MUSHARRAF: operation whitewash?

By B.Raman

The strong criticism of the activities of Islamic extremist groups by Gen.Pervez Musharraf, the self-styled Chief Executive of Pakistan, while addressing the annual Seerat Conference in Islamabad on the Holy Prophet's birthday on June 5 has been interpreted by many in India as made largely with reference to India and, hence, welcomed as a positive indicator of his likely attitude during his forthcoming visit to New Delhi for talks with the Indian Prime Minister, Mr.A.B.Vajpayee.

However, a careful reading of his address would indicate that it was made against a much larger background such as the decline in educational standards in Pakistan due to the influence of the religious organisations on the educational system, the consequent difficulties faced by the economy in modernising itself for want of the required human resources, the worsening of the Shia-Sunni violence in different parts of the country, the consequent deterioration in the law and order situation and its negative impact on the flow of foreign investments, the impact of the activities of the extremist organisations on Pakistan's relations with other countries and the resulting negative image of Pakistan as a failed state and as a state-sponsor of terrorism.

His reference to the Indian context was in passing and related to the concern caused in the minds of Indian Muslims by suc extremist activities of Pakistani religious organisations and their anti-India rhetoric. He has taken great care to avoid any misinterpretation that the rebuke administered by him related to the activities of the jehadi organisations in Jammu & Kashmir (J & K).

His rebuke, so far as their activities against India are concerned, relates mainly to their propaganda that J & K is the gateway to India and that the objective of their jehad is not just the merger of J & K with Pakistan, but also the "liberation" of the Muslims living in other parts of India. What he has, in effect, deplored is their claim that their final objective is the re-establishment of Muslim rule in those parts of India, which were under the Moghul rule, and the hoisting of the Moghul flag in the Red Fort in New Delhi. While criticising the misuse of money collected ostensibly for the jehad in J & K, he emphasised that he was committed to the so-called Kashmir cause and would advance it in whatever way he could.

As Mr.Ayaz Amir, the well-known columnist of the "Dawn" of Karachi, has remarked: "Mr Vajpayee has already welcomed it, a circumstance which almost ensures that it will be read in the context of India-Pakistan relations whereas to isolate it thus is to give it a wrong meaning."

The rebuke was preceded by the visit to Pakistan by some eminent Deobandi leaders from India to attend a Deobandi conference in Peshawar in April and by the Imam of the Jumma Masjid in New Delhi to meet the leaders of the traditional Islamic parties of Pakistan such as the Jammat-e-Islami (JEI). While it is not known whether the Indian Deobandi leaders met the General, the Imam had called on him. During their discussions in Pakistan, these Indian Muslim leaders reportedly conveyed to their Pakistani interlocutors their concern over the likely negative impact of the anti-India rhetoric of the Pakistani fundamentalist organisations on the welfare of the Indian Muslim community.

During their stay in Pakistan, these leaders took care not to associate themselves with any controversial statements relating to either J & K or the condition of the Muslims in India. Their stance has definitely had an impact on the mind of the General and underlines the need for greater interactions between the mainstream religious leaders of the two countries. At the same time, it would be unwise to interpret the General's rebuke as a precursor of a likely reining in of the jehadis in J & K by him.

The General's rebuke came on the eve of four important developments, which could have an adverse impact on his relations with the Mullahs:

* First, the budget for fiscal 2001-02 to be released end-June. The previous budget of June 2000 covered the last months of the Nawaz Sharif Administration and the first months of the military rule. The forthcoming budget, which would be the first one exclusively relating to the military rule, i expected to show (unless the budget is fudged by the General in a big way) a deterioration in the economic situation since the Army took over, with the GDP growth rate declining to below 4 per cent, an increase in the trade deficit, a failure to meet the targets laid down by the IMF as a condition for its rescue package of November 2000, a decrease in the spending on the social and economic development of the underprivileged sections of the population and a dramatic decline of 74 per cent in foreign investments. If the correct figures are released by the General, these would damage his credibility and his claim that only his continued rule could put the economy on the recovery path.

