Blame game at its worst!

Farooq Ganderbali
For the first time in some years now, the Corps Commanders Conference in Pakistan has directly blamed India’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) for ‘terrorist’ acts in Pakistan. While there could be nothing more ludicrous than that allegation, one must look closer at Pak motivations for doing what they have done at this moment. One wonders what prompted the Corps Commanders to raise the ante by blaming R&AW for all the ills plaguing Pakistan.
It is clear that Pakistan Army is a little desperate, in fact quite desperate, as their various efforts to contain the TTP and other terrorist groups have not borne fruit. That is why some sections of the Pak establishment also blamed the killing of 43 Ismailis in Karachi on India. There is a recurrent theme in the Pak propaganda bandwagon that sounds familiar; they are replaying the Indian record, which has often blamed the ISI for acts of terror on Indian soil.
There is however, a world of difference in the two acts.The Pak drama is only just that, while the Indian narrative on the ISI is backed by history and facts. The 2008 Mumbai bombings being a case in point; and there is legal evidence to prove the ISI’s planning for the strike.
Pakistan’s ISI has been the cutting edge of Pakistan’s war against India and in this war the agency has created and raised terrorist elements to be used as strategic assets. For India, to believe that suddenly, the ISI has turned over a new leaf is asking for too much.The follies of the ISI in rearing terrorist groups like the LeT and sectarian Sunni formations like SSP are coming home to roost now. To blame India for this is a method of drawing attention away from the root cause of the problem. Notably, once the Corps Commanders put forth the allegation, the civilian Government followed with the foreign secretary speaking of R&AW’s involvement in Baluchistan. Another manner of implicating R&AW was to arrest two persons belonging to MQM in Karachi and labelling them as Indian agents. Therefore, there is a method to this madness.
The Pak Army is really at a wit’s end as far as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned. He has chosen to talk to Pakistan but not talk to Pakistan. He has successfully visited several countries and even got the US President to come to India. This is obviously eating the guts of the Pakistani establishment. Combine this with the Pak Army’s inability to tackle terrorism on their soil to the extent that Army Chief Raheel Sharif even talks of sending the Army into Baluchistan! This demonstrates the sheer hollowness of the Army’s claim of having cleared North Waziristan of terrorist elements.
Pakistan, as the US knows is good at parroting other people’s voices without actually meaning it or substantiating it. That is why in the current scenario it can safely be concluded that blaming R&AW is a diversionary tactic.  Both the Army and ISI have failed miserably in containing terrorism and despite military courts, and a National Action Plan to combat terrorism, strikes like the one that occurred in Karachi continue.
Baluchistan is Pakistan’s Achilles heel and time and time again, Islamabad has raised the bogey of Indian support to nationalist groups, not quite wanting to admit that the killings and mass disappearances are a result of state sponsored terrorism. Funnily enough it is not the ISI which is involved directly, but Military Intelligence in this state sponsored venture. Again, Islamabad needs to take a reality check on where it is coming from and where it is headed.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is on a tricky wicket. He could be safe, if he wields a straight bat with Army Chief Raheel Sharif. However, a few googlies from the Army and PM Sharif could well be back on his way to the pavilion. For his survival, Nawaz Sharif has played along with the charade of blaming India’s external intelligence agency. Ultimately, the Army would like to keep its hand on the till as long as possible. Recall, that even President Xi Jinping separately met with Army Chief Raheel Sharif as is the current norm.
At the end of the day, one should recall that the Pak Army is fighting an existential battle to ensure that it remains relevant. If it does not deliver then one day it will be unable to garner the funding needed from the US for its survival. That is the main reason why it has chosen to blame R&AW for the ills of Pakistan, including heinous acts of terrorism. This is revealing of the mindset of the men who lead the Pak Army from 1947 till date.

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