archive: The unfinished task
The unfinished task
Seshadri Chari
Organiser
June 20, 1999
Title: The unfinished task
Author: Seshadri Chari
Publication: Organiser
Date: June 20, 1999
It is not the Line of Control alone that Pakistan has crossed. The
barbaric state has crossed all limits of morality, decency and
ethics. The post-mortem report of the bodies of the six army
personnel, captured and killed by Pakistan and now returned after
keeping their whereabouts a all these days, speaks volumes about the
barbaric state. The handing over of six mutilated bodies of Indian
soldiers on the eve of Pakistan Foreign Minister Sartaz Aziz's visit
to New Delhi on June 12, has caused outrage in the country. They were
tortured before they were killed. Union Foreign minister Jaswant
Singh raised this point during his talks with his Pakistani
counterpart and called for a stern action against those who were
responsible for this barbaric act. The over one thousand years of our
struggle with barbarians and religious bigots and their vandalism is
written with the blood of martyrs who were subjected to the most
inhuman torture unparalleled in history. The terrorist state of
Pakistan is the continuation of that gory past. It is futile to
expect justice from the Islamic State of Pakistan. Recently the
Indian authorities had mentioned that the IAF pilot Sqn. Ldr. Ajay
Ahuja whose aircraft was shot down by Pakistan, had bullet wounds on
his body. These unfortunate incidents, deliberate acts of barbarism
on Pakistan's part, were mainly meant to distract attention from the
main task-to sit across the table and resolve the Kargil crisis.
India has refused to be drawn into any kind of distraction this time
and taken a firm stand on the whole issue. There is no dialogue
possible with Pakistan at this stage. And in a striking diplomatic
victory India has exposed Pakistan's canard. Besides cutting a sorry
figure in India, Sartaz Aziz has come empty handed from Beijing where
he landed on his way to New Delhi. Remaining non-committal on Kargil,
China has kept off the present crisis limiting herself to an advisory
role asking India and Pakistan to sort out the issue bilaterally. It
is significant that Pakistan is virtually isolated in the
international arena. Born in turmoil, Pakistan continues to be so
even fifty-two years after. A disgruntled and dissatisfied people, a
trigger-happy army breathing over the neck of the civilian government,
a contumacious clergy drawing the state into Islamic fundamentalism, a
body politic ridden with feuds and intra-party terrorism have all
become the hallmark of Pakistan. To contain all this, Pakistan has no
other way but to engage India in conflict. The question is why could
not India settle the disputes and secure her borders against external
aggression for ever? Kashmir and Kargil have always remained the
weakest links in our security chain. India was in an unassailable
position in 1948. But what we gained in the battle field we seemed to
lose at the negotiating table. At the Tashkent talks in 1965 and the
Simla talks in 1972. India lost all wargain getting nothing in the
bargain. The slogan in those days used to be desh na hara, kaum na
hari, har gayi sarkar hamari meaning, the country (army) won but the
Government squandered away the rectory. Pakistan has thrust a crisis
on us. They have provoked us beyond all tolerable limits forcing us
to throw the Pakistani army regulars and terrorists out of our
territory. Kargil is the beginning. On February 22, 1994, Parliament
took a solemn oath to win back the territories lost to forces inimical
to our interests. A former prime minister avowed to complete an
unfinished task-of gaining the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The present
Government has to complete that task. The action that has begun m
Kargil can end only in Kashmir.
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