* Second, the impending expiry on June 30 of the deadline fixed by the Shariat Court for the Islamisation of the economy, without any progress made so far. Some banks of Pakistan, at the instance of the General, have already requested the court for an extension of this deadline.

* Third, the impending expiry on September 30 of the duration of the stand-by credit of the IMF and of the re-scheduling of the overdue external debts by foreign creditor banks. Unless a fresh stand-by credit is given by the IMF and the banks agree to a further rescheduling, there is danger of Pakistan defaulting in its external financial obligations. While the IMF and the banks are unlikely to let this happen, the IMF is likely to further tighten up its conditionalities, triggering off a fresh round of protests by the fundamentalist organisations, which have been calling for the Islamisation of the economy and the rejection of the IMF conditionalities.

* Four, the visit to Washington from June 18 to 20 by Mr. Abdul Sattar, the Foreign Minister, for talks with the members of the Bush Administration, when in addition to nuclear non-proliferation issues and the restoration of democracy, the failure of the military regime to moderate the activities of the jehadi organisations and the Taliban and the violation of the human rights of the religious minorities in Pakistan are expected to come up. Another subject of concern to the Bush Administration is likely to be the association of the Chinese with the development of the Gwadar port on the Mekran coast in Balochistan and the reported offer by the military regime of naval base facilities to the Chinese fleet at Gwadar, which could pose a direct threat to US interests in the Gulf.

The Chinese have been going ahead in full steam with the development of the Gwadar port. Within a month of the agreement in principle on this subject being signed in Islamabad during the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr.Zhu Rongji, last month, a high-power Chinese delegation led by the Chinese Communications Minister is already in Balochistan to start the groundwork.

This project was drawn up in 1992 and it was proposed to be implemented by the Benazir and Nawaz Sharif regimes with the assistance of Omani and US companies. Following difficulties in implementation due to the post-Chagai economic sanctions, the military regime has awarded the contract to Beijing, which would be funding the project, reportedly in return for the grant of base facilities.

In view of the vulnerability of Karachi to Indian naval blockade in the event of a war, the military regime has already inaugurated a new naval base at Ormara and Gwadar, when completed, would add to the naval infrastructure in Balochistan. Keeping in view the location of a number of sensitive Chinese-aided projects, with military implications, in Balochistan, the military regime has already started harassing the members of the Hindu community in Balochistan, in order to force them to leave the province. There have been reports of the local authorities and clerics not allowing Hindu girls to marry unless they embrace Islam and choose a Pakistani Muslim as their husband. There have also been reports of the forcible marriage of Hindu girls to Muslim boys.

There has been an alarming increase in attacks on Ahmadiyas and on the Hindus of Balochistan since Gen.Musharraf seized power. The "Friday Times", the highly-respected weekly of Pakistan, reported in its issue of March 23-29, 2001, as follows:

* Persecution of the Ahmediyas seemed to be on the rise across the country last year with about 2000 incidents. The incidents included the murder of four Ahmediyas, forcible seizure of their places of worship, bodies of Ahmediyas buried in graveyards being disinterred and fatwas issued against the Ahmediyas by Sunni Mullahs. While the military regime has not been permitting the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to hold rallies for democracy, it did not stop a public function in a Multan mosque by Sunni extremists to award the title of the "Conqueror of Ahmediyas' to Maulana Manzoor Ahmed Chinioti, a Sunni extremist, who has been in the forefront of the campaign for the extermination of the Ahmediyas.

* "Hundreds of Hindus have been forced to flee their homes and cross over into Sindh. Three Hindus were reported to have been killed in the town of Chaman after clashes between Hindus attempting to protect their homes and Muslim mobs in October. Temples and homes were set ablaze and property, including Hindu shops, destroyed as the growing social intolerance assumed alarming new proportions in Balochistan. In all cases, local extremist groups played a role in triggering the attacks.

