The time to trust Pakistan is long gone IDR
Nawaz Sharif set media wires buzzing when he proclaimed soon after the results were announced in Pakistan’s elections to its parliament last month. Among two statements that stood out were (a) his aim to make peace with the terrorist outfits in Pakistan, and (b) to make peace with India. The two statements are inherently contradictory for India and immensely illogical from the Indian perspective.
While Sharif may well make peace with the terrorists, the trouble is that the terrorists are unlikely to make peace with India. Thus, India would supposedly be at peace with a neighbor whose sentiments are absolutely anti-Indian, and which, in turn, has a filial relationship with the terrorist outfits that haunt India.
it is impossible for India to be friends with a nation that covertly supports those who would attack India’s Parliament, upset the peace in Indian states, launch attacks such as 26/11, and so on, uninterruptedly for 66 years.
There is inherent double-speak in any Pakistani overture to India. Pakistan was born out of hatred for India, and till today harbors intense hatred. How can anyone expect India not to take cognizance of this, or to trust Pakistan when it spews hatred for Indians on a daily basis?
Every day, the Pakistani army justifies its existence to the Pakistani public because of an Indian military threat at their border. They conveniently forget that they, too, threaten India.
They probably don’t realize they are likely to get what they fear most. In essence, the Pakistan military has maneuvered successfully to gain a place in the Pakistani psyche, with fear and hatred of India being the sole rallying point. At every turn, they make their Pakistani people feel more and more victimized at the hand of secular India. The Pakistani military doesn’t want to let that wound heal among their Pakistani public, because if they do, it will be their end, for they fear loss of respect on that count.
Thus, India would be naive to trust any leader of Pakistan. But, one thing India can surely trust in is in the naivety of the Indian government for more times than not. Any Indian government or bureaucrat or group of people that wants India to pull back from Siachen, for instance, are simply out of their real mind!
Nawaz Sharif hopes to perpetuate the cloak-in-dagger game and diplomacy, and continue to make a sucker of India once again. His feigns of credibility and genuineness are not believable
But in India, there is no shortage of brilliant fools, especially at top leadership levels, many of who have never held a gun, though no matter how educated, such that they are decidedly taken for a ride very predictably by smooth-talking enemies.
It is further astounding of the enormous instances in history where Islamic armies have sworn on the Quran to not attack or take any particular action, and yet violated their word. In plain historical light is the time during the siege of Anandpur Sahib in December 1705 when the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb himself swore on the Quran not to attack Guru Gobind Singh if he left Anandpur Sahib, and give him safe passage, as well, only to pursue the Guru with his armies thereafter[3].
However, it is amazing how short a memory the Indian leaders have, in that they jump in hope each time Pakistan offers an olive branch. The actions of leaders must be informed by the vast decades and centuries of behavior, but that is definitely not so in India. In contrast, the Pakistani leadership keeps a long view of the day their Islamic armies will stomp over India.
The stars, events, and tea leaves are telling the same thing over and over again: the destiny of Pakistan vis-à-vis India will be decided on the battle field, once and for all, sooner or later. No conversing or negotiating or peace overtures will ever be successful between India and Pakistan, even if mediated by the USA. Reconciliation is much too difficult, but likely that it is genetically incompatible. India and Pakistan are both preparing for a war – one to vent their hatred against Indians – and the other to restore its honor for a thousand years of oppression. The real balance of power in the region, and complete stability, will only materialize once the battlefield outcome is clear.
If India does not realize it, let India also wake up: the destiny of India vis-à-vis Pakistan will necessarily be decided on the spatial battle field, once and for all, across the entire border, in a full-scale war. The sooner the Indian establishment realizes this, the better it is for India. Thus, the time for India to sleep is also long gone. But while it might be good for Pakistan if it let India sleep, Pakistan itself keeps ringing the alarm for India to wake up.
India may not want war, but war will be thrust on India. To take advantage of the next big military event, India must therefore be the first to attack Pakistan this time with a very severe and sudden blow, notwithstanding its current soft policies. There is now a moral justness in this. And, in fact, there is moral depravity in not fighting to crush evil when you should. Lord Krishna’s sermon to Arjun was all about taking up arms when the call to duty arrives to fight evil. India will be fighting not for conquest or pleasure, but for peace, honor, and survival. Pakistan has harassed India for much too long, affected its economic rise, and India now stands provoked. There is no peace with Pakistan unless Pakistan is fully finished. Sharif’s “peace” talk is just that – plain talk – and talk is cheap. History shows that Pakistan’s assurances and words cannot be taken seriously, and thus not be given any admission. The real peace on the sub-continent will come only when Pakistan’s teeth are pulled and its tentacles to terrorist outfits are cut. Regrettably, there is no peace till so long as Pakistan is a sovereign nation, and let no one in any country – including USA — be in any doubt about that.
written from heart. beautifully written his angst against the napakis and the ruling Indian establishment.
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