Countering Indian terrorism

India continues to actively sponsor, support and mastermind terrorism in Pakistan, but for the past many months, especially since the Shehbaz Sharif government assumed power in April 2022, this thorny issue remained low on Islamabad’s priority list. Similarly, Pakistan’s silence towards non-stop Indian atrocities and human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir is also telling.

Even before the ouster of the Imran Khan-led government, there had been confused signals from Pakistan towards India. If the Imran Khan government advocated ‘no talks’ with India until it reversed its August 5, 2019 actions taken in the disputed Himalayan region, the former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called for economic integration of South Asia despite the fact that there were no takers for peace in New Delhi. General Bajwa’s soft stance on Kashmir and the flawed assumption that ‘regions go forward’ without taking into account the objective conditions, undermined the position taken by the elected government. This sent negative signals to the Kashmiris struggling to end Indian rule in their territory. The messaging came in the backdrop of a Hindu extremist government’s sustained efforts to change the demographics of this Muslim-majority region and destroy Kashmiri Muslims economically and socially through a series of measures, including allowing Indians to buy land in the disputed territory – in the same manner as Israel did with Palestinian land.

Pakistan’s policy confusion, lingering internal political strife and a weak economy indeed damaged the Kashmir cause and allowed India to bulldoze its policies in the disputed region. Barring some on and off lip-service to the Kashmir cause, Pakistan failed to stand-up to India’s blatant state-sponsored terrorism. However, after the recent change of command in Rawalpindi, there are indications that Islamabad is all set for course-correction. Just two days after assuming the command of the Pakistan Army on November 29, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, while visiting frontline troops in the Rakhchikri Sector along the Line of Control, warned India against any misadventure and vowed to take the fight to its territory. General Munir’s remarks, which came in response to threats hurled by the Indian military leadership of being ready to occupy Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir territories, appear to set his tone and policy towards the country’s arch-enemy.

The COAS’ stern warning has been followed by the December 13 joint presser of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Punjab Counter Terrorism Department Additional Inspector General Imran Mehmood. The officials said there was “clear evidence” of India carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan. The two shared the details of the investigation into last year’s Johar Town, Lahore blast near the residence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, which killed three people and injured 24 others. At that time, the Imran Khan-led government had revealed that the attack was masterminded by an Indian citizen associated with India’s intelligence agency, RAW. Finally, Pakistan State Minister on Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari too in separate talks in Islamabad and the United Nations respectively came out forcefully against India, highlighting its role as a sponsor of terrorism. “The butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the prime minister of India,” Bilawal said in a hard-hitting response to the allegations made by his Indian counterpart that Pakistan was perpetuating terrorism and had sheltered Osama bin Laden.

The Shehbaz Sharif government’s visible hardening of stance towards India is a positive sign. However, given the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) past policies of appeasement towards India, many Pakistanis remain sceptical. The party, soon after assuming power this year in April, wanted to reopen trade with India under the pretext of massive floods in Pakistan, but the decision had to be rolled back after public hue and cry. Shehbaz Sharif’s government will need to walk the talk rather than use this anti-India rhetoric just as a divergence tactic aimed for local consumption.

Considering Pakistan’s current political woes and political instability, Islamabad is not in a position to mount much pressure on India through diplomatic or other means, but the current government should at least reiterate Islamabad’s stand of “no talks and no trade” with India until it reverses the revocation of occupied Kashmir’s special status.

This is the bare-minimum that Pakistan can do under these circumstances. Those who want to give one-sided concessions to India and accept its new red-lines must keep in mind that states do not compromise long-term interests over momentary weaknesses. A state plans and thinks in decades and centuries. Pakistan must keep the Kashmir issue alive and continue supporting Kashmiris’ struggle for freedom until the tide turns in its favour. Surrendering to and accepting Indian hegemony is not an option for Pakistan.