Managing Pakistan's failure

[ramana]

RajeshA, Please consider making an e-book of all your posts in different categories. I would like them to be ready by November end. Would like to have it peer reviewed by December end. Then release them in end of January.

I am on it, garu!

Please send me your scheme of the Pak e-book. I would like you to collect all posts on one topic. Hope to get atleast three e-books from these efforts.

[ramana]

two posts by shiv:

Paki honor and dignity which is protected by bandwagoning that echandee with Islam has to be battered and crushed to such an extent that Pakis will be able to join a nation that is called India. Only at that stage can Pakis become Indians. Right now Paki echandee and identity rests of

1. We are not Indian
2. We are Indian, but Muslims who would have been oppressed by bigoted Hindus
3. We were the rulers of India and Indians would do well to be ruled by us

These are the narratives that have been pushed in Pakistan since partition. I am certain that the minute a Paki acquires some wealth and some food to eat he starts believing in all this - so the only Pakis who can possibly become Indian is the poorest and most screwed up Paki.

This wealthy Paki is the very class of Paki who allied with the USA and depended on the US and now China to survive. Every wealthy Pakistani belongs to this class. They represent Pakistan's strength and Pakistan's identity.

Perhaps the best thing India can do to Pakistan is to let Pakistanis live as a separate country but hinge trade on the development of normal inter state relations like not encouraging crime and terrorism in India. Pakistan is a horrendous monster state - but its survival was greatly aided by the US "acting in its own interest". A big priority in making Pakistan a "normal state" is to force the US by hook or by crook to stop arming Pakistan. Pakistan managed armed forces that were 3-4 times bigger than its national resources would allow solely by bandwagoning with the USA. If I ever write a book again I would like to concentrate on the ways in which Pakistan has been strengthened and supported by its alliance with a USA "acting in US interest".

It does not matter if aid to Pakistan is eaten up by the wealthy and the poor of Pakistan are screwed even more - but teh powerful Paki army and LeT/Jamaat ud Dawa should not have the benefit of the latest arms that makes them cocky. I anticipate that they will enhance nuclear threats if the flow of conventional arms is reduced. But that would be bravado. The Pakistan army has to shrink to 1/3 of its current size. The assorted terrorist groups who depend on the army (which gets US support by a USA "acting in US interests") will fade in strength and influence as they get militarily weaker. Even if the US stops arming Pakistan today - it will be 2021 before Pakistan army really feels any major effect that is difficult to correct without further US arms aid.

If we can pressure the USA to quit arms aid, we will be in a much stronger position to see of the irrational Islamist threat posed by the Paki army and the dysfunctional Paki state. Whether the state remains intact or not is a different issue. I am dead certain that India's rejection of hight ticket offensive weapons from the USA is related to the US arming of Pakistan. The US may retain a veto power on the Pakistani military but will not get a veto power on the Indian military. Better India US ties, with much more trust are possible when the USA stops arming Pakistan ("out of US interest"). I have something to say about that - but in a different thread.

and

kelik on thumbnail

Look at the pages linked above and let me go back in history.

The USA in the 1980s armed Pakistan with nuclear capable F-16s and ignored the development of nukes in Pakistan because - as per the link above Pakistan offered sanctuary to Afghan rebels. The F-16s and the go ahead fro nuclear weapons were in "US interests" because Pakistan wanted both and Pakistan was doing such a good job giving "sanctuary" to "Afghan rebels" that it was good arm Pakistan with nuclear delivery vehicles.

Fast forward 15 years to the post 9-11 era and you find that the USA does not want those Afghan rebels any more. So the US offers Pakistan those F-16s again to get help from Pakistan in eliminating those same Afghan rebels whom the US gratefully paid Pakistan for giving "sanctuary".

In case 1 - the US wanted Pakistan to offer sanctuary to those Afghan rebels
In case 2 the US does not want those Afghan rebels any more

In both cases the US arms and funds Pakistan. In both cases F-16s etc are given only as sweeteners to Pakistan who needs them against India. Keeping Pakistan in good humor is in US interest.

A few simple conclusions stem from this and I believe that reaching those conclusionsis essential for moving forward
1. In all cases the arming of Pakistan was against Indian interests and was done depite Indian objections
2. In all cases the arming of Pakistan coincided with Pakistani interests in being well armed against India. That was the price Pakistan demanded from the USA for cooperation. First to "provide sanctuary" for Afghan rebels and later promising to hep eliminate those Afghan rebels.
3. In all cases it was in the US's interest to keep Pakistan cooperative. Pakistan's cooperation was bought by providing arms that could be used against india and not worrying about the consequences of that to India.
4. It was the USA that was dependent on Pakistan's cooperation and the USA had to buy Pakistan's cooperation. It was not a case of the USA "controlling Pakistan"

The Pakistani army and establishment are perfectly correct in their assessment that the USA needs Pakistan. Whether the USA needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs USA is moot. The USA certainly needs Pakistan and is dependent on Pakistani cooperation and to that extent the position of superpower USA is one of weakness with regard to Pakistan. Pakistan occupies a position of strength.

What are India's options in this game where the US depends on the Pakistani army, the US depends on an intact coherent Pakistan to serve its interests and the US bows to blackmail from Pakistan and writes blank checks to Pakistan to try and buy cooperation?

In theory, (on paper) India occupies a position of strength vis a vis Pakistan. India does not depend on Pakistan and India can (in theory) see off Pakistan in any conflict.

But a war to destroy the Pakistan army is against US interests. To that extent India becomes subservient to US interests. Any attempt by India to damage the Pakistani army will always cause (and has always caused) the US to use various pressures on a vulnerable and relatively weak India to make it costly for India to oppose Pakistan. The Pakistanis realise this and have exploited this to the fullest extent. Pakistan has always bargained with the USA to retain a degree of indepenedence in its actions towards India. "Independence" of Pakistan actions towards india has reflected in the 1965 war, Kargil war, parliament attack, 26/11, constant inflitration, harboring of criminals like Dawood and Khalistani hijackers, and economic warfare by printing counterfeit money. It has been in US interest to ignore pain caused on Indians. his is glaringly obvious to a huge number of Indians and reflects in Indian attitudes to th USA.

India's inability or unwillingness to wage hot war against Pakistan has allowed Pakistan to wage a low grade war against India. Pakistan's wars have always been backed by a bloated Pakistan military that has received state of the art equipment that included radars and communication equipment apart from aircraft and other lethal weapons. And crucial intel during wars and sanctions and UN actions that bite india.

What this means is that both India and the USA find themselves in a position of weakness with regard to Pakistan. The US because it is directly dependent on Pakistan, and India because Pakistan is supported by the USA. In a sense both India and the USA are subservient to Pakistan interests and Pakistan's best interests are served when Indian and US interests are at loggerheads.

In my view India-US relations can move only in two ways. One is they can move down if India wages an all out war to destroy Pakistan. But for India US relations to move up, the US has to stop providing the support that Pakistan finds vital to wage war against India.

In the post 26/11 era, if there is any covert agreement between the USA and India where the quid pro quo for India not fighting Pakistan is US pressure on Pakistan to stop fighting India you can be sure that
1. Neither the USA nor India will make it public. Going public wil erode US pressure on Pakistan.
2. For me as an Indian, I cannot afford to believe that such cooperation is occurring until I see overt evidence in a reduction of lethal arms supply to Pakistan and a reduction of Pakistani terrorism against India. After seeing hostility all my life - it will be some years before I or any Indian can reach a safe/sane judgement on this.

Can India ever depend on US goodwill? The answer is simple. The US has to show that goodwill first, which will reflect in its pressure on Pakistan. If the US can show goodwill the question of India depending on it arises as the next question.

If India cannot depend on US goodwill - there is absolutely no sense in anyone asking that India should maintain good relations with the USA. It is possible for countries to maintain rivalry with the USA and suffer, but survive to see the US back down or lose eventually. Surprisingly piddly and weak countries have done that. Pakistan is itself playing the US from a position of relative strength. If teh US stays it is dependent on Pakistan. If the US goes Pakistan benefits. Heads Pakistan wins. Tails USA loses. catch 22

The only question is whether the US has the strength to pressure Pakistan and consequently "show goodwill" towards India. It is possible that the US is not powerful enough to pressure Pakistan. But at least I would like to see a reduction in arms flow. if the US can't do that - it means that the US is truly in a weak position - something that India should seek to exploit in the long term. India can hep make the US position stronger or weaker.

If we can move the US aside or make the US more neutral, China can be handled in a different way.

[RajeshA]

Reclaiming Pakistan Territory: Mohajirstan

Helping Mohajirs

Should we have sympathy for the Mohajirs and their current predicament? Absolutely no reason, why we should! What the Mohajirs set in motion during Partition is absolutely unforgivable.

But should we still help them? Yes, of course!

We should always keep in mind that destruction of Pakistan is our first goal, and we cannot let our sense of vindication, schadenfreude or revenge come in between.

So after we destroy Pakistan by breaking off Mohajirstan away from Pakistan, can we then ditch them as a sort of revenge? Again No!

No, because of geography. Mohajirstan is going to be not only cutting off Pakistan from the sea, a major castration, but would also be providing India access to Baluchistan ultimately, and from there it is an easy journey of access to Central Asia, Gulf and beyond.

We would still have to find a mechanism, how to associate them with India, without importing the violence and ethnic tensions of Karachi to India, or giving a boost to Islamists in India, or changing the electoral map too much.

But the minimum that we need to ensure is:

• Separation from Pakistan
• Effective subsequent defense from Pakistan
• Availability of Mohajirstan to India for transit and transport to and from Baluchistan

Now the question is, why have we never ever thought of using the Mohajirs as our ally in Pakistan to break it up, even though the option is more than obvious.

I presume, it is because we would really have a difficulty reconciling ourselves to allying with a party, which caused the destruction of our country and the eventual death of countless Indians.

Perhaps it was necessary that India put sufficient distance in national power quotient between herself and Pakistan, so as to clinch the race. Perhaps it was necessary that India rose to take her place among the great powers of the world. Perhaps it was necessary that Pakistan fell so deep, that any respite seems impossible. Perhaps it was necessary for the Mohajirs to learn the lessons of Islam the hard way - that there will always be the more pious, and the less pious will always be the punching bag. For most Pakistanis - Pakjabis, Seraikis, Pushtun, Sindhis, Pakistan is their home! But for Mohajirs, Pakistan was their dream! And that dream has turned to a nightmare! Perhaps it was necessary to wait for Mohajirs to come to this enlightenment, that their dreams will dance only beyond the bars of their prison cell! So the Mohajirs may be nearing the revelation, that they would have been happy being Indians.

Are Indians also closer to drawing their conclusions from this evolution of Mohajirs?

It is time to take out the Lever!

[RajeshA]

Please send me your scheme of the Pak e-book. I would like you to collect all posts on one topic. Hope to get atleast three e-books from these efforts.

ramana garu,

I am collecting the posts, and categorizing them and then grouping the categories, and it is still work in progress. I will be making a submission of an outline soon!

[RajeshA]

Reclaiming Pakistan Territory: Mohajirstan

The Propaganda

One objective is to ensure that all educated Mohajirs in Pakistan think of themselves as Indians, who were manipulated and tricked by Jinnah and others in the Muslim League into leaving their land - India, and Jinnah did it at behest of the British.

