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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