Author: Som Chivukula in California
Publication: Rediff
Date: June 17, 2001
For over a decade, Yossef Bodansky
has been fiercely attacking Pakistan in his lectures and books, holding
Islamabad responsible for escalating terror attacks in the region and for
making itself a fountainhead of religious fundamentalism.
He brought that message to more
than 200 academics, community leaders and politicians who attended a daylong
seminar in Fremont, California, recently. Organised by the Indo-American
Kashmir Forum, the event was called 'From Paradise to Ideological Battleground'.
Unless Pakistan gives up its efforts
to acquire Kashmir to make up for Jinnah's 'lost heritage', there will
be no peace and stability in the region, Bodansky said.
Getting Kashmir out of Indian hands
had always meant for Pakistan a mission to achieve the "unfulfilled task
of Mohammed Ali Jinnah". The mission became even more acute after Pakistan
was dismembered.
Bodansky, author of a best-selling
book, 'Bin Laden, the Man Who Declared War on America', is convinced that
though three decades have passed since East Pakistan (Bangladesh) became
independent, Islamabad has not been able to reconcile to that fact.
Bodansky, who is also director of
the United States Congressional Task Force on Terrorism, has persistently
said that every ruler in Pakistan fans religious fundamentalism and international
terrorism to retain power.
The crisis in Kashmir constitutes
an excellent outlet for the frustration at home, an instrument for the
mobilization of the masses as well as for gaining the support of the Islamic
parties and primarily their loyalists in the military and the Inter-Services
Intelligence, Bodansky has said on many occasions.
"The ISI has a major interest to
continue the crisis," he has written. "Back in the 1970s, Pakistan started
to train Sikhs and other Indian separatist movements as part of Zulfiqar
Ali Bhutto's strategy for forward strategic depth. Pakistan adopted the
sponsorship of terrorism and subversion as an instrument to substitute
for the lack of strategic depth and early warning capabilities.
"Pakistani-sponsored terrorists
and Pakistani intelligence operatives would be able to warn Pakistan of
any impending Indian invasion and then launch a guerrilla warfare against
the Indian Army even before it reached the border with Pakistan. Therefore,
sponsoring separatist subversion has become a crucial component of Islamabad's
national military strategy."
It took Islamabad nearly a decade
after East Pakistan became independent to reorient its strategy in Kashmir.
"During the 1980s, the ISI completed
a vast training and support infrastructure for the Afghan resistance that
was also used for the training and support of other regional groups," he
said. "There was a corresponding ideological development in Indian Kashmir.
"Since 1984, virtually suddenly,
the prevailing popular sentiment in Indian Kashmir was that 'Islam is in
Danger', and that sentiment, rather than nationalism, began mobilizing
the youth."
And that sentiment still continues,
he said in Fairmont.
"I am afraid in the foreseeable
future that there is no solution (for the insurgency in Kashmir) in sight
unless there is a drastic change," Bodansky said.
"Kashmir is a classic case of state
sponsorship taking over an indigenous nationalist movement," he continued.
"The situation in Kashmir has been
fostered by the involvement of Pakistan's rulers," Bodansky added. "The
world will be meeting again and again to discuss Kashmir."
But Jeevan Zutshi, one of the conveners
of the forum, rejected Bodansky's pessimism. "I didn't agree with that
because I feel there's always a solution to a problem," Zutshi said.
The daylong event that drew several
academics and politicians had Congressman Jim McDermott (Democrat, Washington)
as a keynote speaker.
"Kashmir is an integral part of
India," McDermott, co-chairman of the India caucus, said. "There are no
ifs, ands or buts."
McDermott also praised Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his role in extending India-US relations and said
he should also be recognized for inviting Pakistani leader General Pervez
Musharraf for the upcoming peace talks.
But earlier in the day, speakers,
including Bodansky, weren't sure the talks would bring any peace. "What
is happening today is an ethnic cleansing of the Hindus by the Muslims,"
said Damodar Sardesai, an esteemed professor of history at the University
of California, Los Angeles. "India and Pakistan have to target a more durable
peace, not a convenient peace."
Sardesai said Kashmir had always
been part of India and its cultural roots lie in the country. Yet there
are massacres happening daily, "partly as a holy war and partly as a separatist
movement".
Arthur J Pais contributed to this
report