This narrative gives the Mohajirs a sort of crutch to re-imagine that their ancestors did not make a conscientious decision for Pakistan, but were basically fooled by the trickery of Muslim League and the British. If they think, that their ancestors made a conscientious decision, then it is difficult for the Mohajirs to break with that decision. Then that decision of their ancestors seems to have a finality regarding the issue of nationality for them and their descendants. But if the narratives paints a different picture, in which the ancestors seem to have been fooled, then the descendants are not bound by a decision made through trickery.

Secondly the Indians too would have to change their stance, at least for the sake of propaganda! We can encourage the Mohajirs to call themselves Indians. Today they call themselves "Pakistanis of Indian descent". Tomorrow they should call themselves as "Indians living in Pakistan" or "Non-Resident Indians with Pakistani Passports"! An effort should be made to turn their national identification away from Pakistan and towards India.

We can encourage Mohajirs to act like Indians. We can encourage Mohajirs to feel like Indians. This however requires Indians themselves to feel confident of themselves in their skins. Through our media, through Bollywood, as we bring Indians to act more proudly as Hindus, without looking menacing for the Muslims, the more Mohajirs would be willing to adopt our ways, even if at first glance, they may look contrary to Muslim ways! If in India, sarees make a big comeback, then Mohajir girls too would be wearing Sarees.

The more one makes Mohajirs accept their Indian roots and Indianness, the more they would be willing to ape Indian culture, and the more they would try to distance themselves from Pakistani ravaiya and style, for that way they would try to make a statement of their identification!

India is the successful brand, the stronger wave, so the Mohajirs will try to ride piggy back on the Indian wave. And we should let them. Indians can offer the narrative of "the prodigal son returns"! This narrative is necessary because the Mohajirs will not change their national identification unless they have an assurance, that they would be retaken in the fold, in the big tent - at least as far as identity goes. So when a Mohajir says he is a Mohajir, Indians should ask him, from where his ancestors migrated to Pakistan! We emphasize that his real village or town lies in India. It doesn't mean, he would would be moving there anytime soon. It just roots him in India.

That is as far as the question of narratives go! What does it mean for India in real terms? Would we have to mollycoddle Mohajirs in any way? The answer is NO! The Mohajirs get absolutely nothing from India in terms of any privileges.

If it is a question of letting Mohajirs in into India, they don't get any more quotas then is now the case. In fact, I am in favor of cutting down on the visas we give Pakistanis. We can always explain to Mohajirs, that that is a precautionary measure against all Pakistanis due to terrorism and not directed against them! If they wish a change in that, they would have to break away from Pakistan, and have a different nationality.

What we want is not more Pakistanis in India, but more India in Pakistanis.

Also the question of any male Pakistanis being given Indian passports, should be out of the question, whether they are Mohajirs or otherwise.

Propaganda is merely propaganda, and should mean no concessions in real terms. But the propaganda itself should be loud and clear and blaring.

[RajeshA]

Reclaiming Pakistan Territory: Mohajirstan

The Liberation Struggle

This is where India brushes off the dust from our LTTE Training Manual. We have had some experience in supporting an insurgent group in another country. The details are debatable, but this is the kind of knowledge base we mine, in order to refine our strategy to liberate Southern Sindh - Mohajirstan!

The major difference between our experience in Sri Lanka and Pakistan would be, that whereas the Sinhalese were never India's enemies, Pakistan is very much so! So there would be no question of reining in the Mohajir Liberation Force !

And we would be supplying Mohajirs with abundant weaponry and firepower, including anti-tank guns.

The other stark difference to Tamil Eelam issue is of course, that Mohajirs control Pakistan's main commercial center and its main port. Together Mohajirstan and Baluchistan controls Pakistan's whole access to the sea! So Mohajirs have the ability of completely crippling Pakistan. If Mohajirs want, they can sabotage Pakistan's whole oil supply! Pakistanis would learn the true meaning of the words "jugular vein"!

Thirdly Mohajirs would be fighting in an urban battleground, not the easiest of places to fight for the Pakistani Army. In order to quell the Mohajirs, the Pakistani Army would probably have to level the whole of Karachi, something they may not be willing to do.

In an urban battleground, it is far more likely that the Pakistani Army would be caught committing gross violations of human rights, something that would be made available to international community as soon as it happens over satellite. In the Sri Lankan war, far less material came out, indicting the Sri Lankan forces.

With access to the sea, Mohajir Liberation Front has a far higher capacity to supply themselves! It is also far easier for Mohajir fighters to be brought to India for training. Moreover the Mohajir population can also be supplied, so that Pakistani Army does not try to put the population under a siege.

Once the fighting starts taking place, India can bring out all Indian Muslims onto Indian streets urging India to intervene on humanitarian grounds. Many Indian Muslims would have a personal stake in what takes place in Southern Sindh. The issue would land in the UN. It may or may not find traction. Regardless of that, after a few warnings to Pakistan to cease their attacks on Mohajirs, India can in fact put Pakistan under a naval blockade. Even if some pro-Pakistani country should try to break the blockade, where are they going to unload the stuff. India can make sure that Pakistani Navy does not intercept any vessels of the Mohajir Liberation Front.

Now all this may not alone break the Pakistani Army's will to recapture Karachi, but Pakistan has many issues with its ethnicities, and all the other fronts can be activated simultaneously - the Pushtuns through Afghanistan, the Baluchis, the Gilgitians, the criminal gangs and even some tanzeems. It will be difficult for the Pakistani Army to fight on all these sides, especially if its Oil supply is cut off. One can find people in Pakistan Proper itself who would be willing to sabotage Pakistan's present Oil reserves and refineries.

The idea is to get a ceasefire line between Southern Sindh and Pakistan Proper and for a UN force to be invited to oversee the ceasefire line. Then in time, the Mohajirs can set up an autonomous parliament, which can vote to accede to India and invite Indian troops in. May be Indian troops may be forced to enter even before that, e.g. in Thatta district, which joins India with Karachi! The Mohajir Parliament can then legitimize Indian troop presence in Mohajirstan.

The main tactic during this phase of hostilities should be to stop the transport of any Oil and Gas into Pakistan Proper, for insurgents to blow up in a major way all refineries and oil reservoirs. Insurgents should also attack Pakistani forces in a sort of a pattern in which Pakistani forces are forced to expend as much fuel as possible. India can send some fighter aircraft in the air every now and then, forcing Pakistan to also send aircraft in the air. The longer they remain in the air, the more jet fuel they will be using up. The idea is to have Pakistan Proper having used up all its fuel - diesel, kerosene, gasoline, jet fuel!

Baluchis can sabotage all gas pipelines, such that no gas arrives in Pakistan Proper either. India can also take over Tharparkar District in Sindh where the Thar Coal Reserves are located, such that Pakistan Proper is left with no energy at all to operate its Army or anything civilian either.

For humanitarian reasons, Indian Punjab can decide to supply Pakjab with some emergency supplies of diesel etc. through Wagah for the various zamindars, so that food collection and distribution continues, and so that hospitals can run. One needs to keep the generals in good mood, so that they don't go for the nukes!

Once Mohajirstan is secure, and Pakistan has no energy, Baluchistan can also declare their independence and invite Indian forces in.

[ramana]

RajeshA, Agreement from high sources:

End Game has just begun

Endgame has just begun
August 17, 2011 11:10:26 PM

G Parthasarathy

We should have no illusions that we can change the jihadi mindset of the Pakistani Armed Forces and learn the right lessons from price paid by US.

With the Americans having announced that they intend to end active combat operations in Afghanistan after the end of 2014, Pakistanis have commenced pondering over what life will be like after that. Optimists, particularly from the military and jihadi groups, believe that the American withdrawal will lead to the fulfilment of General Zia-ul-Haq’s dream of a Pakistan blessed with “strategic depth” extending beyond the Amu Darya and into Central Asia. Others fear that with Taliban extremism already having spread from across the Durand Line into Punjab and even Karachi, the country is headed for what author Ahmed Rashid once described as “Descent into Chaos”. Interestingly, a CIA report entitled “Global Trends 2015” noted even in December 2001: “Pakistan will not recover easily from decades of economic mismanagement, divisive politics and ethnic feuds. In a climate of continuing domestic turmoil, the Central Government’s control will probably be reduced to the Punjab heartland and the economic hub of Karachi.”

Rarely has a country’s future been tied as inextricably to the actions of a distant power in its neighbourhood as Pakistan’s presently is to American policies in Afghanistan. Any hope that a democratic dispensation will soon triumph over military hegemony in Pakistan, as Turkey has now experienced, is a pipedream. Pakistan’s military still believes that the Americans will meet the same fate as the Soviets did when confronted with the forces of “militant Islam” from across the Durand Line. There is nothing to indicate that Rawalpindi has any intention of ending its support for either the Taliban or the Haqqani network. Both Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani remain implacably opposed to American proposals on political ‘reconciliation’ in Afghanistan. Neither of them has shown any sign of ending links with Al Qaeda, now led by Ayman al Zawahiri, and its Chechen and Central Asian affiliates. Moreover, the Haqqani network unabashedly supports the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan, infuriating Pakistan’s ‘all weather friend’ China.

Pakistan’s military has believed over the past few years that with the American economy in tatters and domestic opinion becoming increasingly hostile to growing casualties overseas, the Obama Administration will quit Afghanistan, paving the way for a Taliban takeover, in the not too distant future. Another Pakistani calculation was that given their dependence on Pakistan’s logistical support for supplies to their military in Afghanistan, the Americans were in no position to take coercive measures against their country. These calculations were ill-advised and have gone awry. First, it is the combined cost of the war in Iraq, estimated at $806 billion, together with the relatively less expensive war in Afghanistan that has cost the US taxpayer $444 billion over a decade that is proving unaffordable. Second, while Americans have lost 1,760 soldiers in Afghanistan over a decade, their high casualties in Iraq, which included 4,474 killed in action, has made the war highly unpopular domestically. Finally, showing determination to thwart Pakistani blackmail and threats of blocking supply routes, the Americans now move less than 35 per cent of their supplies through Pakistan with the rest coming across their Northern Distribution Network, assisted by Russia and the Central Asian Republics. Two years ago over 70 per cent of American supplies were routed through Pakistan.

{So TSPA calcs turned out wrong and based on wrong data. Yet they persist.}


Whether it is on the question of the secret approval it gave for American drone attacks on Pakistani territory, even as it raised a public hue and cry on the issue, or in its policy of providing shelter to Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad while claiming to be a loyal ally in America’s ‘War on Terror’, the duplicity of the Pakistani military stands exposed before its own people and, indeed, the world at large. But, fear of the military and its jihadi protégés constantly stifles liberal voices in Pakistan. The elimination of people like Salman Taseer and Syed Saleem Shahzad are clear signals that there is little to choose between General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Lt-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha and their favourite jihadis on the one hand, and Syria’s President Basher al Assad on the other when it comes to crushing and eliminating manifestations of dissent. The Pakistani Army is finding it difficult to defeat its erstwhile Pashtun protégés in the Tehriq-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan. There is, therefore, little prospect of it meeting American demands to act decisively against the followers of Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani. With Pakistan’s Generals hell bent on retaining their jihadi assets in Afghanistan on the one hand and the US determined to ensure that the AfPak badlands straddling the Durand Line are not infested with pathologically anti-American jihadis on the other, the two ‘major non-NATO allies’ appear set on a collision course, though laced with pretensions of seeking mutual understanding.

