Indeed, there are extremists and terrorist organisations in Pakistan and India that do not wish to see the resolution of disputes through talks, as a belligerent environment is conducive to their vile acts. Even as the Indian government refuses to admit any lapse on the part of security and intelligence agencies in the terror attack at Pathankot airbase, debate is raging over the failure of the intelligence and security system. Questions are being raised: why was the first information of the armed infiltration that was given by a Punjab police officer, who was abducted by the terrorists, ignored? What was the Border Security Force (BSF) doing? Where were surveillance equipment and night vision devices? Air Vice Marshal (r) Kapil Kak said: “You (the government) had specific inputs 24 hours in advance that Punjab is going to be struck, why was security of vital installations not beefed up?”
He strongly disagreed with Major General (r) Satbir Singh, who said the Pakistan army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had been involved in the attack. There is widespread perception that the terror attack was aimed at unsettling the dialogue process between the two nations. As usual, the Indian media continued to blame Pakistan for the attack on Pathankot airbase without any concrete evidence. However, investigating reports by a section of the media and the website mansolaris.wordpress.com raised many valid questions showing holes in the story. Meanwhile, India has given ‘leads’: details of two intercepted telephone numbers and that one of the terrorists was wearing a pair of shoes manufactured in Pakistan. India has neither provided the identities of the terrorists nor results of the DNA tests. Pakistan has, therefore, asked India to provide concrete, reliable and actionable intelligence, and not mere leads and information.
Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif has assured Narendra Modi that prompt and decisive action will be taken against those found guilty. However, there is another view: the entire drama was staged by Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to sabotage the dialogue process. According to a report, local residents of Pathankot said that barriers to Pathankot had been removed on Friday and that local shopkeepers were also asked to close their shops at five pm, which raised serious doubts. An Indian defence source said terrorists from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), blamed for the December 2001 attack on Indian parliament that killed 11 people, had probably infiltrated about three days ago. The attackers, with a huge quantity of RDX in their possession, made their way to the base from the rear area where there is a jungle. Reportedly, India’s security forces were put on high alert on Friday, after the Gurdaspur superintendent of police (headquarters), Salwinder Singh, said that he and his associates had been kidnapped by five armed men in army fatigues.
Such lackadaisicalness or neglect shows some foul play and the perception is that RAW could have neutralised Narendra Modi’s efforts to improve relations with Pakistan. Reportedly, several calls were made from a number that belonged to the superintendent of police whose vehicle the terrorists had snatched. Hundreds of Defence Security Corps (DSC) guards tasked with guarding that fence had failed to notice as the assault team carried 50 kilogrammes of ammunition, 30 kilogrammes of grenades and their assault weapons. Yet, the ease with which terrorists penetrated the base surprised many. As India blames Pakistan for every terror act in India, a section of the Pakistani media and analysts accuse India’s RAW of conducting terror acts in Pakistan, and false flag operations in India to propagate that Pakistan sponsors terrorism. They believe that RAW has the capacity and capability to infiltrate into and use banned organisations.
In the past, the Samjhauta Express tragedy and attack on Indian parliament were said to have been engineered by RAW to defame Pakistan as well as the Kashmiris who were waging a legitimate struggle against Indian occupation. Not only the then Pakistan’s information secretary but India watchers too, who knew about India’s false flag operations, reached the conclusion that it was an insider job, as no outsider could reach the most protected area. Wikileaks, which contained secret state department wires, quoted the former US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W Patterson, for having written to the state department that India had presented insufficient evidence against the senior leaders of now proscribed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT). She had mentioned in a wire to Washington that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other investigators had insufficient evidence for prosecution against the LeT’s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Mazhar Iqbal al-Qama.
Some of the wires generated by the US embassy in India also made India’s case of the Mumbai attacks doubtful. Geoff Pyatt was quoted to have written to Washington: “Indian officials remain convinced that Pakistan is behind the July 11th Mumbai attacks and worry that the US is setting the bar too high for ‘solid evidence’ of Pakistani intelligence involvement.” The leak had even quoted then National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan as admitting that there were some pieces of the puzzle still missing. Narayanan had used the opportunity to reinforce the popular perception that Pakistan was to blame for the attacks. He said this while answering criticism that the foreign secretaries and Mumbai police’s statements about the investigation were not backed by solid proof. On the other hand, Pakistan has been apologetic and always on the defensive but the world starts believing the Indian claim as genuine.
In PM Narendra Modi’s impromptu visit to Lahore to wish PM Nawaz Sharif a happy birthday and to congratulate him on the wedding of his granddaughter, Pakistan saw a chance to resume talks. But can anyone even recall how many rounds of this meaningless dialogue have gone through over time without yielding even an inch of progress on any of the substantive issues? The Indian establishment, along with its political, media and intellectual cohorts, has been unrelentingly squeezing the infamous Mumbai terrorist assault to the last drop to denigrate Pakistan internationally and paint it as the sponsor of terrorism in India. So far as Islamabad’s hierarchy has been concerned, it has done precious little to counter India’s vicious anti-Pakistan campaign.
The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at [email protected]