It is a major deviation Mr President
TWO statements of President Asif Ali Zardari on issues of fundamental
interest to Pakistan have caused ripples amongst political and
diplomatic circles. In his good judgement, the new Head of the State
believes that India had never been a threat to Pakistan. Similarly, he
preferred to call freedom fighters resisting Indian occupation of their
homeland in Occupied Kashmir as terrorists.
We firmly believe that an overwhelming majority of Pakistani people must
have been shocked over these unbelievable ghastly remarks. Mr
Farhatullah Babar, very efficient and smart spokesman of the President,
has come out with some explanation, which, in our view, is very flimsy
and hence unacceptable. To say that India has never been a threat to
Pakistan is hundred per cent devoid of any substance and not even a
child in Pakistan would buy this argument. One fails to understand
whether the worthy President suffers from amnesia or he deliberately
chose to make a statement, which is belied by the ground realities.
Leaving aside a chain of events since very inception of Pakistan that
amounted to choking the nascent Muslim State, one may refer to 1971
tragedy of dismemberment of Pakistan when the then Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi ruefully claimed to have taken revenge of 1,000 years of
Muslim rule in India and also boasted that “the two nation theory has
been thrown into Bay of Bengal”. Again on the occasion of historic Agra
summit, retired General Arora told correspondent of this newspaper that
he personally supervised training and equipping Mukti Bahini. Most
recently, Pakistani leadership has said on more than one occasion that
India was actively involved in acts of terrorism and sabotage taking
place in Balochistan and FATA. India also assumed highly threatening
posture vis-à-vis Pakistan in the wake of Pokhran nuclear tests forcing
Islamabad to go nuclear to safeguard its national security. Similarly,
to dub freedom fighters in Occupied Kashmir as terrorists is irony of
the extreme resort. Kashmiris are rendering supreme sacrifices since
long and especially for the last about a decade when they began their
Intifada to get rid of the reign of terror unleashed by the occupation
forces. What over eight hundred thousand Indian troops are doing in
Occupied Kashmir is known to Pakistanis as well as members of the
international community. We would, therefore, urge the President to be
extremely careful while offering comments on sensitive issues involving
core national interests. In our view, a more detailed and convincing
explanation is due. |