With China upset at Pakistan-based militants challenging its writ in Xinjiang, there is little prospect of Beijing pandering to Islamabad’s jihadi inclinations in Afghanistan, despite its aversion for a continuing American military presence close to its borders. China’s assistance to its ‘all weather friend’ will, however, continue, primarily to ‘contain’ India. The Russians have made it clear that their air space and territory are available for American operations in Afghanistan against the Taliban, as long as they can jointly crackdown on production and smuggling of opium. Unless there is a total meltdown in their economy, the Americans will retain a relatively small, but significant military/air presence in Afghanistan, primarily for counter-terrorism operations against groups operating across the Durand Line. There are hints that their military presence in Afghanistan will also be geared to deal with any possible takeover of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons by jihadis, including by extremists within Pakistan’s much-vaunted military.

The Afghan National Army will, in all likelihood, not be able to retain control of areas bordering Pakistan for any length of time after December 2014. India and the international community will have to be prepared for this situation and for the change in the dynamics of internal politics within Afghanistan given the deeprooted non-Pashtun aversion to domination by the Taliban. We should have no illusions that we can change the jihadi mindset of Pakistan’s Armed Forces and learn the right lessons from the heavy price the Americans have paid for their naiveté on the military mindset in Pakistan. We will also have to contribute actively in regional and international forums focussing on AfPak developments. The endgame in Afghanistan has only just begun.

He is setting the scene but offers no way forward. Rightly lest he be accused of Internet Hindu.

The situation is clearer than in December 2001.

[shyamd]

Expect a new version of the phoenix project in the badlands.

A very interesting article. imo, the US is doing what it does best, talk with them at the same time use the stick.

US has given the warnings. Munter in Balochistan, shelling at TSPA checkposts, Afghan Def Min in Delhi and getting weapons, training etc.

But I still feel that US wanting to reconcile with Pak is because of TSP N assets (which it cant really monitor) and "Indian N proliferation".

[Virupaksha]

So it is back to 1990s and possibly instead of US being the silent taliban helper might be the silent taliban opposer for losing its H&D.

[RajeshA]

Reclaiming Pakistan Territory: Mohajirstan

Mohajirstan - The Consequences

Karachi is the financial and commercial capital of Pakistan. In line with its status as a major port and the country's largest metropolis, it accounts for a lion's share of Pakistan's revenue. According to the Federal Board of Revenue's 2006-2007 year book, tax and customs units in Karachi were responsible for 46.75% of direct taxes, 33.65% of federal excise tax, and 23.38% of domestic sales tax.[26] Karachi accounts for 75.14% of customs duty and 79% of sales tax on imports. Therefore, Karachi collects a significant 53.38% of the total collections of the Federal Board of Revenue, out of which 53.33% are customs duty and sales tax on imports. (Note: Revenue collected from Karachi includes revenue from some other areas since the Large Tax Unit (LTU) Karachi and Regional Tax Offices (RTOs) Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur & Quetta cover the entire province of Sindh and Balochistan). Karachi's indigenous contribution to national revenue is 25%.

Karachi's contribution to Pakistan's manufacturing sector amounts to approximately 30 percent. A substantial part of Sindh’s gross domestic product (GDP) is attributed to Karachi (the GDP of Sindh as a percentage of Pakistan’s total GDP has traditionally hovered around 28%-30%). Karachi’s GDP is around 20% of the total GDP of Pakistan. A PricewaterhouseCoopers study released in 2009, which surveyed the 2008 GDP of the top cities in the world, calculated Karachi’s GDP (PPP) to be $78 billion (projected to be $193 billion in 2025 at a growth rate of 5.5%). It confirmed Karachi’s status as Pakistan’s largest economy, well ahead of the next two biggest cities Lahore and Faisalabad, which had a reported GDP (PPP) in 2008 of $40 billion and $14 billion, respectively.[33] Karachi's high GDP is based on its mega-industrial base, with a high dependency on the financial sector. Textiles, cement, steel, heavy machinery, chemicals, food, banking and insurance are the major segments contributing to Karachi's GDP. In February 2007, the World Bank identified Karachi as the most business-friendly city in Pakistan.

So first and foremost, the separation of Karachi and Hyderabad from Pakistan would mean a possible loss of access to the sea and it could have very dire consequences on the economy of Pakistan. It is not just that Pakistan's revenue stream would take a beating, or that 20% of Pakistan's GDP would be wiped off, but also all trade that takes place through these port cities would come to an end.

Also if Karachi, and indeed Southern Sindh were to separate from Pakistan, then Pakistan would have to look for some new access route for hydrocarbons, and should Baluchistan also take leave of Pakistan, then Pakistan is really screwed. And that is exactly what should be the aim of India - to screw Pakistan completely by cutting off all access to hydrocarbons.

When the Mohajirs turn away from Pakistan, then in fact Pakistan loses its anchor in history. Not only has Pakistan lost its pre-Islamic past, and its struggle for Independence, it would also have lost its Partition from India narrative. If the Pushtuns establish their Pushtunistan, then even Pakistan's appropriation of Afghan and Central Asian Islamic invaders would also come to an end. Already having distanced from the Sikhs who migrated to East Punjab, Pakjabis would also have no narrative of the Sikh Empire. Thus Pakistan loses its history. Since several ethnic groups try to separate from Pakistan, Pakistan also loses its claim to being the abode of Islam. Without its history and Islam, Pakistan becomes an area on the map, without much else. Of course, Pakistan would not give up its ties to Islamism that easily, but its claims as a leader of Islam would ring very hollow.

It would sound the death-knell of the Two-Nation Theory, as a Muslim majority area would freely express the desire to join India. Mohajirstan would opt for ethnic bonds over religious bonds..

[ramana]

RajeshA, Try to do a Venn diagram of what GP is saying and see if i makes sense. Text is so confusing.

There is a jey being presented in his article.

[RajeshA]

RajeshA, Try to do a Venn diagram of what GP is saying and see if i makes sense. Text is so confusing.

There is a jey being presented in his article.

Structuring GP's thoughts in his article, 'End Game has just begun', he is saying:

• What Pakistani jingos optimists see in US pullout - strategic depth in Afghanistan.
• What others see in Pakistani policies - collapse of Pakistani State.
• Pakistani assessment of immunity from American coercive action, based on
  • American economic weakness,
  • domestic pressure against further war,
  • American dependence on Pakistan as supply route.
• GP offers why the assessment is wrong
  • American determination to pursue its agenda in Afghanistan
  • Northern Distribution Route, Russian Cooperation
  • Small but significant presence of Americans in Afghanistan to continue
    • for counter-terrorism, even across Durand Line
    • for snatching nukes
  • Limited Chinese Support to Pakistan and only viz-a-viz India, and not against USA
• Pakistan is duplicitous and determined to follow its 'strategic depth' agenda in Afghanistan, regardless of US agenda
• Expectations of change in ground situation in AfPak
  • Taliban advances
  • Non-Pushtun Resistance
• India urged to
  • buck-up for changes
  • not trust Pakistan
• US and Pak on collision course, as
  • both determined to pursue their agendas
  • their agendas being contrary

[RamaY]

So it is back to 1990s and possibly instead of US being the silent taliban helper might be the silent taliban opposer for losing its H&D.

Looks like to me. I predict more terror attacks from TSP on india and even western states. If that doesn't invite another round of US engagement with Pakistan, expect another Kargil type mis-adventure, this time JDAM.

Pakis know (I assume thru Shivji's calculations - bad bad Shivji) that even after Indian retaliation enough pakis will be left to continue their Jeehard in one or the other pockets.

India's weakness is it's inability to sanitize GV belt and the Pakistan-dream can be resurrected at right time. After all the subcontinent will still have more than 500million (Half a billion) dar-ul-Islam even if entire Pakistan is turned into glass.

I know, i know Muslims are not an unified force. But I am talking about the islamized OIC, which takes FP based decisions on the basis of religion when it comes to geopolitics.

[RajeshA]

Neutralizing Pakistan's Nuclear Threat

Continuing from TIRP Thread

I got is via email and I don't have a link

AMERICA’S NEW GAME PLAN FOR PAKISTAN

AN INTERESTING ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN AN URDU WEEKLY “NEW YORK AWAM” DATED AUGUST 5-11, 2011

America’s New Game Plan:
Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Should be under the Control of the United Nations.

According to American media, USA has obtained support of Russia, France, U.K. and China for this proposal. America desires that in the month of September, this plan should be initiated.

When China gave Pakistan the nukes, USA was still Pakistan's best friend, and India had no voice in the West. The nukes were meant to be used against India. But it was probably not an intention of China, that the West felt threatened by them.

There is a "Made in China" label on every nuke in Pakistan. Should the Jihadis come to power in Pakistan or should some nukes get stolen by or passed on to Jihadis, and the West felt threatened, the question is, how benign would the West see China's role in the whole sordid saga of nuclear proliferation!

The West is correct is demanding that China cooperates fully with the denuking of Pakistan!

So one can expect USA to go through this route, by getting a UNSC Resolution in favor of denuking Pakistan, a resolution the Americans can use at any time, should it come to using force!

The Pakistanis are going to be mighty surprised at American diplomatic punch! More so from Chinese support for this agenda!

If this is true, it is going to get very interesting!

[ManishH]

If you can read urdu, this is the link ...

http://newyorkawam.org/5-8-11/1.htm

It says US intends to bring the resolution in Sept general assembly meeting. Absolutely no editorial comment nor attribution to what 'american media' reported it. So likely just a rumor.

[RajeshA]

If you can read urdu, this is the link ...

http://newyorkawam.org/5-8-11/1.htm

It says US intends to bring the resolution in Sept general assembly meeting. Absolutely no editorial comment nor attribution to what 'american media' reported it. So likely just a rumor.

Well September ain't far! We will know in time!

[shiv]

The Pakistanis are going to be mighty surprised at American diplomatic punch! More so from Chinese support for this agenda!

If this is true, it is going to get very interesting!

What the Chinese are rightly scared of is American technical punch and bchodgiri. If the Americans decided to do to any enemy/rival of China what the Chinese did for Pakistan - then things will suddenly get much hotter for China. America's greatness is (was?) in her honest dharmic science and work culture. Everything else grew off that nearly unshakeable base, including greed and misjudgement.

[RajeshA]

The Pakistanis are going to be mighty surprised at American diplomatic punch! More so from Chinese support for this agenda!

If this is true, it is going to get very interesting!

What the Chinese are rightly scared of is American technical punch and bchodgiri. If the Americans decided to do to any enemy/rival of China what the Chinese did for Pakistan - then things will suddenly get much hotter for China. America's greatness is (was?) in her honest dharmic science and work culture. Everything else grew off that nearly unshakeable base, including greed and misjudgement.

You mean like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Mongolia with nukes, not to speak of Uyghoors with strange backpacks, donated by convenient Talibani uncles in uniform? Who knows!

[ramana]

No all those are chota lotas. What if the US allows India to operationalize Shakti?

[ManishH]

It's called kleptophobia (fear of theft), i believe. Just like in people, this is triggered by childhood trauma. In Paki case, they've grown up believing falsehoods of deprivation like kashmir, bdesh etc, so they're always fearful of more lollipops being stolen. This phobia regularly manifests in their media.

