KARACHI: Indian threats be taken seriously: leaders
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, April 7: Political parties have called upon the world community to take serious notice of the Indian threats of pre-emptive strike against Pakistan, which had once again drifted the region towards dangerous consequences.
They have also cautioned the government not to be complacent over reports of the US persuading Israel not to provide India with the latest radar.
Commenting on the build-up of tension in South Asia, Senator Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, chief of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, said: “India will never waste any opportunity to harm Pakistan.” It has been the policy of every Indian government, he said.
The MMA chief said although the present regime in Pakistan considered the US its friend, like their predecessors, but the fact was that the US, Israel and India had a strategic alliance which was detrimental to Pakistan’s interests.
Maulana Noorani said the Indian RAW, Israel’s Mossad and America’s CIA were operating in concert. Although at present, because of its invasion of Iraq, the US was not openly siding with India, it can intensify the proxy war through India if Pakistan tried to drift away from its shackles, he said.
It was also stated that the regime in Pakistan should take the Indian threats of pre-emptive strikes seriously despite assurances to the contrary by abettors of the regime.
Central information secretary of the PPP, Taj Haider, drew the attention of the world community towards the rise of religious extremism in South Asia, especially in India, where it had resulted in large-scale killing of minorities during election campaign, undermining the prospects for regional peace.
Expressing concern over the present state of bilateral relations between Pakistan and India, he also stressed the need for resolving the Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of its people. “We shall not allow an American solution of the Kashmir dispute”, he said.
It was emphasised that was no solution of Kashmir problem, which excludes the wishes of its people would be workable. Palestine in spite of Camp David process is an example of the failure of this approach.
Despite the fact they accused Pakistan of cross-border terrorism, “terrorism, militarism, and expansionism is essence of extremism and part of the agenda of the Indian Talibans who consider killer of Mahatama Gandhi as their hero”, he said.
Escalation of tensions further complicates the process of resolution of the dispute and emphasised the need for taking confidence-building measures on both the sides.
Mr Haider said Pakistan should take immediate steps to completely stop the movement of Jehadis across the LoC while New Delhi should allow international human rights groups and international media in the occupied Kashmir.
It should be understood that although neither the going of Jehadis nor the human rights violation would completely stop, there would be a significant drop in both of these factors.
Mr Haider maintained that Kargil was a political and a military disaster. India had always been on the back foot in international forums on Kashmir. In the post-Kargil period, the world started treating us as aggressors in Kashmir and Indian occupation and human rights violations fell to the background. These atrocities became a part of the war against terrorism.
After 9/11, he said, the concern of the world community over terrorism had grown manifold. He suggested that this was the time for the Kashmiri armed resistance to stop in its track and evaluate if further militant activities would prove counter- productive. The Tamils had done it and were negotiating. The Maoist commanders of the Nepali People’s Army had surfaced and were also negotiating peace, he pointed out.
“It is high-time that peace negotiations started in Kashmir between APHC and the Indians”, he said.
He emphasised that without compromising our just stand and voicing it most eloquently on all forums, mobilising the support of the world community in its favour, we should continue to explore other areas where good and mutually beneficial relations can be formed with our adversaries.
This would build hope for the future and would convince even the worst skeptics that finding a just solution of the Kashmir problem with the concurrence of the people of Kashmir would remove the last hurdle for peace and prosperity in South Asia.
Keeping it unresolved would seriously inhibit progress. But creating a complete block by insisting that we would not move forward in other areas until this problem was resolved would be counter-productive.
It is very important to build communication channels in India with those who want peace. Taking an extremist position at our end would only strengthen the extremists on the other side of the border.
MNA Kunwar Khalid Yunus of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement described the Indian threat as “very alarming” and urged the government to be “ready for every eventuality” in view of the possible fall-out of the Iraq war.
He was hopeful that the government would have taken appropriate measures and was conscious of not providing any justification for such eventualities.
