Barely had President and the head of the ruling military junta General Pervez Musharraf returned to Islamabad from his well trumpeted tour of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka including tribute paying whirlwind flying visit to Beijing, the terrorist outfit reared by his own Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) struck in the Murree. Five unidentified gunmen stormed a Christian School on the, outskirts of the picturesque hill station, merely forty kilometres away from the capital Islamabad, killing six persons and wounding several others before vanishing into thin air.
Ironically, as Pakistan sows the seeds of Islamic militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, it seems to be gradually and aptly reaping the harvest way back home. The appallingly gruesome incident turned out to be a blot on the General's image-making and New Delhi- bashing trip to the countries surrounding India on the three sides.
Having brought his nation almost on the precipice of anarchy, Musharraf may have to change his ways of winking when terrorists bred in his training camps in Pakistan and the POK strike in Jammu and Kashmir and putting the blame on the Indian agencies for the sake of defaming Pakistan.
Can the General at this stage dismount the man-eater beast so assiduously reared over the years by the very nation he presides over now and which he has been riding so long with perfect elan? With the notorious Al Qaida having found it feet once, again after being routed out of Afghanistan not only in the wilderness of tribal areas but also in the populated centres, it may be rather an arduous exercise soaked in blood. Al Qaida has wide-spread sympathy not only amongst fundamentalist organisations, Mullas and illiterate masses but also in the army and obviously' ,the once de-fanged outfit can not resurrect itself in Pakistan without the covert official blessing. The Indian intelligenc e agencies are reported to be in the 'possession of definite clues of Osama, Bin Laden and his group's presence in Pakistan. He seems to be under protective. cover of hard-core religious groups and this Information definitely can not remain hidden from the ISI's 'extensive network.
Strangely at this juncture, President Musharraf has come out in defence of Osama bin Laden by giving him a clean chit. In an interview to the New Yorker magazine widely reported in the Indian press, he exonerates Osama of his involvement in September 11 terror attacks in the US. Going against the world opinion almost one year after the WTC and Pentagon were hit in the worst kind of terrorist strikes, he 'did not think it possible that Osama sitting up there in the mountains could do it.' Though as an afterthought, Musharraf is careful to add That Al Qaida chief was 'perhaps the sponsor, the financier and motivating force' behind the ghastly act.
The Murree attack by Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists is the replica of what Pakistan sponsored Militants are doing in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India for more than a decade. The only difference is that in India terrorists in most cases are being gunned down by the vigilant security forces whereas Musharraf's domain the perpetrators of bloodshed generally go scot-free. In Pakistan itself during the last one year, terrorists have massacred worshippers at churches in Bahawalpur and Islamabad, brutally killed the Wall Street Journal's correspondent Daniel Pearl, shot dead a dozen French nationals and carried out a suicide car bomb attack outside the US Consulate in Karachi. These cruel Inhuman acts are besides numerous incidents of mayhem executed against followers of Shia sect, Ahmadias and other sections of minorities.
As the level of violence goes up in Jammu and Kashmir prior to election to the State Assembly in coming September, New Delhi needs to further raise military and diplomatic pressure on its highly Unpredictable western neighbour. It is a well known fact that Pakistan's military has always kept a fairly tight grip on its militant clients operating in J&K and despite Musharraf's assurances to the world community to rein in jehadi extremist groups based in his country, they continue to operate in the Indian state.
The latest act of terror in the
Christian School in Murree is in fact a final wake up call to the military
junta led by General Musharraf to mend its unpardonable provocative ways
and get rid of the fundamentalist terrorist outfits before the chickens
literally come home to roost. The international community by and large
has come to know the Pakistani double standards as was evident from recent
call to Pakistan by ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) which also includes the
US, Japan, China and Australia as members, to stop cross-border terrorism
in Kashmir. This step must embolden India to launch a sustained information
campaign to disseminate Islamabad's role in promoting terrorism and Proxy
war. India must emphatically demand from the big powers in forcing Pakistan
to dismantle the terrorist networks within its territory and bring a complete
halt to cross-border terrorism into India.