But the worst sufferers of this pathology is TSP army - esp. senior leadership. Of course this hampers their decision making and international relations. Just like a human affected by phobias withdraws from society and sees conspiracies around him, so does the TSP jarnail.

Thieves are themselves known to suffer from kleptophobia.

[shiv]

So it is back to 1990s and possibly instead of US being the silent taliban helper might be the silent taliban opposer for losing its H&D.

Looks like to me. I predict more terror attacks from TSP on india and even western states. If that doesn't invite another round of US engagement with Pakistan, expect another Kargil type mis-adventure, this time JDAM.

Pakis know (I assume thru Shivji's calculations - bad bad Shivji) that even after Indian retaliation enough pakis will be left to continue their Jeehard in one or the other pockets.

India's weakness is it's inability to sanitize GV belt and the Pakistan-dream can be resurrected at right time. After all the subcontinent will still have more than 500million (Half a billion) dar-ul-Islam even if entire Pakistan is turned into glass.

I know, i know Muslims are not an unified force. But I am talking about the islamized OIC, which takes FP based decisions on the basis of religion when it comes to geopolitics.

In my view the only way forward in this connection is as follows. I will say the same thing in politically correct words and bluntly in two separate statements. No difference in meaning.
Politically correct: Muslims need to be encouraged to reclaim Islam from the mess that Pakistan has made
Blunt: Islam needs to be bent.

I continue to propose to use the example of the activities of the Islamic republic of Pakistan to smear Islam. No one is under any obligation to defend Islam as long as Pakistanis claim that they represent Islam. Study Pakistan and you study what Islam recommends. After all, "Pakistan ka matlab kya? La illah ill allah".

If Pakistanis are right Islam is like Pakistan and represents lies, murder, terrorism, genocide, misogyny, bigotry
If Pakistanis are wrong they are not islamic And they are not becoming more Isamic by doing what they are good at - which is lies, murder, terrorism, genocide, misogyny, bigotry
Catch 22.

[Prem]

="shivI continue to propose to use the example of the activities of the Islamic republic of Pakistan to smear Islam. No one is under any obligation to defend Islam as long as Pakistanis claim that they represent Islam. Study Pakistan and you study what Islam recommends. After all, "Pakistan ka matlab kya? La illah ill allah".
If Pakistanis are right Islam is like Pakistan and represents lies, murder, terrorism, genocide, misogyny, bigotryIf Pakistanis are wrong they are not islamic And they are not becoming more Isamic by doing what they are good at - which is lies, murder, terrorism, genocide, misogyny, bigotry
Catch 22

Lohe ko Loha katte, jehar ka antidote jehar and Bewakoof ka Dushman Bewakoofi.
Poaqers are trying to preempt the scenario. The so called Liberals trying to mitigate above . mention islam and they run like mouse trying to excape from cat's paw .

[RajeshA]

Reclaiming Pakistan Territory: Mohajirstan

Justification

When the Partition of British India took place, Punjab and Bengal, the two border provinces, were also partitioned. Why was Sindh not partitioned accordingly?

At the time of Partition, there were 25% Hindus in Sindh. Did these not deserve a part of their homeland. Sindh never got to be partitioned according to its percentage of population. In Tharparkar, where the Thar Coal Reserves are, Hindus constituted 80% of the population, a percentage which has come down today to 30%. Karachi at the eve of partition consisted of 51 per cent Hindus and 42 per cent Muslims. Karachi was a Hindu city, and should have been part of India. We however forget that India should have had rights on the city.

Now the character of the city has changed, and in fact this proposal itself envisages supporting the rights of those to the city (Mohajirs), who themselves divested Hindus of their rights over the city.

But even if Hindus cannot claim their rights over the city anymore, India could still do so as her historical right, as well as through the right of Mohajirs, migrants from India, on the city. The city should have been India's regardless of whether the inclusion is justified through Hindus or through pro-Indian Muslims (Mohajirs)!

So India can demand the Southern part of Sindh as Indian territory as India's 25% of the share!

[Airavat]

There was a legal claim of the Rajput Kingdom of Jodhpur on Amarkot in Sindh. They kept asking for its restoration from the British but there was no follow up by the Congress after Independence.

[RajeshA]

Airavat ji,

thanks for the info!

[RajeshA]

Please send me your scheme of the Pak e-book. I would like you to collect all posts on one topic. Hope to get atleast three e-books from these efforts.

ramana garu,

I sent you an outline of the structure of the e-book to your yahoo email.

[ramana]

I got it....

Meantime.. x-post....

What would happen if Pakistan and the US severed ties?

Raymond Davis jailed in Lahore. Osama bin Laden discovered in the Pakistani Army’s front yard. US forces expelled. Strategic dialogue suspended. $800 million dollars in US military assistance withheld. And now a Washington-based Kashmir activist arrested for being an ISI operative.

Though US-Pakistan ties remain intact, hostility and mistrust are rapidly gnawing away at them. The troubled partnership hangs by thin threads, and one devastating blow could sever it completely. Most Pakistani and American officials cannot bear the thought of a shattered relationship. The fact is that neither nation’s interests would suffer if ties were severed; in fact, they may well be better served.

The paramount expectation of both governments is that the relationship helps attain their objectives in Afghanistan. For Washington, this entails using Pakistani roads to transport Nato supplies. However, if ties were ruptured, Washington would simply turn to Central Asian routes. Bilateral tensions have periodically prompted Islamabad to shut down Pakistani routes and vehicles are repeatedly attacked. Last weekend alone, one fuel tanker was bombed and another fired upon near Peshawar.

Washington also clings to the hope of a Pakistani Army assault on North Waziristan-based militants, who target US forces in Afghanistan. So long as the US-Pakistan relationship remains in effect, this represents an unlikely prospect, albeit one that cannot be ruled out. A collapse in ties would eliminate the possibility altogether — and this would be a good thing for both countries, given the unrest such an assault would unleash. A North Waziristan invasion would unite militant groups against Islamabad, intensifying violence that has already claimed 35,000 Pakistani lives. Additionally, an offensive would trigger a fresh exodus of militants into other tribal areas and across the Durand Line, where they would target international forces in Afghanistan, or add to the growing number of cross-border attacks.

Islamabad, meanwhile, expects the relationship to accord it a prime role in Afghan reconciliation. Yet there is little indication this will happen, given its disagreements with Washington over the role of the Haqqani network in future negotiations. Furthermore, America’s appetite for talks with the Taliban has dissipated after the group’s recent assassination campaign.

Another abiding wish of both capitals is to stabilise Pakistan — hence the infusions of aid into the country. Unfortunately, the current US economic assistance programme is limited and ineffective. If a rupture in ties ended such largesse, Islamabad would find replacement donors among the Chinese, Saudis, Britain’s Department for International Development, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank. Beijing, meanwhile, would fill the vacuum left by military aid cuts.

In short, Pakistan would be able to weather a US aid cut-off. Washington could use these monies to help staunch its spiralling debt and fund counterterrorism efforts in Yemen, which, according to the new US defence secretary, now poses more of a threat than Pakistan.

Given its radioactive reputation in Pakistan, Washington’s stabilisation-through-engagement efforts are bound to fail. The longer US-Pakistan ties persevere, the more anti-Americanism rises and militancy is fuelled. To be sure, America’s relations with Pakistan do not drive ethnic strife in Karachi or insurgency in Balochistan — yet they do stoke anti-state violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and southern Punjab. They also deepen fears that Washington seeks to seize Pakistan’s nuclear assets — a perception that reinforces widespread hostility towards America and strengthens militant narratives.

Cutting government links would cool such sentiments, and deprive extremists of a chief rallying cry. In this calmer environment, Pakistan and the US could take stock of what went wrong and recognise that neither side enjoys the leverage it believes it wields over the other. Perhaps a cooling-off period, with time, could even lead to renewed ties — albeit ties infused with more realistic expectations of what the bilateral relationship can deliver.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

X-Posting from TIRP Thread

>>They imagined the Hindus might do to them what their genocidal herrows had been doing all along.

Exactly right. Projection onlee, you see. And what's worse, that was considered normal (witness what has happened in the excised appendages and still continues), therefore taken for granted.

The unfortunate part is they also see the act of not treating them like dogs as weakness. There was this recent something I read (on BRF) about Arab psyche where the middle grade officer would tremble and behave extremely obsequious in front of his senior but immediately after that would actually kick his junior. Another article I read was the Paki feudal who absolutely had to have guns and use them in disputes or he would be seen as weak. Pakis need to be treated like shit and they should be able to do nothing about it. That is the only language they understand.

Pakis have been inculcated with an understanding that brutality is good, the more the gore, the superior the conqueror. It is all a question of who is the stronger horse. With such a programming, the "neo-Dharmic" route of winning hearts with love and showing the other cheek, are doomed for failure.

Secondly a black and white enmity too would only feed the stories of victimhood of the Muslims at the hand of outsiders, making the call to arms elsewhere in the Ummah for Jihad shriller.

What the Islamic heart desires most is neither friendship nor enmity, but slavery! The Kufr have to treat them like dirt, kick them like dirt, put them on a leash, and basically beat the shit out of them to convert. This they will accept gladly.

Modern War is only about winning territory and submission to a secular order. Such wars will not break the back of Islamism, and mean no loss to the Islamic heart! The Islamic would not accept that as the final bell. But submission to another God, that is understandable, and acceptable. Isn't it Allah-o-Akbar! Great is one who conquers! If a God loses, there is nothing Great about him! Any other God has to match the (interpretation of) Islamic God in terror, before the other is deemed stronger and more persuasive. That is the test, that has been set down in Islam.

Others may look for compassion, love and benevolence in their Gods, and consider that to be the criteria for the Supremeness of God, but that is not the criteria as has been laid down by the Prophet of Peace. There submission is decided by totally different rules and criteria.

So those who have embraced the message of Islam in all its glory and gore, like in Pakistan, can be won over only by using the same path of submission as laid down in Islam - brutal and ruthless oppression! Before an Islamic graduates to the enlightenment at Saraswati's Feet, his schooling has to be undertaken under the crushing feet of Kali.

Anybody who passes the test, wins the Islamic heart, and the Islamic will willingly convert! Allah and Mohammed can be forsaken and left behind, if the order of the new God convinces them of his strength!

The strong horse wins! That is how I understand Islamic logic!

That is also why Taliban's Allah is winning over Pakjabi Allah!

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

Defining the Target Group
Before going into such an issue, it needs to highlighted who is being addressed here.

I do not believe that being a Muslim, should invite the attitude or treatment, I mentioned earlier. The target group is the Islamist, who believes in the political agenda of Islam and is inspired by the violent methodology espoused in Islam and Islamic history to achieve that political agenda, a political agenda which believes in the subjugation of others citing scripture.

There are certainly other Muslims, who lay emphasis on a different aspect of Islam; or are otherwise not obsessed by the religion itself; or those who confine their practice to simply following rituals; or those who define themselves as Muslims, simply on the basis of their birth in such a Muslim family; or those who find it advisable to stay Muslims due to the Islamic hold on their immediate environment.

These Muslims are not being addressed here!

