Can we trust this man?

Author: M V Kamath
Publication: Organiser
Date: February 17, 2002

Ultimately it all boils down to this: Can we trust General Pervez Musharraf His January 12 televised address to his own people leaves one very much in doubt. The man is forked tongued. Howsoever revolutionary he may have sounded to his own people, in the matter of Jammu and Kashmir his stubbornness shows. True, he has had over 2,000 jihadists arrested, but, according to the Sunday Telegraph, a respected' British paper, the offices of the Lashkar-e-Toiba were raided only after its activists had removed all incriminating documents. The leaders of the Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Masood Azhar were arrested only after they had nominated deputies to carry on their terrorist activities. And a Lashkar leader, Hafiz Ilyas has affirmed that "the recent arrests and related police actions do not show that the Government's commitment with the freedom struggle in Kashmir has weakened". The fifty blocked accounts of the outfits in the State Bank of Pakistan amounted to a paltry £100,000 when it is known that their assets are in a few billion dollars. It is sheer impertinence on Musharraf s part to say that Kashmir runs in the blood of Pakistanis. If any blood flows in Musharrafs veins, it is Delhi blood. He was born in Delhi, as were his ancestors. Besides, as the editor of the Chandigarh-based The Tribune was to write Lahore runs in Indian Punjab's blood! Should India take Pakistani Punjab, then? In his address Musharraf did not mention either his reactionary military establishment which has been the root cause of all trouble or the ISI, both of which are residual legatees of Islamic fundamentalism originally sponsored by Gen Zia-ul-Haq. The military and the ISI have so far not been reined in. According to The Statesman, the ISI has established a formidable network in India that spans across 40 operating centres spread over Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and of course, Jammu and Kashmir. In the last mentioned State, according to Indian official assessment, the ISI spends Rs 50 million per month by way of making payments to militant organisations, equipping them with hardware (arms and ammunition) paying 'sympathisers' and running clandestine communication networks. There are known to be around 3,000 Pakistan-trained 'militants' in Jammu and Kashmir of whom 25 to 35 per cent are armed with 'sophisticated weapons' that include Kalashnikovs, heavy machine guns, 120 mm mortars, rocket launchers, antiaircraft guns, sniper rifles, night vision devices, communication sets and rugged construction materials. Most of the ISI centres in India have been used for sheltering and processing agents. The largest number of ISI hideouts are in Uttar Pradesh (9) and in Bihar (8). West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have each four ISI hideouts. When will Musharraf have them disbanded? To date Musharraf has not agreed to hand over 20 top terrorists to India whose named crimes-were submitted to Islamabad. Most of them have figured in Interpol alerts. If Pakistan can hand over its own national, one Kansi, to the US, why is he cribbing about India's list among whom are fifteen Indian nationals? Kansi, it may be remembered, was handed over to CIA operatives on Pakistan soil, without any court clearance on the simple charge that he had shot dead two CIA operatives in Washington a couple of years ago. Obviously Musharraf has one rule in dealing with American demands and another in dealing with India's. That is hypocrisy.

And then, think of this: Confidential records and files pertaining to Pakistan's banned militant outfits were destroyed on January 16 when a fire broke out in a Government building in Islamabad. According to the Pakistani paper Nation, "the fire destroyed confidential files including those maintained by the Interior Ministry on the religious parties and jihad outfits recently banned by Gen Musharraf." Such tricks are being played in Pakistan all the time. If Musharraf is to be taken seriously, he has to dismantle the ISI immediately and for ever. And he has to forget Jammu and Kashmir. For his Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar to say, echoing his own master's voice, that Pakistan will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to the people of Kashmir negates all possibilities of a possible understanding between India and Pakistan. There can be no talks between the two countries as long as Pakistan insists on its 'rights' to speak on and on behalf of Jammu and Kashmir. If this approach is accepted, tomorrow Islamabad can insist on its rights to speak on behalf of other Muslims living in India. When and how will this tamasha end? Religion can not be raised as a legitimate issue for Pakistan to interfere in the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir. When Pakistan sets up a National Kashmir Committee and announces that February 5 would be observed as Kashmir Solidarity Day it goes against international legalities. All of the problems between India and Pakistan stem from Pakistan's insistence that as a Muslim nation Pakistan has the right to speak on behalf of the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir. This is a ridiculous theory. By that count any Muslim country in the entire Islamic crescent from Morocco to Turkey can claim the right to interfere on behalf of the Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir and by that same token India can insist on its 'right' to interfere with any country's internal affairs on behalf of Hindu residents there. This is reducing everything to absurdity. The Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir are Indians, legally and constitutionally and no argument can change the nature of that fact. Pakistan plainly has no locus stands in this matter and the sooner this is pressed upon, Pakistan by its allies, notably the limited States and United Kingdom, the greater the chances of peace in the Indian sub-continent. What flows in the veins of the Pakistani people is Indian blood. Pakistan is a myth, an illusion, a monstrosity. It is a reality only in the fevered brains of the mullahs. The "solution" of the Kashmir "problem" lies in Pakistan becoming part of a confederation in fulfilment of what L.K. Advani calls "four energising ideals", that of democracy, secularism, social justice and an all embracing agenda of reforms covering the entire Indian sub-continent. It is that and, for all sound purposes, that alone which will ensure the peace and prosperity of its peoples. It. is when Musharraf comes round to accept this as a viable proposition that automatically the so-called problem of Jammu and Kashmir will get resolved overnight. Musharraf will do well to put on his thinking cap and retire to the Himalayas to do some earnest meditation. No body. can either trust him or even take him seriously as long as he insists on his tomfoolery. And it is about time his friends in Washington and elsewhere brought this home to him in no uncertain terms. Musharraf bhai, leave Jammu and Kashmir alone, for your good and the good of Pakistan.
 

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