* "Though the precise number of families which fled was unknown, reports suggested almost half the community of 10,000 Hindus in Lasbela had been forced to leave their homes over the year. In almost all cases, the increased activism by militant religious groups imposed new strains on relations between the majority Muslim and the Hindu communities, who had lived peacefully alongside each other for many decades.

* "The efforts to forcibly convert the Hindus, especially female school students, had a direct role to play in violence against Hindu settlements.

* "At least five Hindu temples were vandalised over the year, with their structures damaged and the idols and other objects of worship broken. Amidst the uproar caused by the conversion issue in Lasbela, activists of religious parties launched an assault on two old Hindu temples and threw to the ground the idols placed in them."

While the rest of the world has condemned the destruction of the Buddha statues by the Taliban in Afghanistan and its orders to the Hindus to wear a yellow piece of cloth as a mark of identification, neither the rest of the world nor the Track II personalities in India, including the members of the high-profile Belusa group of Mrs.Shirin Tahir Kheli who have been in the forefront of the "Love Musharraf" campaign, have even taken notice of, not to talk of condemning, the persecution of the Hindus of Balochistan since the military regime came to power.

At least, one official of the Bush Administration has taken note of the shocking atrocities on the religious minorities under the military regime. In a letter to Gen.Colin Powell, Secretary of State, Mr.Elliot Abrams, Chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, has urged him to press Mr Sattar during the latter's visit "to make serious and sustained efforts to promote and protect the religious freedom of all citizens of Pakistan". He has said that the Sattar visit "provides an occasion for a serious discussion on religious freedom, tolerance and sectarian violence in Pakistan".

The recent admonition of Gen.Musharraf to the Mullahs should be viewed in the proper perspective as a purely tactical move against this background and India should not unwittingly fall a prey to attempts to re-package him as a man of peace and goodwill until his sincerity in wanting to control the rogue Mullahs is proved through concrete actions on the ground and he reins in the hordes of the irrational Pakistani jehadis let loose by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in J & K and other parts of India.

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai.)

Some straight talk

By Joginder Singh

There are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends either for individuals or for nations. Similarly, there is no one set of ideology or theory of governance, which can be considered valid for all time. Many Governments, now occupying a position of honour in the comity of nations had their origin in gun culture and came to power on the strength of that. A nation's interests are the Supreme considerations, and all ideologies fall to it.

When the Cold War was at its peak, America generously supported all nations opposed to Russia, with men, material and money. The kind of Government, whether liberal or repressive had no relationship, with USA's approach to see a weaker Communist Block. The result was that such policies gave birth to a kind of a gun culture, where means or approach was immaterial as long as the goal was achieved.

In Afghanistan Talibans were pumped with weapons worth millions of dollars to throw out the Pro-Russian regime of Neguib. America did not anticipate the effect that its policies would have on the world and in the Asian region. With weapons of quick destruction placed in the hands of lunatics. After having overtaken 96% of Afghanistan and no more fights to keep themselves busy with or diverted, the mad people started bitting the hand that fed it. With easily available guns, there is no knowing where they will lead to.

Gun culture promotes itself, it is a double-edged weapon. Now the same United States of America has decreed ban on Trade with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. It has freezed the assets of the Afghan Airline in USA. It is in retaliation to Afghan refusal to hand over the top Islamic fundamentalist terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Laden is a hero in Pakistan and Afghanistan, for his sponsored attacks on two American embassies leading to the death of 250 persons.

A draft document of the United States National Security Council Staff says : ''Due to our military superiority, potential enemies, whether nations or terrorist groups, may be more likely, in the future to resort to attacks against vulnerable civilian targets in the United States, instead of conventional military operations abroad... Foreign intelligence agents, are trying to glean US secrets, at an unprecedented pace and foreign governments and terrorists are creating sophisticated, well-organised capabilities to launch cyber attacks on strategic information networks. The threat from foreign intelligence services, is more diverse, complex and difficult to counter than ever before''.