Uselessness of War
Modern Wars usually fought by the West in Muslim countries - Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya are in fact all useless. Of course the West would be able to install some regime there, which would facilitate West's access to Oil and other minerals, or aid in some strategic objectives. However these wars facilitate only a very superficial control of the West over these societies.

Even after the war, the people remain Muslims and the Islamist Networks which control these Muslims remain there, and are in fact even strengthened. That means the value system of the population remains tethered to Islamic values and an Islamic agenda.

All these wars never once question the jurisdiction of the Islamic God. These wars are fought with secular armies with a secular agenda. The outcome is that the people may be beaten into submission, but their faith is left untouched. A defeat of the people is not shown to be a defeat of their Islamic God. The conqueror just defeats the people but does not wage war on the Islamic faith of the populace much less claim victory of his faith over that of the conquered lot. So if the Conqueror does not claim the victory of his God over that of the Islamic God, why should the people of the Islamic faith entertain the thought of such a defeat.

The West, Russia, China, India, etc. don't fight anymore under the banner of some religion. These countries are secular. To a large extent such an evolution has helped many of these countries to forge ahead in economy, technology and military strength. But it has also made the rest of the world fail the one test Islam poses as the mark of the true faith - military victory won by men inspired by faith as a revelation of divinity.

While most of us are content in having this secular system of rule, we have also made ourselves impotent in solving the growing global menace of Islamism.

As OBL says, people get attracted to the strong horse. Even if the rest of the world is militarily stronger, and in fact has time and again proven that on the battlefield in many wars against Muslim countries and groups, the rest of world claim only they are top-dog and not the stronger horse, if one allows an analogy!

Islam has defined very explicitly how a strong horse behaves. A stronger horse has to contest the object of faith of the Muslims, and not just put up a shock and awe show to achieve some small level of enhanced political control, as a top-dog would. A stronger horse has to defeat the Islamic God on the battlefield. The conquering army has to fight under the flag of faith, and once having defeated the Muslim army, to demand from the population obeisance to the God of the conqueror, and in case of resistance to show the same brutality as has been painted in blood by Islamic history!

If this is done, even the Mullah would acknowledge the new God and let go of the Islamic God!

Unless one forces a change of the faith of the local Ulema through strong-arm tactics, any war would be completely in vain and have only a temporary effect, and in the long term simply furnish more fodder for Islamic war on others, fueled by propaganda of victimhood.

Even in the jungle every type of animal, has its own structure of contest of how two males decide which one is the superior one, and only if such a contest is fought out and one wins, does the other accept the superiority of the other male and bows out. So too has Islam set up its own contest for domination, and anyone can partake! Other than Islam however none is willing to take part considering the terms barbaric and below their standards of civilization and cultural evolution, leaving Islam to win uncontested.

Now this is not the prescription for everyplace but it is certainly the only prescription for a heavily Islamicized society as one would find in Pakistan.

[Manish_Sharma]

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... f=3&t=6075

Received by email.

Indian Army and Independence

Lt Gen SK Sinha

In this season of revoked interest in the events leading and following India’s independence, I am sure this anecdotal and first hand narrative would be of interest to you.

“The Army’s contribution to India’s Independence and its role during the Partition of the Sub-Continent, have not received much attention. As one who served in the Army before and after Independence, as also witnessed the Partition holocaust, I would like to place on record my recollections of that period. My views on these two aspects of our Nation’s history are based on my personal experience and not on any erudite research.

I joined the British Indian Army during the Second World War and continued serving in the Army of Independent India. Having served in Burma (now Myanmar) and Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia), I returned home to India and landed in Calcutta (now Kolkata). I was in an army transit camp on 16 August 1946 when Jinnah launched his Direct Action Day. The Muslim League Premier of Bengal, Suhrawardy faithfully carried out the genocide in which thousands got killed in Kolkata, followed by killings and abductions in Noakhali. The calling out of the Army in Kolkata was deliberately delayed by Suhrawardy to allow the hoodlums to carry out their mayhem. I witnessed the streets of Kolkata strewn with mutilated dead bodies. Violence in the city abated after the Army was deployed to restore order.

A couple of weeks later, I was posted to the Military Operations Directorate of General Headquarters (now Army Headquarters) at Delhi. This Directorate had hitherto been an exclusive British preserve. All the officers and clerks were British.
I joined the Directorate in September 1946 along with two other Indian officers, Lt Col (later Field Marshal) Manekshaw and Major Yahya Khan, later President of Pakistan. We were allocated to three different sections of the Directorate, Manekshaw to Planning, Yahya to Frontier Defence and I to Internal Security. At that time as part of internal security duties, the Army was fully preoccupied in combating unprecedented communal violence. Never had the Army been used so extensively in this role. From my perch at Delhi I got a grandstand view of the cycle of communal violence taking place in the country. Kolkata- Noakhali killings were followed by mass killings of Muslims in Bihar and Garhmukteshwar.

The Unionist Ministry then in power in Punjab and the Congress Ministry in NWFP had managed to keep their provinces free of large scale communal violence. In March 1947 a Muslim League Ministry came to power in Punjab and a little later also in NWFP.

The floodgates of communal violence of the worst type now raged all over North India from Delhi and beyond. Muslims and non-Muslims (Sikhs and Hindus) were matched evenly in Punjab.

Both sides perpetrated the worst type of savagery. The entire population of the region appeared to have gone beserk. Towards the end of July, it was decided to have a Punjab Boundary Force of 50,000 soldiers comprising equal number of units earmarked for India and Pakistan. Major General Pat Rees took over as the commander of this Force. Two Indian Brigadiers, one Hindu remaining in India and the other Muslim going to Pakistan, were appointed his deputies. This experiment did not succeed. Within a month, the Punjab Boundary Force had to be disbanded. The two Dominions took over responsibility for maintaining order in their respective territories.

On our side, a new skeleton Command Headquarters, called Delhi and East Punjab Command, was set up with Lt Gen Sir Dudley Russell as the Army Commander. There were some twelve officers on his staff, all of them British except me.

I was then a Major dealing with operations. There were three subordinate formations under the Command – Delhi Area under Major General Rajendra Sinhji who later became Army Chief, East Punjab Area under Major General K S Thimayya who also later became Army Chief and Military Evacuation Organisation at Lahore under Major General Chimni. No passenger or goods train was running anywhere in Punjab. All the railway rolling stock had been mobilized for carrying refugees. Lakhs of Muslims from all over the country had concentrated in Delhi at three major locations, Purana Qila, Nizamuddin and the open space around the Red Fort. They were being evacuated in refugee trains, escorted by the Army, to Pakistan. Hindu and Sikh refugees coming from Pakistan were initially accommodated in a tented refugee camp at Kurukshetra, before being dispersed to other locations. At one time this camp held 5 lakh refugees. There were also long refugee foot columns, several miles long, moving from either side. It was impossible to provide adequate protection to these columns, extending several miles. Air drops of food packages were organized for these columns.

The civil administration had collapsed in Punjab and our Command was assigned the duty of restoring order and evacuation of refugees. Mountbatten had made the luxurious Viceroy’s train available to our Command. Russell established his mobile headquarters in that train. We were completely self-contained in the corridor train with accommodation for officers, clerical staff, security personnel, and our offices. Our messes and kitchen functioned in the train. We had line and wireless communications on the train as also our motor transport. I operated from this train for nearly two months travelling between Delhi and Lahore. I have in all humility recorded all these details so that some credence may be given to my views on the events of that time based on my personal experience.

As for the Army’s contribution towards the Independence of India, one has to go back to the Great Uprising of 1857. The British call it the Sepoy Mutiny or the Great Mutiny and Indian nationalists refer to it as the First War of Indian Independence. Call it what one may, it was primarily an uprising of the Indian soldier against foreign rule. It lit the spark of nationalism in the country and was a source of great inspiration for succeeding generations during our freedom struggle.

The gallantry of the Indian soldier in battles, during the First World War won world wide acclaim. This was a source of national pride for the Indian people giving them increased self confidence. The emergence of the Indian National Army under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose during the Second World War, added a new dimension to our freedom struggle. The INA comprised soldiers of the Indian Army taken prisoners by the Japanese in Malaya. The INA trials generated a patriotic surge all over the country and were a big shot in the arm for our freedom struggle. This was followed by the Naval Mutiny in Mumbai and Karachi, Army mutiny in Jabalpur and Air Force mutiny in Karachi. This violently shook the foundations of the British Empire in India.

It was at this stage and soon after the Great Kolkata killings that I had joined the Military Operations Directorate in Delhi. There were three things that I found both interesting and revealing. First, a plan for the evacuation of all British civilians in India to the UK called Plan Gondola. Second, the operational map that I was required to maintain in the Operations Room. Third, a paper on the reliability of the Indian Army prepared by the Director of Military Intelligence.

The British feared an uprising on the lines of what had happened in 1857. Many British civilians were scattered in different parts of the country. Plan Gondola catered for their initial evacuation to temporary camps in the provinces, at provincial capitals and some selected convenient locations. These were called Keeps. Armed protection with necessary logistic support was to be provided at the Keeps.

In the subsequent phase, they were to be evacuated to Safes near the port towns of Kolkata, Vishakapatnam, Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai and Karachi, awaiting repatriation to the UK. The troops guarding the Safes and Keeps were to be a mix of British and Indian soldiers. In the event, as communal violence escalated there was no need to implement Plan Gondola. There was now much bitterness and violence between Hindus and Muslims and none against the British. It was a great irony that at the height of the communal carnage in Punjab, British officers could move around unarmed in Delhi and Punjab while Indian officers, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, had to carry arms and in remote areas move with an escort.

I had to maintain a large map of India with pins of different colours showing locations of all combat units in the country. Red was for British units, Green for Gorkha units and Brown for Indian units. A distinction was made between Indian and Gorkha units. At that time the Gorkhas were officered exclusively by the British with no Indian officers in those units. The Indian units had a mix of British and Indian officers with Commanding Officers and senior officers mostly British. The “mutiny syndrome” prevailed among the British. It was ensured that no location had only brown pins without some red and green pins in situ. Field Marshal Auchinleck, the then Commander-in- Chief frequently visited the Operations Room and would study the map maintained by me.

The paper written by the Director Military Intelligence had a novel security classification – Top Secret, Not For Indian Eyes. My predecessor a British officer in a hurry to go back home to the UK on demobilization, had handed over the key of the almirah containing classified documents to me without checking the documents. This paper was written in the wake of the INA trials.

It stated that the Indian officers of the Army could be divided into three categories – those commissioned before 1933 from Sandhurst, the pre-war officers commissioned between 1933 and 1939, and the wartime emergency commissioned officers. The Sandhurst officers were considered more reliable. They were now middle aged with family commitments and did not nurture much grievance as they had been treated well. They were very few, their total number being about thirty. The pre-war, 1933 to 1939 officers had a grievance because their emoluments were not at par with their British counterparts. This disparity was removed during the war but its memory and of some other discriminations still rankled with them. The wartime officers numbering about 12,000 against a total of 500 of the two previous categories, were considered most unreliable. While in their schools and colleges, they had been exposed to subversive political influence culminating in the Quit India movement.

They faced an uncertain future because they were all emergency commissioned officers and only very few were likely to be accommodated in the permanent post-war cadre of the Army. They were working at the company and platoon level interacting directly with the soldiers.

