The truth can never remain hidden. That is what Pakistani sources are proving today by their revelations about abetting terrorism and religious extremism in Kashmir and elsewhere in the region. What the former Pakistani military ruler told the press and what witnesses have deposed in the court of law, which is hearing the case against Mumbai attackers all leads us to same conclusion.
Musharraf, the former military ruler of Pakistan told the press that Pakistan sponsored and abetted terror in Kashmir, trained terrorists of LeT and other outfits and made terrorists like Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi, Osama and other as heroes of the ummah. He thinks that he has made a startling revelation, and would take the credit of being the first among responsible Pakistani rulers to take the lid off the can of worms. In reality it is not so. He thinks that the world did not know what he has said to the press whereas the world not only knows it but knows much more than what he has said. He is in a state of self-delusion; we do not intend to help him wriggle out of it. His revelations will certainly interest the people of Pakistan whom he assured at the time of affecting a coup in 1999 against the elected government that he had done all that for strengthening democracy in Pakistan and ensuring the rights of the people of that country. The people of Pakistan should now understand the real intentions and activities of Pakistan army and its intelligence wing called ISI. What Musharraf has done is that he has posed a serious question to the people of Pakistan whether they have to tolerate the army with its clear political and military agenda that do not go in the interests of the people of that country.
Pakistan raised terrorist outfits like LeT and JM and many others. Who are running these organizations? Obviously, it is the youth of Pakistan, the same youth who could become the future leaders of the country if they are properly educated and groomed into the service to the nation. Therefore, Pakistani civil society must sit up and think for a while patiently whether the Pakistani army is a friend or a foe of the youth of Pakistan. It is twenty-six years that Pakistan unleashed proxy war against India in Kashmir. All these years, Pakistani official circles, media and political leadership have been denying any role in Kashmir armed insurgency. Then suddenly, an important person who ruled that country for a decade and more comes out with confessions about abetting and sponsoring terrorism and fundamentalism in Pakistan. What did his country gain out of it? Yes, the gain has been of the army only and not of the vast civilian population. The army has managed to create a formidable structure that is now standing up with eyeball-to-eyeball stance with the army. By raising the bogey of threat from India and Afghanistan, the army is trying to justify its claim for lion’s share in Pakistan’s annual budget. All these years, Pakistani ruling circles repeated the mantra of extending “diplomatic and moral help” to Kashmir insurgents. However, now the falsehood wrapped in the folds of this slogan is open. Assuming that Pakistan’s allegation that India is abetting Baluch insurgency and dissent, the question we ask is this: If you confess that you had to abet and sponsor armed insurgency in Kashmir 26 years ago just because it served your interests, is not that strong justification for Indian intelligence agencies to pay you back in the same coin in Baluchistan? Why do you grumble?
Any observer of Pakistan’s policy will ask the question why Musharraf chose to make confessions that are likely to put Islamabad regime in a state of deep embarrassment. Musharraf has a method in madness. He is a profound schemer and Pakistan army shows due regard to him because he is the author of many secret adventures of that army like Afghan war against Soviet Union, raising of Taliban, Taliban war against the US and NATO, Kargil and the rest of that. Therefore, he remains an icon for the army. He founded new political party, returned to Pakistan from London, left for Dubai to avoid arrest under court order, has been articulating on current Indo-Pak relations by issuing bizarre statements — all this because it is the army that wants to articulate through his instrumentality. The purpose of the army in articulating through Musharraf is to harass the civilian government and make things more complicated for the civilian administration. In Musharraf, Pakistani army finds face-saving device. That is why his statements receive media hype within and outside Pakistan.
However, we do recognize the ability and maneuverability of Pakistani army in raising religion-based terrorist organizations with deep dedication to the cause of fanaticism, radicalism and deceit. Musharraf laments that these groups raised for a different purpose are now training their guns on Pakistani establishments, functionaries, intellectuals and institutions. We fully appreciate and pray for the success of Pakistani army in bringing about hasty dismemberment of that State by raising these outfits, and in the process eradicating all symptoms and traces of fundamentalism and terrorism on the globe. They are rendering this service to God’s humanity.
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