It will just not do for the US Ambassador to India, Timothy J Roemer, to describe the blast targeted at the Indian embassy in Kabul on Thursday as ‘‘deeply troubling’’. He said, ‘‘On behalf of President Obama, I want to extend to the people of India USA’s support and its concern about this bombing in Afghanistan, which is deeply troubling. Our heart goes out to India, to the victims of terrorism, and our prayers are with the families of those injured and killed today.’’ This is poor consolation. Even after Mumbai 26/11, Washington’s ‘‘heart’’ had gone out to India and to the victims of that terror attack conspired in Pakistan — the US’ most cherished ally in its so-called war on terror on the Afghan front. What happened thereafter? Nothing, though it is another matter that the US has all along pretended that it has asked Pakistan to prove its commitment to the war on terror against India too, apart from the fight against the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine. Had the US really mounted pressure on Pakistan that depends so heavily on Washington’s aid of all sorts, it would have had no option but to act against anti-India terrorists operating freely in its territory. On its part, Pakistan too has pretended that it is out to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism completely from its soil. And the reality? The greatest terror master against India, Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed, is still a free man in Pakistan because there is no ‘evidence’ against his involvement in any terror attacks. But this is how rogue state elements behave. How can there be evidence against Saeed, or for that matter against any anti-India terrorist in Pakistan, when the Pakistan Army’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is their godfather?
Readers might be wondering why we are drifting away from the central point here — the attack targeted at the Indian embassy in Kabul. We are not. One would do well to recall the attack on the same embassy in July last year that left 60 dead, including senior IFS officer VV Rao and defence attache Brigadier RD Mehta, and over 150 injured. The trail of that conspiracy led to the discovery of one Sirajuddin Haqqani, an ISI affiliate. The intent of that attack was to drive away all Indian diplomatic engagements and reconstruction and development ventures from Afghanistan so that there would not be any Indian trace in the growth trajectory of the war-ravaged country. Who would benefit the most from India’s total exit from Afghanistan? Obviously Pakistan, whose biggest western strategic project — with the ISI presiding over it — is to attain such depth in Afghanistan as to be able to influence all of Kabul’s policies. Indian presence in Afghanistan is then the greatest deterrence to Pakistan’s Afghan imagination. And this is not just from the strategic point of view. The larger Pakistani perspective stems from the fear of Indian penetration into the wounded psyche of the people of Afghanistan as their trusted friend and well-wisher. Pakistan is afraid of the idea of India that could happen to the ordinary Afghan crying for a dignified life. Since India has become a major partner in the development story of Afghanistan, jealous and hostile Pakistan is only too jittery. India must assert itself more by contributing to the reconstruction of Afghanistan for the sake of its people. And we must not forget to tell them that we have no strategic interest there and that we are not expansionists. Our history proves that. THE SENTINEL
Readers might be wondering why we are drifting away from the central point here — the attack targeted at the Indian embassy in Kabul. We are not. One would do well to recall the attack on the same embassy in July last year that left 60 dead, including senior IFS officer VV Rao and defence attache Brigadier RD Mehta, and over 150 injured. The trail of that conspiracy led to the discovery of one Sirajuddin Haqqani, an ISI affiliate. The intent of that attack was to drive away all Indian diplomatic engagements and reconstruction and development ventures from Afghanistan so that there would not be any Indian trace in the growth trajectory of the war-ravaged country. Who would benefit the most from India’s total exit from Afghanistan? Obviously Pakistan, whose biggest western strategic project — with the ISI presiding over it — is to attain such depth in Afghanistan as to be able to influence all of Kabul’s policies. Indian presence in Afghanistan is then the greatest deterrence to Pakistan’s Afghan imagination. And this is not just from the strategic point of view. The larger Pakistani perspective stems from the fear of Indian penetration into the wounded psyche of the people of Afghanistan as their trusted friend and well-wisher. Pakistan is afraid of the idea of India that could happen to the ordinary Afghan crying for a dignified life. Since India has become a major partner in the development story of Afghanistan, jealous and hostile Pakistan is only too jittery. India must assert itself more by contributing to the reconstruction of Afghanistan for the sake of its people. And we must not forget to tell them that we have no strategic interest there and that we are not expansionists. Our history proves that. THE SENTINEL
No comments:
Post a Comment