RAW’s inimitable stamp on Pak terror bySultan M Hali

A fresh wave of terror attacks swept Pakistan the previous week. Two attacks in Lahore, one in Peshawar, another in Mingora and a spate of low intensity hits in various residential areas of Lahore to create harassment, awe and shock were the order of the week. The total casualties of the week ran in hundreds while the trauma was worse, since it was assumed that the victories by Pakistan Army in Swat and Waziristan and arrest of Taliban/Al-Qaeda leaders were expected to have broken the back of the Terror mongers. Perhaps that was the impression they wanted to dispel hence the daring but desperate assailants struck repeatedly. The orgy of violence however evoked two reactions, one: the people of Pakistan swore to strike back. That is the beauty of this country and its citizens that they can be down but never out.
The second is that it exposed the Indian spy agency RAW’s inimitable stamp on the wave of terror attacks. Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Interior Minister has declared that “signatures of India” were there in weapons seized from militants in the tribal areas. This claim came in the aftermath of the suicide car attack on a security agency building on Monday when Rehman Malik identified India as the “foreign hand” behind several attacks in Pakistan. After the wave of killings on Friday, the allegations of RAW’s involvement became louder. Rehman Malik stated that Pakistan would present “evidence” of India’s alleged involvement in the attacks whenever talks are held between the two sides. “We have compiled the reports and evidence and whenever India sits for talks, we will raise this issue. We have also raised it several times and will continue raising it. “That’s why we say India should come to the negotiating table and both sides can present their reservations and proof,” he added. India is in no mood of talking to Pakistan otherwise carrying out the motions and threatening Pakistan with dire consequences. If RAW is actually sponsoring the terror attacks, it would have been better advised to go easy with its jingoism but the Hindu psyche of chest thumping and drum beating along with bellicose behavior of rubbing Pakistan’s nose in the mire is too good an opportunity for India to resist. To add insult to injury, Indian Interior Minister, P. Chidambaram delivered a dire warning to Pakistan that another cross-border attack on its soil would invite a swift and decisive response from New Delhi. During a televised interaction at a symposium, the honourable Indian Home Minister accused Islamabad of dragging its feet on the Mumbai terror probe. In an unprecedented retaliation, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to New Delhi Shahid Malik jumped into the fray telling the minister that Islamabad empathized with India’s problems with terrorism and that it was doing its bit to punish and not encourage terrorists, adding that the Government of Pakistan had no intention of any aggressive activity against India. Mr. Chidambaram was quick to retort that Pakistan needed to show credible action against terrorists to match its words. He accused the Pakistani diplomat of repeating his government’s stance but insisted that Pakistan had proved a difficult neighbour since partition. He said India’s main hope was for a political transformation in Islamabad. As if India has not meddled in Pakistan enough! But Mr. Chidambaram continued his tirade censuring Pakistan that “it is no secret that every militant organization that is based in Pakistan, is supported by the ISI. Lashkar, Hizbul Mujahedeen, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Al Badr — each one of them is supported by the ISI.” The constant references to ISI are a dead giveaway of RAW’s involvement and Mr. Chidambaram’s guilty conscience. RAW has adopted a deadly technique and modified its tactics after sponsoring bomb blasts and suicide attacks in the perennial wave of the same in 2009. The dastardly attack on Sri Lankan Cricket team ensured that no international cricketers would visit Pakistan. Deprived of essential match practice, the national team of Pakistan has been faring badly in every fixture. To make matters worse, and humiliate Pakistan further, RAW’s strong arm tactics worked effectively during the IPL auctions for Pakistani players. Ample evidence is now available that the cricket moguls of India were threatened with dire consequences by RAW’s goons in case they bid for even a single Pakistani player. RAW’s championing of terrorists in Swat and Waziristan, apart from Baluchistan has become a foregone conclusion with the evidence available. The recent modification of tactics of subversion indicate that apart from direct suicide events, now militants, armed with hand grenades, machine guns and other weapons also come to help the explosive-laden vehicles so as to penetrate the security at the target points and to clear the way for the blast. Sometimes, exchange of fire takes place between the saboteurs and the security guards, and sometimes, purpose is to directly kill the security personnel. A number of terror-events in Pakistan endorse that RAW agents have been following the guerilla techniques in letter and spirit. Unlike the past, in most of the terror-tragedies, huge quantity of explosives has been used. There has also been the attempt to create sectarian rifts by alternately attacking either sects of Shias and Sunnis so that one would blame the other and an internecine warfare would break out. India’s dreams of carrying surgical strikes against Pakistan at the behest of RAW have been shattered by PAF. In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Indian Air Chief was keen to attack selected targets in Pakistan, assuming them to be training camps for terror organizations. Such was the media frenzy created by Indian media and its political leadership that it appeared as if the US was also on board and had given tacit approval to rap Pakistan on the knuckles. Immediate mobilization of PAF assets, visible Combat Air Patrol sorties, a high level of vigilance and the immediate interception of a probe mission by IAF made it loud and clear to India that it would suffer a bloody nose in pursuit of its jingoism and adventurism. Even now RAW must realize that it can never succeed in breaking the spirit of Pakistanis because the people and their Armed Forces are united in thwarting their macabre plans.

Comments