As for the soldiers, the position regarding them had also changed radically. Prior to the war, the strength of the Army was 1.37 lakhs and recruitment was confined to the martial classes. A large number of soldiers came from traditional military families. During the war, floodgates had been opened for recruitment. The Army had been expanded from 1.37 lakhs to 2.2 millions. The INA had had a psychological impact on the officers and men of the Army.

Further, the bulk of the Army overseas had served in South East Asia, where they had seen how the prestige of the colonial powers had suffered at the hands of the Japanese in the early years of the war. Towards the end of the war, national movements for freedom had erupted in Asian countries ruled by colonial powers like the British, the French, the Dutch and the Portugese. The paper also took into account that an economically exhausted Britain after a long drawn out war, was not in a position to maintain a strong British military presence in India. In the circumstance, the paper recommended early British withdrawal from India. I was much impressed by this very analytical study.

The fact that the Indian Army had an impact on our movement for Independence and hastened the dawn of freedom is indisputable. Earl Atlee the British Prime Minister, who had presided over the liquidation of the British Empire in 1947, confirmed this during his visit to India in 1956. He told Mr Chakravarty, the then Governor of Bengal, that the decision to quit quickly in 1947 had been taken because the British could no longer rely on the loyalty of the Indian Army.

The role of the Army during Partition has not so far been factored into discussions about Partition. The fact that the Army also effected the decision on Partition needs to be taken into account. After their experience with Cromwell’s military dictatorship, the British ardently nurtured the concept of an apolitical army.

It suited them to transplant that concept in the Indian Army that they raised. While this concept continues to hold good in India, it got thrown overboard in Pakistan for reasons which we may not discuss here. After 1857, the British decided not to have one class regiment except for Gorkhas and Garhwalis. All other combat units of the Indian Army had the composition of 50% Muslims and 50% non-Muslims (Hindus and Sikhs). This was in line with their policy of Divide and Rule. Different communities living together in war and peace and encouraged to remain apolitical, developed a regimental ethos which held them together.
I was commissioned in the Jat Regiment which had two companies of Jat Hindus and two companies of Muslims. I served with a Punjabi Muslim company. I found that the regimental spirit among the men was strong and there was no communal divide. This continued in the Army as a whole till the end of 1946 but started cracking in 1947, reaching a breaking point by August 1947. Yet I saw that when the Muslim companies of the Jat Regiment were going to Pakistan, tears were shed on both sides. This happened in other regiments as well.

In keeping with the Army’s apolitical traditions, Indian officers during the British days, hardly ever discussed political matters among themselves. I recall that in Rangoon soon after the end of the war, one junior British officer referred to the INA as traitors and also used vulgar epithets for it.

There was no senior officer present in the Mess. This led to a heated discussion between the British and Indian officers, both Hindus and Muslims. Although politics in India had got much communalized in the Forties, Netaji seems to have promoted complete communal harmony in the Azad Hind Government and the Indian National Army. Vande Matram as an anthem had been a source of discord between the two communities in India. Netaji had coined the slogan Jai Hind which could not raise any communal hackles.

The Indian Army got involved in a strange war in Indonesia. It had been sent to that country primarily to take the surrender of the Japanese. The Dutch had been driven out from those islands. They accompanied the Indian Army to re-establish their colonial rule. The Indonesians had declared their Independence and had raised an army of their own. The Indian Army got involved in fighting the Indonesians. It was a strange situation for us. The Indonesians would tell us that we were ourselves not free and yet we were fighting against their becoming independent.
During my service in Indonesia, I used to feel very embarrassed on this account. However, what surprised me was that when the Indonesians raised the banner of Islam in their appeal to Indian soldiers, a number of Muslim soldiers of the Indian Army deserted and joined them. I was told that about a thousand or more of our Muslim soldiers had deserted. They got left behind when we came out from Indonesia. I am mentioning this because this was for the first time that I saw the communal virus affecting the Army.

Notwithstanding the early signs in Indonesia, it is remarkable that during the outbreak of unprecedented communal violence in August 1946 and till well after 1947 had set in, the Indian soldier, both Hindu and Muslim, showed remarkable impartiality when called upon to deal with communal violence. This was so in Kolkata in August 1946, in Bihar in October 1946 and in Garhmukteshwar (U.P.) in November 1946. Two or three battalions of the Bihar Regiment which had Hindus and Muslims in equal number, had operated in Bihar during the communal riots and had remained completely impartial. The Bihar riots were horrendous.

For the first time communal riots had spread so extensively to rural areas. Hitherto communal riots had remained an urban phenomenon. Several thousand Muslims got massacred in Bihar as a revenge for thousands of Hindus killed in Kolkata and Noakhali. At the time of Bihar riots, I was in Delhi getting daily reports of what was happening in my home province.

Colonel Naser Ali Khan, who later went to Pakistan Army, and I were serving at General Headquarters and were living in the officers mess on Wellesley Road (now Zakir Hussain Road). He was many years senior to me and was always very kind to me. One morning at breakfast after having read of a news report about Bihar riots in the newspaper, he told me excitedly that his blood boiled when he remembered that I was a Bihari. I told him that I condemned what was happening in Bihar more than him. He was not the only Muslim officer I interacted with in Delhi who felt so worked up over the most unfortunate happenings in Bihar.

I am mentioning these incidents to bring out how circumstances were forcing communal virus to spread in the Army. Till March 1947 things appeared to be well under control. Local communal riots were taking place in different places and the Army deployed to maintain order remained very disciplined and impartial. Wavell during his farewell address on 21 March 1947 said, “I believe that the stability of the Indian Army may perhaps be the deciding factor in the future of India.” Pakistan had not emerged as a sovereign State till then and hardly anyone could imagine that it will become a reality in the next four months.

With Muslim League Ministries coming to power both in Punjab and NWFP, communal passions were sought to be aroused in a planned manner. Pictures of atrocities on Muslims in Bihar and Garhmukteshwar started being shown in mosques along with fiery speeches by Muslim clerics on Fridays. Widespread communal riots erupted in Peshawar and Rawalpindi. Soon the whole of North India was on fire. The strain on the soldiers started showing. Most of the soldiers, both Muslims and non-Muslims, were from the North. Their homeland was getting ravaged and in several cases their families had been victims of communal frenzy.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for the soldiers to retain their impartiality. The downslide in this regard became more perceptible after Partition was announced. The day after that announcement I met two officers in their uniforms in Delhi wearing strange shoulder tittles – RPE and RPASC. In those days officers from Engineers and Army Service Corps wore shoulder titles, RIE for Royal Indian Engineers and RIASC for Royal Indian Army Service Corps. Some officers had begun to wear Pakistan shoulder titles within hours of the Partition announcement and much before Pakistan came into being.
There were reports of senior Muslim officers going to meet Jinnah who then lived in his house, 10 Aurangzeb Road. This showed how officers going to Pakistan were getting politicized. It also showed the fervour for Pakistan among some Muslim officers. On the morrow of Independence in August 1947, the Gilgit Scouts staged a coup arresting Brigadier Ghansara Singh of the Kashmir Army who had been sent there as Governor by the Maharaja. This was the first military coup in Pakistan Army. More were to follow later.

As mentioned earlier, the Punjab Boundary Force comprising in equal measure, units earmarked for Indian and Pakistan Army, was set up under a British commander in late July 1947. It was hoped that it will help in maintaining order on both sides of the border, at a time when communal violence and migration was reaching a crescendo. The experiment failed because the impartiality of the soldier had got eroded and there were several instances of soldiers taking sides.

Large scale violence again erupted in Kolkata and Mahatma Gandhi had gone there to restore sanity among the people. He undertook a fast which had a dramatic effect. It was then that Mountbatten made his famous remark that a one man boundary force had succeeded in Kolkata while the 50,000 strong Punjab Boundary Force had failed in the North. The Punjab Boundary Force was disbanded within a month of its raising and the two Dominions assumed responsibility for maintaining order on their side of the border. As a tailpiece, I may add that after a couple of months, Indian and Pakistan Armies were locked in fighting a war against each other in Kashmir.

No doubt the Partition holocaust was the greatest tragedy in the history of the Subcontinent in which millions got killed and millions got uprooted. Soon after Hindus and Muslims had fought unison in the First War of Independence in 1857, the seeds of separatism were sown by Sir Syed Ahmed. He conceived a separate nationhood for the Muslims of India. Lord Morley by accepting separate electorate in 1906 provided the oxygen for it. It fully matured by 1947 and was exploited to the hilt by Jinnah.
Looking back in hindsight, one can say that Partition could have been averted had the Congress been more accommodative and the Muslim League less obdurate. However, after the planned genocide started by Jinnah on i6 August 1946 as part of his Direct Action programme, there could be no going back from the path of disaster. The Qaid-e- Azam had become Qatl-e- Azam.

The puerile attempt by some people to underscore Jinnah’s secular image on the basis of a lone speech by him while inaugurating the Pakistan Constituent Assembly does not carry conviction. One swallow does not make a summer. It now transpires that Jinnah made that conciliatory address not out of any goodwill but under compulsion. The inside story has been revealed in a book Select Documents on Partition of India by a distinguished historian, Dr Kripal Singh. Lord Ismay the Chief of Staff of Lord Mountbatten told him in an interview on August 17, 1964, the background to that much hailed address.

Mountbatten had asked Ismay to convey to Jinnah the need for his taking that line, now that he had achieved his Pakistan. The sole aim was to check the spiraling violence in Pakistan and the counter violence in East Punjab.

That Jinnah ‘s animosity towards India had not changed is made amply clear by Pakistan’s invasion of Kashmir launched on 22 October 1947. His earlier slogan was India Divided or India Destroyed. That had now changed to India Divided and India Destroyed. It is a different matter that on 7 November 1947 the Indian Army turned back that invasion from the outskirts of Srinagar. This was perhaps in line with what Charles Martel had achieved at Tours in 732 against the Saracens thereby saving France or Jan Sobleski had done in 1683, throwing back the Turks from the gates of Vienna and saved Europe.
Lately attempts have been made by some people to exonerate Jinnah for his role in Partition.( COMMENT: Jaswant Singh !! ) They have even gone further, by trying to blame Patel and Nehru for accepting Partition. It is even insinuated that they were tired and old, and were in a hurry to grab power. Having opposed the two nation theory and partition all their lives, they caved in and opted for Partition. Ralph Emerson rightly wrote, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” In the Army the saying is that consistency is the hallmark of a mule.

Sardar Patel had the uncanny gift of foresight and the ability to take hard decisions. He rightly assessed the situation prevailing in mid 1947. Based on his experience in the Interim Government when the Muslim League had brought government functioning to a grinding halt, the crescendo of communal violence and the Army getting contaminated, combating communal violence for nearly a year, he realized that there was now no alternative to Partition. His decision to salvage the wreck in 1947 was an act of great statesmanship. If that had not been done, things would have become much worse.

We would have had a civil war on our hands with the Army broken up and participating from both sides. One does not know what the outcome of such a conflict may have been. India may have broken up into several independent States like erstwhile Yugoslavia or could have become a much larger version of present Lebanon. In his own words, the Sardar chose to save 80% of the country. Had a patchwork solution of unity with a weak centre been accepted in 1947, the results could have been disastrous. With a weak Centre the integration of the 500 odd Princely States may not have been possible.

