Pakistan has shown that more and more people are getting reconciled to the Line of Control in Kashmir as the border between the two countries. In August 2003, 69 per cent of Pakistanis had said a firm “no” to this, but three years hence the number of fallen to 58 per cent. The OUTLOOK magazine in Pakistan that commissioned the Gallup found that 53 per cent of Pakistanis still see India as an “enemy”.
On the western front, the Thar Express train linking Munnabao in Barmer district of Rajasthan with Khokhrapar in Sindh province of Pakistan completed six months on August 19. Since the two countries are to alternatively run the trains, for the next six months, it is now for the Indian Railways to run the train. Pakistan has granted 30 visas to Indian Railways staff for entering that country. Some 400 passengers are carried by each train.
In another development, Pakistan, which continues to ban Indian TV channels, has decided to permit local private channels to air 6 per cent Indian content in their programmes.
India will have a new Pakistani High Commissioner. Shahid Malik, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada, will replace Aziz Ahmed Khan, whose term is ending this month. The Pakistani newspaper DAWN has quoted Government sources as saying Malik’s name has been approved by President Musharraf and Islamabad would soon be approaching New Delhi for the approval of his name. At the same time, Riffat Masood, currently Director SAARC at the Foreign Ministry will be posted as Counsellor [Political] at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi in place of Rafique Ahmed, who was recently asked by India to leave after Islamabad expelled Indian diplomat Rakesh Kaul on charges of “indulging in undesirable activities.”
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