Kashmir has been used as another theatre by the international terrorists, aided and abetted by Pakistan. Recovery of RDX, AK-47 Rifles, detonators, hand grenades and fuse wires, originated from Pakistan, is something, which routinely happens in our country. Pakistan has reportedly recruited 21,000 Indian spies. Over 10,000 Pakistani and other foreigners have infiltrated into India. In the last one decade, 30,0071 civilians and 6077 defence personnel, have been killed in the country, by different militant groups. More than 3,50,000 have been rendered homeless.

In the border and terrorists activities prone state of Jammu and Kashmir, terrorists, equipped with light weapon, latest frequency-hopping communications missiles, night vision devices are using the long and porous hilly border for wreaking havoc, on the establishments of security forces, whose hands till recently were tied due to the extension of a unilateral cease-fire. A pneumatic boat, 15 hand grenades, 10 gelatine Pipe Bombs, 10 IED switch boxes, 2100 rounds of AK 47 Rifles and 440 rounds of sniper rifle ammunition were recently recovered from a cave in Kakua in Nowgam Sector.

One of the long-term plans of the terrorists from abroad is to bury large quantities of explosives at various places, for convenient retrieval in times of need and use. The weapons, explosive materials and the ammunition are stored in material, which will ensure their long-term preservation and keep the same for ready to use at the first opportunity. In this way, they do not have to carry any explosive or weapon with them. The attacks on the military and para military headquarters are with the objective to tie up forces, in defending themselves, rather than launching an offensive to drive terrorists out.

Russia is fighting a similar battle against mercenaries in Dagestan. Moscow had vowed to stamp out the rebellion by radical, self-proclaimed Wahahabi Muslims before it spread to the neighbouring Muslim regions. The Russians stormed the rebel stronghold in Dagestan, they crushed an uprising which left more than one thousand Muslim insurgents dead. Chechen-based rebels had proclaimed an independent Islamic State. The rebels were seeking to establish Islamic rule in Dagestan. Pakistani religious leaders have been supporting the efforts of Chechen rebels. Russian foreign Ministry has already issued a warning to the Islamic countries against aiding the rebels.

China is also not oblivious to the possibilities of problems in the Muslim States of Xinjiang. The nursery for training and providing rebels is Pakistan. Through its army and its madrassas, the recruits of Jehad and fighting Pakistan's battles in the name of Islam are prepared. It is these Madrassas, or fundamentalist schools, which churn out religious fanatics. They are brain washed for Jehad and their mindset is fixed.

Pakistan is one of three countries in the world, which recognises Taliban Government in Afghanistan. To help the Taliban Government in its troubles, Pakistan held talks with the Afghani Opposition Representative. It was told point blank, that their (Pakistani) troops were fighting with the Talibans, alongwith the recruits from its Madrasaas. The offer of mediation was rejected on the ground of involvement of Pakistani Army and its Madrasas products. Between 1990 and December 1998, in Jammu and Kashmir alone, 777.6 militants were killed and 24,029 were apprehended. During the same period, 32.41 civilians and 959 army personnel also lost their lives. Out of the militants killed. 1073 mercenaries belonged to Pakistan (400) Afghanistan (190) Bangladesh and Sudan (Five each) Turkey (2). Bahrain, Chechenya, Iraq, Iran, Kazakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen (one each) and 48 to Pakistan topped the list with 59. Pakistan occupied Kashmir (30), Bangladesh (24) Afghanistan (11), Burma (5), Kazakistan (1). India being an open society and a democratic country has all the handicaps.

According to one estimate about 15,000 militants have sneaked into the valley. More than 5,000 are believed to be foreigners. It has also been reported that 5,00,000 Jehadis, from all over the world are ready to enter J&K.

