Anti-Pakistan hysteria

PAKISTAN has done well to remind the world that the recent Indian accusations against Islamabad lacked credibility because they are “motivated by animus and hostility.” In a statement issued on Monday, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar rejected Mr Advani’s charge that the aim behind the Dec 13 attack was to wipe out the entire Indian leadership. Speaking in Indian parliament, the superhawk home minister said New Delhi would not “rule out any option.”

It is now becoming increasingly clear New Delhi is interested more in creating anti-Pakistani hysteria than in establishing the truth behind the attack. What is laughable is that India began involving Pakistan in the attack even before preliminary investigations had begun. One can contrast this paranoia with Pakistan’s attitude, which has been sober and characterized by self-confidence stemming from the justness of its position. It has reacted coolly to the Indian accusations and asked India to offer concrete evidence of the involvement of Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Muhammad in the attack. It has even offered to cooperate in the investigation and hold a joint inquiry. India has rejected this. Nothing, however, provides a greater proof of India’s duplicity than its rejection of the American suggestion of involving the FBI with the investigation. One can clearly discern the motives behind New Delhi’s rejection of this offer from a country that is friends to both Pakistan and India. Obviously, associating the FBI with the investigation runs the risk that the truth will be established — and that is the last thing New Delhi wants.

In the wake of persistent threats of war, Pakistan has been forced to tell India not to think of any misadventure. In a television interview, President Musharraf, while reiterating Pakistan’s offer of cooperation, merely cautioned India not to take any “precipitate action.” India would also do well to listen to what Mr Colin Powell said on Sunday. Speaking on the NBC, the American secretary of state asked Pakistan and India not to allow the situation in the region “spiral out of control.” Instead, he noted that President Musharraf had condemned the attack and promised to take action against the terrorist organizations which might have been involved the attack. He added that the US would not like the “rhetoric to get so ratcheted up that the whole situation goes out of control.” Any impartial observer can see who is doing all in its power to “ratchet up” the rhetoric to a high and dangerous level.

Accusing Pakistan of trying to “wipe out” the Indian leadership is something that no government in New Delhi has done previously. It is time the Indian leadership sobered up. Previously, too, it saw Pakistan’s hand where it was not. The massacre of Sikhs when President Clinton was in India and the hijacking in 1970 of an Indian airliner come to mind immediately. It is now widely believed that both crimes were masterminded by Indian intelligence agencies. Let India respond to Pakistan’s reasonable offer of a joint or impartial inquiry and of America’s suggestion of the FBI’s association with the investigations. Creating war psychosis will hardly serve the cause of peace in South Asia or help normalize relations between the two countries.

American veto

THE US once again exhibited its blatantly pro-Israel policy when it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which condemned “all attacks of terror targeting civilians” in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The resolution had called for establishing a monitoring mechanism to ease the situation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank — a suggestion vehemently opposed by Israel. Egypt and Tunisia had moved the resolution in response to Israel’s indiscriminate air and ground assaults deep inside areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, after the Jewish state severed all links with Yasser Arafat. The language of the resolution had been diluted by France, but it still invited an American veto, 12 to one, while Britain and Norway abstained.

The American veto comes as yet another reminder that Ariel Sharon can continue to count on American support, no matter how many Palestinian civilians get killed as a result of his genocidal policies. Explaining the reason for the American veto, the US envoy at the UN said that the resolution failed to mention the recent “terrorist attacks” against Israel. Britain and Norway explained their justified abstention by pointing out that the next logical step — the resumption of a dialogue between the two sides — was missing from the draft.

Once again it seems that Ariel Sharon got what he wanted from the rather toothless Security Council last Saturday: a free hand to pursue Israel’s policy of state terrorism against a helpless people driven to agitate in their desperation. The US veto, though only second in four years, does not augur well for peace in the Middle East; nor do the British and Norwegian abstentions. Violence in Palestine has long been a tit for tat deal, albeit between two very unequal sides. Israel has responded to extremist Palestinian attacks with a far more disproportionate use of force than would be permissible by any standards, killing civilians indiscriminately. It is this criminal conduct by Sharon that needs to be curbed before any real hope for peace can be expected in the Middle East. The sending in of international monitors would have been a good starting point; but the US veto killed what would have served to lower the level of violence.

PR ticket reservations

IN a positive move aimed at facilitating passengers, the Pakistan Railways has extended its ticket reservation period from 15 days in advance to 30 days before the intended date of travel. Though the announcement did not benefit passengers travelling during the recent Eid holiday season, the railway headquarters’ decision comes well in time for the next Eid holidays two months from now. Earlier, the facility of 30-day advance ticket reservation was offered for a short period of time in April. However, the measure was soon withdrawn for fear of hoarding by black marketeers. Hopefully, this time around, the facility is here to stay.

Train ticket reservations, even in most developing countries, are less of a hassle than they continue to be in Pakistan. In India, for instance, train reservations can be made at many travel agencies that are also permitted to sell train tickets. This is particularly true for all those trains whose ticketing system is computerized. The PR can perhaps follow a similar policy, so as to make its computerized express train bookings more easily accessible to the general public. This will also facilitate passengers travelling by those trains whose bookings are not computerized, as it will ease the rush on the railways’ overall booking system operating from railway stations across the country. It is, after all, time that travel by train — still the most widely used long-distance mode of transport — came of age in Pakistan.