The minority population of India was about 12% in 1947. Today, the combined minority population in an undivided India would have been over 40%. Petrol funded Islamist forces that have now emerged in the world would have swamped India. India as we know it today would not have existed. Patel’s acceptance of a moth eaten Pakistan and getting the Congress to accept it, was a great achievement. This was almost at par with his universally hailed achievement of integrating the Princely States with the Indian Union.
The first vivisection of India had taken place in the beginning of the second millennium. Although the Arabs had conquered Sindh in 712 A D, they had remained confined to the deserts of Sindh for three centuries and subsequently Sindh had not broken away from India. The Hindu Shahi dynasty ruled over Afghanistan with their capital at Kabul. They guarded the country’s North West Frontier. Starting from 999 A D, they succumbed to the invasions of the great conqueror and plunderer, Mahmud Gazni. India was exposed for the first time to the ferocity of religious fundamentalism. Soon, Afghanistan ceased to be a part of India. That was our country’s first vivisection.

The second took place in 1947 again on account of religious fundamentalism. Sardar Patel ensured that the 80% residual India was fully integrated and became a strong nation. Despite that part of the country which broke away becoming a theocracy and carrying out instant ethnic cleansing in the West and gradual in the East, Nehru and Patel ensured that India retained her secular values.

In August 1947 the residual Muslim League in India adopted a resolution reviving itself. Surprisingly, undeterred with all that had happened leading to Partition, its representatives in the Constituent Assembly, demanded reservation for Muslims and also separate electorate. Muslim members of the Assembly other than the few of the Muslim League, did not support this demand. It got rejected by an overwhelming majority. Speaking on this issue the Sardar stated, “I know they have a mandate from the Muslim League to move this amendment. I feel sorry for them. This is not a place for acting on madness. This is a place today to act on your conscience and to act for the good of the country. For a community to think that its interests are different from that of the country in which it lives, is a great mistake”.

Unfortunately the successors of Sardar Patel in his party have shown lack of vision. For the sake of garnering Muslim votes, they have been following the policy of appeasement and are prepared in that process to sacrifice national interest.

B K Nehru, an eminent member of the dynasty, in his autobiography, Nice Guys Finish Second, wrote that the old guard in the Congress considered national interests supreme but the new generation feels otherwise, giving priority to party interests.

The Congress practicing secularism selectively has been giving an impetus to communalism. It treats Muslim League as a secular party and welcomes it as an alliance partner in the Government, both at the Centre and in Kerala. It treats the BJP as untouchable and wants to have nothing to do with it, even when BJP has Muslim members but Muslim League does not have a single non-Muslim member.

It has been facilitating the illegal migration of Bangladeshi Muslims to build its vote bank. A Congress Prime Minister declares that Muslims must have the first call on the Nation’s resources. It has been decided to set up four new Muslim Universities like the Aligarh Muslim University, which had been the nursery for Pakistan. Several other such instances can be quoted. If we continue like this, the day is not far when we will have to put up with a third vivisection of the country.

The second partition was the product of separate electorate, the third may be the product of the policy of appeasement. Justice in full measurfe must be provided to the minority but appeasement can be disastrous both for them and the country.
The Indian Army made a significant contribution towards ushering the independence of India. Its role during the Partition holocaust was also of great significance.

I conclude quoting from Stephen Cohen’s book on the Indian Army. “India has virtually ignored the military as a factor in nation building. This is surprising, for the military had a profound impact on the course of nationalist politics and also upon policies after 1947.”

Bolded red part is most important to remember, even if in near future US/UK try to undo partition we have to resist this will be catastrophic for Indic civilization. Just as Meerut's ratio has changed to 60 : 40 since independence and we couldn't do anything, there is nothing we'll be able to do if partition is undone.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

A paper states that

According to the 1941 population census, the total population of the Municipality of Lahore was 671,659, out of which Muslims constituted a majority of 64.50 per cent. Except for a small Christian community and some individuals from other minor groups, the rest were Hindus and Sikhs who together made up 36 per cent of the population. In the Lahore District as a whole the situation was similar. Muslims were 60.62 per cent while Hindus and Sikhs together formed 39.38 per cent of the population. The Hindus and Sikhs, however, owned the overwhelming bulk of the property in the city and in the district.

The paper quotes: The Partition of the Punjab 1947, Vol. 1, (Lahore; Sang-e-Meel Publications,1993), pp. 335-6.

Some of the most revered Sikh places of worship are in Pakistan, like


Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib, Pakistan (Birthplace of Guru Nanak)



Gurdwara Kartarpur, Samadh of Guru Nanak



Samadh of Maharaja Ranjit Singh



Gurdwara Dehra Sahib Lahore: Shrine of Guru Arjan Dev

and many more!

Basically Sikh history is invariably tied to Punjab, Pakistan.

Sikhs are free in India. They can go to their places of worship, and worship as they please. It is in Pakistan that Sikhism is a caged bird and needs to be freed.

So the very basis of the Khalistan Movement gave a totally different meaning to the word misguided. It was sheer idiocy of the first order.

What was needed was a Khalistani Movement to free not only Sikh places of worship from the grip of the Pakistanis, but to free Pakjabis as well from the grip of Islam. That should be the aim of the Neo-Khalistani Movement: to liberate Pakjab from Islam, and liberate Sikh holy places from the Pakistani yoke!

That in fact is the Mission of the Khalsa Panth! For as long as Sikhs holy places remain occupied by Pakistan, and Punjab remains under Islamic rule, the Khalsa Panth would remain shackled, and its message would remain throttled. Only after the liberation of Pakjab would the Khalsa Panth return to its glory, as was established by Maharaja Ranjit Singh! But the Maharaja could not decipher Islam, which ultimately led to even his birth place (Gujranwala) and his samadhi (Lahore) coming under the yoke of the Islamists.

Next: How to Liberate!

[svinayak]

Next: How to Liberate!

What about the Hindu Temples in Pakistan. We need to liberate them so that Sanathan Dharam is established in the birth place.
Somebody will start working on the floor plans of the temples and put it in the internet.

Estimates are that 10 million Hindus will make pilgrimages to these Hindu Temples in the Indus valley initially and this number will grow to 100 million every year.

Pilgrimage visits will include the Sikh Temples and the restored Buddhist sites of the Lord Buddha.

[RajeshA]

Next: How to Liberate!

What about the Hindu Temples in Pakistan? We need to liberate them so that Sanathan Dharam is established in the birth place.

I hope, I can clarify my views on that in my subsequent posts!

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

THE CONTEXT
As things stand in Pakistan, it would seem quite outlandish to suggest that Sikhs should liberate Pakistani Punjab from Islam.

Today Pakistan is being ruled by a large modern Army, receiving its weaponry from the West and China. As a second line of defense one has a huge number of non-uniformed Jihadis organized in many tanzeems. One has a very deeply entrenched network of Islamists consisting of dawas, seminaries, mosques and political parties. And then one has a highly Islamized population. All this exists in an environment over which Islam rules with an iron-fist, threatening apostates and spies with gory death.

So how does one go about liberating a land which is fully infested by such a cancer?

Pakistan would have to have gone through various stages, before one could consider to have prepared the battlefield, the environment conducive for such a Liberation Movement:

• Pakistan would have to be broken up, ultimately leaving Pakjab as a politically autonomous entity.
• Pakjab would be surrounded by uncooperative or hostile states - Pushtunistan, Mohajirstan, Baluchistan, Gilgit, India
• Pakjab would have lost its ability to trade freely with the rest of the world due to being landlocked and surrounded by uncooperative states.
• Pakistani Army would have broken into multiple tanzeems, led by autonomous regional warlords, due to inability of the Army to pay salaries and pensions, resources crunch, growing Islamism, growing tribalism, growing casteism, growing nepotism, and overall breakdown in governance.
• Pakistani nukes would have been secured, either by making a deal with the Army faction responsible for the nukes - the CoAS, the Corp Commanders and the National Command Authority in lieu for parachutes out of Pakistan, or Pakistan would have forcibly been divested of its nukes by an international coalition.
• The feudals, zamindars, waderas in Pakjab would be having their own small armies to protect them, their agricultural land and their agricultural produce.

All the above I have dealt with in earlier posts. The context as such that I see for the Neo-Khalistani-led Liberation Movement of West Punjab, is a denuked land-locked 'sovereign' Pakjab with a weak government and a Somalian-type anarchy ruled by a hodgepodge of warlords - feudals, ex-Army commanders, Taliban commanders.

In such a context, one can speak of a liberation of West Punjab from Islamist hold!

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

INDIA'S STAND
I must say in the beginning itself, that I don't think the Indian State really can involve itself directly pursuing such an agenda of targeting Pakistan/Pakjab with a view to convert Pakistani Muslim populations to some Dharmic religion, and to subdue the Islamist networks in the region, simply for being Islamist.

India's hands are tied. We are a secular country with a huge Muslim population, which has to be kept happy, peaceful and moderate. We are a country, which has to remain focused on the Big Power Games. We are a country, which should be single-mindedly in pursuing growth, military power, technological advancement and peace at home. Ours should remain a secular army.

So India cannot carry the banner of some religion and fight under that banner, trying to convert the Islamobarbarians to some Dharmic path - at least not officially!

OVERTURES TO THE PRESENT KHALISTAN MOVEMENT
Much less in India, but worldwide there are still many Sikhs who do not consider India their homeland and dream of a Khalistan in a Greater Punjab, consisting of parts of both India and Pakistan. They are still bitter about Operation Blue Star and the Anti-Sikh Riots in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's Assassination. Outside India they have tried to make a non-Indian and non-Hindu identity.

There is a need for an outreach from Indian Sikhs to bring in these Sikhs again into mainstream of patriotism for India, and to consider India their home. If we want to establish a Dharmic Greater Punjab, then a outreach to all the Sikhs is an imperative, and one cannot continue to ignore them or their bitterness.

It should become inconceivable for the Sikhs to ever work against India or to think of taking up arms against India.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

THE BEACHHEAD
It was suggested that Pakjab would be surrounded by either uncooperative or outright hostile states, arising out of a break up of Pakistan. The break-up of Pakistan would not be peaceful, and there would be residual hostility towards Pakjab long after the break up has finished. Also due to chaotic nature of the ensuing states, it would be difficult for Pakjab to ensure peaceful borders with its neighbors, and there will be sufficient reasons for conflict and tension.

Another development would be that the local populace would have become increasingly poor and would not have the capacity to purchase the agricultural produce of the Pakjab. There will be better prices to be had in India. So the trade between India and Pakjab would be booming, and I expect that Pakistani Punjab would become an important part of India's bread basket.

As explained earlier, unable to sell their produce elsewhere, the Zamindars in Pakjab region would become dependent on India to buy much of the agricultural produce of Pakjab. Much of the revenue the Pakjabi Zamindars earn, would most probably be spent in buying for them security services, and for their lavish living either in India, or in Pakjab making use of all that India has to offer. As such much of the money would be used in India itself.

Considering the level of Islamization in Pakistan as well as chaos and poverty there, there would be many who would not be happy about the life-styles of these Zamindars in Pakjab. From what we know recently, new terminology has sprung up useful for describing the use of arms against those one is supposed to protect - Qadrification! We read how Salmaan Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, Pakistan, was brutally gunned down by one of his bodyguards, Ghazi Malik Mumtaz Qadri, as Taseer was not seen as sufficiently Islamic.

