Taking on Pakistan

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s repeated claims that India is fomenting trouble in that country will perhaps have no takers among ordinary Pakistanis themselves. They are aware of the ground reality: that the process of collapse of their country is a consequence of their military’s dream ‘‘strategic depth’’ project in Afghanistan in tandem with the US, which has necessitated offensive with huge collateral damages against the Taliban, the Pakistan Army-ISI’s own child-turned-Frankenstein’s monster. What does Malik have to say on the people of his own country who now want to leave their beloved motherland because they want to live a few more years? Yet, in course of a television interview, he has had the temerity to blame India for backing the Taliban to destabilize Pakistan. In response to a question as to whether India is among the ‘‘hostile agencies’’ provoking instabilities in Pakistan through the Taliban route, Malik said: ‘‘Yes, of course, I am convinced. I have no doubt about it. I was very open. If the interior minister of India or anyone else wants to confront me, I will be happy to confront them because I know what I am saying.’’ Last week Malik had said that Pakistan had ‘‘solid evidence’’ of India’s alleged involvement in fomenting unrest in Balochistan that could be shared with Indian ministers or representatives at any forum of their choice.

These are wild allegations. The Pakistan government, under the influence of the military establishment as always, is inventing issues to put a grand vesture about its failure to prevent the hijack of governance by the Taliban. No country will be so foolhardy as to facilitate Pakistan’s takeover by the savage Taliban forces, especially because it is a nuclear state and nuclear weaponry is what the Taliban-Al Qaeda combine is desperately seeking to teach ‘‘infidel’’ and modern nation-states a lesson. As we have said here before, given the fact of geography, a nuclear-armed Taliban would launch an assault on India first as a prelude to worldwide barbarity. And a completely anarchic Pakistan, towards which it is going despite the pompous claims of the Pakistan Army to the contrary, will doubtless imperil India far more, with the networked jihadi infrastructure — where only the names of outfits will differ — dedicated exclusively to target ‘‘Hindu India’’ as they say, besides targets in the West. India’s mere rebuttal to Pakistan’s allegations as ‘‘baseless’’ will not do now, nor will the much-iterated, post-Mumbai 26/11 stand that Pakistan must first dismantle the terror infrastructure in its territory before the derailed peace process between the two countries is put on track. For, Pakistan is not at all bothered about Indian concerns stemming from the many exclusively anti-India jihad factories running successfully under the ISI’s patronage. It is now high time that India, being an influential player in the comity of nations, embarrassed Pakistan at every major global forum without having to be concerned about the ritual of courtesy and meaningless diplomacy. Pakistan must be forced to act responsibly. For the moment, however, a simple poser will suffice: How are Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) publications back in circulation in Pakistan under new names, despite a ban on both the groups, and how could the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), an avowed anti-India jihadi group, establish a new madrassa in Bahawalpur, JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar’s home base? Is not the ISI sponsoring them in the full knowledge of the helpless civilian government? THE SENTINEL