Every time there is a major incident, more forces are sent or new strategies are planned or create new areas of operational responsibility. Still the suicide squads have been killing army and policemen with impunity. The terrorists have attacked more than 45 establishments belonging to military, para-military, and police in the last one year. Some of the prominent targets, have been the Headquarters of 15 Corps based in Srinagar, of the Special Operation Group. Headquarters of Rashtriya Rifles near Khannabal, Sector Headquarters of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, at Bandipore, and many more figures tell an equally grim story, between 1990 and February 2000, 20, 365 AK-47 rifles, 8,825 pistols, 958 UMGs, 757 RPGs, 308 sniper rifles, 615 rocket launchers, 1,687 rocket booster. 75 LMGs and 25,000 kg of RDX have been recovered. Political parties to have not been spared. Two hundred and five members of the National Conference have been killed. The Congress has lost 49 persons, the BJP 9, the CPI (M) 5, the Janata Dal 10, and the Awami League 5. The figures are tentative and there seems to be no full stops. Not even comas so far.

The low intensity proxy war, with different names like the Jehad or Azadi or called self determination, has been going on for the last thirteen years in the valley, leading to almost total ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs from there. In the three full-scale wars (1948, 1962 and 1999). Pakistan had to bite dust over Kashmir. India had to fight for the Independence, whereas Pakistan was born out by carving it out of India. It was given on a platter to the Muslim communalists, who had stoked religious brawls in the undivided India. For currying favours with the Western Nations, it joined various alliances like SEATO, CENTO primarily directed against the Communists belonging to the Soviet Bloc. During the Afghan war, it supported the American policy and strategic goals of turning that country into a Vietnam. In the bargain, a lot of mercenaries and sophisticated weapons were acquired by it to show that it could match India's strength.

The US concern in Afghanistan is Osama bin Laden, who has targeted American establishments in the past. Being the World's self appointed Policeman, the first concern of America is to keep International terrorism. away from its border. The American coordinator for counter-terrorism Michael Sheehan was quoted a few months back by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn as saying: ''I don't believe that the Taliban is hostile to the US. In fact, they repeatedly tell me that they want good relations with the US''. Talibans already hold 96% of Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran being closest to and nearest to its borders. In some cases they are ethnically linked to it Afghanistan is the nursery from where terrorists fan out to these countries, as well as Chechnya which was once a part of it. Russia and USA are also concerned over the Afghan activities and are co-ordinating their activities against the terrorist recognised them. It is ironical that a monster of Talibans created by the United States to fight Russia, and dismember it, has forced the two super powers to come closer and close their ranks, in thier fight against terrorism. It is reported that the CIA provided $ 3 billion for building and arming the fundamentalist groups. It was channelised through Pakistan so that operation topple against the then Afghanistan government, could be conducted.

It is a fact that terrorism, is used all over the world to gain political objectives or seize power. This phenomenon has been going in Sri Lanka, South America, Middle East, Iran Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Palestine and the continent of Africa. Whether we like it or not, it has become a reality , proving that might is right. It is an unfortunate situation. We as a nation, are very much affected by it. Let us not quibble, when fighting international terrorism.

Some suggestions are as under :-

Increase the size and powers of the security forces.

Introduce capital punishment for terrorist activities.

Enact legislation limiting rights of assembly and increasing controls over the public, in terrorist affected areas, by means of identification cards etc.

Establish a third foce to cope with terrorist attacks. This involves policy decisions about the role of the police in anti-terrorist operations: about how early to commit military forces and civil military relations.

Announce a policy of 'no negotiations' with terrorists.

Increase physical and peripheral security.

Make it illegal for individuals or private organisations to pay ransom to terrorists.

Promote international treaties providing for extradition or trial of captured hijackers etc.

Research and develop alternatives to hostage negotiations.

Involve the so called Human Rights Activists to ensure that terrorist group be encouraged to adhere to the norms of Human Rights.

Develop and deploy highly intrusive technologies as pre-emptive moves e.g. monitoring and surveillance.

In short there should be no holds barred in defending our country and our own interests. Since we are dealing with human behaviour, the policy makers must assess the contribution that can be made by the behavioural sciences. Effective measures need to be taken for stopping the flow of external aid to the terrorist.

This will include all forms of diplomatic efforts designed to preclude the terrorists gaining further foreign support. Let us get going quickly without any delay.

PTI Feature