The same fate would await the many feudals of Pakistan. So they would want to buy themselves security which cannot be compromised by the Islamic jazba. Of course, these zamindars have families from their vicinity, whose sons have often been employed by these Zamindars to provide security, and there is a relationship going back for many generations.

However considering that these Zamindars would become prime targets of the Islamist tanzeems and gangs because of their wealth in riches and food-grain, it is understandable that they would like to avoid any Islamic poisoning of their well of human resources. But that is next to impossible. So they would rather opt for a security system which circumvents the need of availing of such a possibly poisoned well. They would themselves not wish to employ other Muslims for the security of their families or that of their property and wealth.

This is exactly the beachhead we need.

The proposal is, that Sikhs should join the private militias of these Zamindars, and in fact solely become responsible for the security of these Zamindars and their property. These Zamindars should recruit these Sikhs, when they come visiting India.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

THE SIKH COALITION
1) Punjab Security Consultants (PSC): Consider a Blackwater type organization made up of Indian Sikhs fully trained as commandos. So it is private company, which hires ex-servicemen from the Indian Military to train Sikhs from India as security personnel, as commandos, with a wide variety of skills. It is a disciplined force approved by GoI. It has its own high-tech arsenal. PSC is willing to offer its services to both the GoI and other parties which are approved by GoI. Now consider that such companies can provide up to 30,000 men.

2) Khalsa Army: One would have to raise a large army of volunteers. Sikhs who are trained in combat, devout and ruthless to Islamists. This should be India's response to the various tanzeems who happen to be sprawling all over in Pakistan. These holy warriors should be at the forefront of uprooting the Islamist networks, and providing security to any Pakjabis, who can be persuaded to convert. Khalsa Army would be financed by private donations from all Dharmics, which would be paid into a charity. Some money would be collected from the Zamindars too.

3) Sikh Missionaries - AFAIK, they have been called various things in Sikhism - Manjis, Udasis, Prabhandaks, etc. These are there to take care of spreading the message of Sikhism to the Muslim populace.

4) Seva Dal: Consider this to be our response to the various Dawas in Pakistan. Volunteer Sikhs would go and serve people in Pakistan. Again Dharmics would be giving donations for this endeavor. Some money would be collected from the Zamindars too.

5) Indian Businessmen - Both Sikhs and Hindus from India can start doing business within Pakistan, and giving people work.

6) Government of India - GoI would be there to support the overall effort.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

THE RURAL STRATEGY: A SCENARIO
1) As the Zamindars would be having a very robust trade relationship with India, and as they would have much money to spend in India, they would be coming to India quite often. So too would their offspring. One would imagine that due to security reasons, they would rather spend their time in India. These Zamindars would also be having many political connections in India. It is here that Indians would start advising them to avail of the services of private security consultancies from India in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in Pakjab.

2) The Zamindars in Pakjab would increasingly turn to Indians to provide them with security. They would contract some Punjab Security Consultancy, and pay them handsomely. Depending on the wealth of the Zamindar, the Consultancy would send a certain number of Sikh mercenaries or we can say security personnel along. Moreover, the Consultancy would set up security systems around the compound of the Zamindar. He would be assured of maximum security for his person, his family, his extended family, his property.

The security personnel from the Consultancy would take over the jobs from the Zamindar's previous confidants or would supplement their security. The previous security guards (Muslims) could be deployed for security of property and food-grain. The main responsibility for security would go to the Consultancy.

3) Once the security consultancy has won the confidence of a single Zamindar, the security solution would become more popular among the other Zamindars too. Then they would approach the private security consultancy to provide them with security also.

4) This way the private security consultancy consisting mainly of Sikh mercenaries can establish "bases" in various parts of Pakjab. These bases would be in the rural areas, and would consist of vast land holdings.

5) As there would always be a threat to the property of the Zamindar, the consultants would advise the Zamindar to allow the consultants to invite a few Sikhs from the Khalsa Army - around 150-200. These would come over and put up tent in the vast land-holdings of the Zamindar. The Khalsa Army company starts providing extended security over the premises. They as such do not have much to do with the personal security of the Zamindar, but can act in his name.

6) The Khalsa Army company then spreads out and tries to get to know the surroundings, and the people of the area. These holy warriors always carry their weapons around with them. They work intimidating on the people, but also friendly. In the evenings they are always open for merrymaking and Bhangra.

7) After some time the Zamindar is persuaded to build a Gurdwara for the Sikhs on his land. He does so! Around it some land is also taken into possession to form a larger perimeter for the Gurudwara. Either that or an old Gurudwara is taken under protection of the Khalsa Army company.

8 ) Some Sikh priests, prabhandaks/pradhaans are invited from India to oversee the day-to-day working of the Gurudwara. They come over with a team of Seva Dal tagging along.

9) Under the watchful eyes of the Khalsa Army, the Gurudwara starts its operations, and Seva Dal starts to provide langar etc. to the poor of the region. The Zamindar pays and provide the food-grain.

10) There is tension with the local mosque. The Gurdwara stays its course.

11) The ulema protest to the Zamindar. There is fighting between the Khalsa Army and some local tanzeem. Some Sikhs get hurt. Khalsa Army goes and kills everybody associated with the mosque. Absolutely no mercy is shown.

12) The Zamindar either has to ask the Khalsa Army to leave, which it won't. Or Zamindar has to look for more security. Considering his business interests with India, he will opt for more security. The Zamindar is asked to convert, if he wants to the Khalsa Army to stand by his side and protect him from the wrath of the Islamized Muslims. The Zamindar converts. Now he enjoys full protection of the Khalsa Army as well.

13) Other families around the Zamindar are also persuaded to convert, as it would allow them more access to the Zamindar and better business and income prospects by latching on to the Zamindar again.

14) As tensions rise, the Seva Dal stops giving langar to everybody, and allow only Sikhs to come in. The gate keepers explain to others that it is due to heightened security.

15) Poor people who had become dependent on the generosity of the Gurdwara are willing to convert to Sikhism as well. They are again allowed in, and they are given vocational training and other support, especially medical support.

16) Especially all those who were earlier in the service of the Zamindar are encouraged to convert, in order to keep on availing the support they used to receive from the Zamindar earlier.

17) Local converts are integrated into security forces aka Khalsa Army. They get monetary support for themselves and their families. They get food. They get medicines.

18) Indian businessmen start putting up shop in the main markets in that rural region. They too provide employment etc. but local converts are given preference. So many more convert.

19) The Gurdwara increases its influence and scope of its work, and proselytization is undertaken in earnest and more prominently.

20) To all this activity the Khalsa Army company provides the security. Where they come under pressure from Islamists, then the security consultancy mercenaries help out.

21) Actually as was mentioned in the dystopian landscape vision of Pakjab after Pakistan's break up, India would be financing almost all groups in Pakistan, directly or indirectly, and India can try to influence their policies towards the Khalsa Army. These Pakjabi groups are asked to desist from attacking them or the Gurdwaras.

22) However if that influence fails to work and a large force of Jihadis start attacking the Khalsa Army, and the mercenaries too are also not enough, then they ask the Indian Forces for help. Indian force can cite some security threat to India from some group in Pakistan, and go across the border and attack it. The Taliban/Jihadis are attacked and finished off. The Khalsa Army is then left to look after the mopping up operations. Khalsa Army has to show that it can be brutal, so any Jihadi which is found still alive, is terminated.

23) Khalsa Army continues to convert and recruit more people from the population itself. The converts and the recruits and their families get better access to food, to jobs, to medical treatment, and get more prestige, as in that region, with the conversion of the local zamindar, Sikhism becomes the religion of the ruling clan.

24) These areas become the inkspots on the Pakjabi map. They start growing and eventually linking up to each other becoming contiguous regions.

25) It is advisable to keep these Sikh regions outside India initially, as there different rules would be followed than in India. We want to give Khalsa Army full freedom to uproot extremist networks with the help of local converts, without any regard of Indian Laws, and Indian scrutiny.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

THE MACRO VIEW
Once Pakjab and Pushtunistan have separated, Pushtunistan would initially be under a Taliban regime. Pakjab would always be under pressure from the Pushtuns.

The Taliban would always treat Pakjabis as Murtads (apostates). This will be regardless of how pious Pakjabis get. This is so simply to give the Taliban an excuse to loot the Pakjabis and to intimidate them.

As long as Pakjabis are in one country with the Pushtun, they are willing to accept this on religious terms, but once they become an independent political entity, the Pakjabis would reject this and sway towards more ethnicity-based explanations. The negative feelings would not just be against Taliban but against Pushtun in general.

As a landlocked country, Pakjab would try to build its national identity around Punjabiyat and would look towards Indian Punjab for inputs and direction.

One could argue, that this is not happening in Bangladesh. They are not looking towards West Bengal for salvation, so why should Pakjabis do so. The reason is that in Bay of Bengal, the Bangladeshis are the Alpha Muslims, so they have no reason to identify themselves strongly with West Bengal. Bangladeshis are simply not under siege, the way the Pakjabis are going to be.

Everytime the Pushtuns are going to slap the Pakjabis, they are going to come and cry on our shoulders. So on the one hand, we should allow Pushtun to treat Pakjabis like crap, but on the other we can also give Pakjabis some weapons to defend themselves.

The Pushtun-Pakjab Conflict would ensure that Pakjab comes firmly in an Indian orbit, and allows Indians much liberty in what we want to do within Pakjab itself.

This is the scenario for Pakjab's Central Government which is basically going to be a weak government like the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia.

[RajeshA]

Breaking the Islamist Hold

The Neo-Khalistan Movement

WHY THIS CAN WORK

Food: In a poor nation, the individual is first and foremost worried about food for him and his family. Whoever provides that food wins the religion debate.

That is why the alliance between the Sikh Coalition and the Zamindars is a critical one. Those who control the supply of food, control the influence over the people.

Seva Dal would be the biggest charity organization in Pakjab. They would have the resources coming from both India as well as direct access to food grain, etc. through their connections with the newly converted Zamindars.

Islamic Dawas would not know how to get food even if they had the money from the Gulf. They could buy in the open market, but then that would be costly.

Attitude Towards Islam: Just like Indians have developed an animosity towards Islam because of the Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, in the same way, the Pakjabis are going to find out that their relationship with the Talibanized Pushtunistan is not going to be much different.

The Taliban will plunder the Pakjabis and Pakjabis would develop a hate for their attackers. This animosity towards the beliefs of the Taliban are going to color the attitude of the Pakjabis towards their own Islamists as well. This too gives Sikhism an advantage.

Khalsa Army is going to be ruthless to the Islamists, and if the Pakjabis see that their lives become a lot more freerer, then they may even appreciate the new faith.

Weapons: The Sikh Mercenaries and the Khalsa Army would be receiving their weapons from India directly over the border. The Jihadis may not be able to get access to the same firepower, especially as the neighboring states may not allow Pakjabis to import weapons.

Both the Sikh Mercenaries and the Khalsa Army would also be trained better.

Influence: There will be Indian influence over the various gangs in Pakjab which will also moderate the attacks of the various tanzeems and factions on to the Khalsa Army.

Weak Government - A weak government living off Indian dole would allow us to take in and out of Pakistan anything we want - be it importing food causing a scarcity in Pakistan or be it sending weapons to our boys there.