Bhopinder Singh
A lot of Indian frustration with Pakistan stems from Islamabad’s supposed inability to comprehend,either the magnitude of devastation caused bycross-border terrorism, or byPakistan’sinability to know, what it takes to clamp down on terror networks. Nothing could be farther from the truth.On both counts, Pakistan is well aware of the havoc that can be caused by cross-border terrorists (in Pakistan’s case, the lawless sanctuaries along the restiveDurand line, teeming with passport-less Islamists feeding violently on their one-time progenitors,in the historic transit-camps of international jihadists), and secondly, the level of detailing, planning and ruthless execution of the NAP (National Action Plan), formulated in Jan 2015 by the Pakistani establishment is a testimony of the comprehensive understanding of counter-terrorism, that is frequently invoked by the Indian authorities,to clamp down on the terror nurseries in Pakistan.
Except for one critical issue, Pakistan still believes (even after the multitude of imploding experiments with its ‘Frankensteinian’ monsters unleashing their bloodlust in the Af-Pak region), that it can manage the terror industry within Pakistan, with a duality of approach – one rule book (NAP version) for terror that affects Pakistan directly, and another set of rules (ISI directed) for terror that is directed externally (i.e.terror groups facing India, Afghanistan, Iran or Bangladesh).So this dichotomy of rules ensures that while Mullah Fazlullah’s, Pakistan-facing TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban)is a ‘terror organisation’ to be targeted – the Afghanistan-facing, Afghan Taliban, Haqqani Network or the anti-India jihadists like Hafiz Saeed’s Lashkar-e-Taiba or Maulana Masood Azhar’s Jaish-e-Mohammed, become an integral pivot of Pakistan’s foreign policy doctrine that hosts these groups as “Strategic Assets”.
This obvious Pakistan duplicity is well established with, Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2011, testifying, “Extremist organizations serving as proxies of the Government of Pakistan are attacking Afghan troops and civilians as well as US soldiers”, whereas, the-then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had sagely commented on Pakistani wisdom by warning presciently, “You can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors. You know, eventually those snakes are going to turn on whoever has them in the backyard”.Today, the proverbial snakes are not confined to the badlands of the Pashtun or the Baloch belt, the plains of Punjab and the urban centres of Lahore and Karachi are not spared the virulence of armed religious poison.
The morning of December 16, 2014 was an inflexion-point with unprecedented beastliness and inhumanity that took place in an Army school in Peshawar – seven armed terrorists of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) slaughtered 144 lives, mostly children between 12 and 16.The seven “foreign” terrorists who undertook the shameful act included a Chechen, Moroccan, Saudi, Uzbek, Egyptian and two Afghans – the much bandied “nurseries” of the region claimed the innocent blood of the same land. For once, the deliberate structural deficiencies, false national narratives and doctrines were openly exposed, as the resultant price of playing with fire was extracted in the perverse reality and confines of a military cantonment.
This terror attack germinated the all-party approved, holistic and ultra-decisive,”National Action Plan” (NAP), as a coordinated state retaliation and an additional force-multiplier to the ongoing initiatives like Operation Zarb-e-Azb. The “zero tolerance” envisaged towards terrorism saw the revival of expeditious military courts with uncontestable powers to mete executions orders, for those convicted of terror. Other means of strengthening the forces like reviving the National Counter Terrorism Authority, raising specialised anti-terror forces and undertaking operations in additional places like Karachi, Baluchistan and hinterland of Punjab, were all accorded sovereign sanctification under the twenty first amendment to the constitution of Pakistan.
However, it is the more systemic and fundamentalsteps that are an integral component of the NAP approach that warrants an ironical appreciation from an Indian perspective. The disallowance of any sort of private militia, complete clampdown of hate-speech or financial support to terror networks, banning terror groups from getting space media platforms, regulation of venom spewing institutions and madrassas and ensuring the ban on any organisation seeking to beat the system by changing their name – all fundamental measures to root out the terror machinery and eradicate the menace of terror, permanently.
Now, contrast this NAP approach vis-a-vis the India-facing terror groups. Forget attacking their networks militarily (unlike Operation Zarb-e-Azb) – the India-hate brigades operate with utter impunity and disdain (e.g. Hafiz Saeed has a bounty on his head). These elements are allowed the free space, real-estate and platforms to perpetuate the Uri’s and multiple other wounds on India. Lashkar-e-Toiba was allowed to morph into Jamaat-ud-Dawa to continue with its “charitable” activities. Clearly, despite Interpol notices and international bounties on their head, these India-facing terror groups are not extended NAP’s “zero-tolerance” approach. These terror groups brazenly fan the religious bigotry into Kashmir with their sustained efforts towards proselytization with the Ahl-e-Hadith interpretations, as opposed to the syncretic strain that is native to the valley.
While NAP has its own implementation challenges, the thought and scope of NAP is both incisive and decisive. That Pakistan, has chosen to apply different rules to different terror organisations is a potential spoiler for Pakistan itself, in the long run – however, the attraction of retaining the terror levers in both India and Afghanistan is instinctively too attractive to let go, as any thawing in the Indo-Pak relationship also dilutes the relevance for Pakistani Military vis-à-vis the politicos, in effect, turbulence in Kashmir legitimizes the Pakistani Military and the rationale of the nation, as a whole.
Moot point is, Pakistan is aware of the horrors it inflicts, it is aware of the curse of “foreign interference”, as indeed of the remedial measures required to address the issue from an immediate and sustainable perspective. Clearly building irrefutable pressure on Pakistan to extend and incorporate NAP sensibilities on the India-centric terror organisations is the only long-term solution. Beyond the wholly avoidable specters of a full-fledged war, or the temptation of “surgical strikes” (which too, cannot be without the risk of escalation to a war). Internally, India must tighten its own borders, hit decisively when challenged, and in parallel engage with our own stakeholders to integrate into the national mainstream and aspirations of an emerging India. Beyond a point, the mess in Pakistan will have to be mopped by Pakistan itself – the template for the same exists in the form of NAP, but for that, Pakistan will have to overcome its ghosts and fears of normalcy with India.
(The author is former Lt Governor)
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