Arun Bajpai
At the time when the Pakistani Government and its army is celebrating the goodies showered on younger brother Pakistan by the elder brother the Chinese president XI Jinping during his recent two day visit to Pakistan to the tune of 46 billion in infrastructure and military hardware, Pakistan’s main enemy within, the jehadi organisation Tehrik-e-Pakistan Taliban has released a video in which they claim to have developed an indigenous missile OMAR-1which they say they will put in effective use against Pakistani army. This surely will be a dampener to the Chinese euphoria in Pakistani governing class as also ominous warning of things to come.
Since last June, after the Tehrik-e-Pakistan Taliban’s (TTP) attack on the Karachi airport, the Pakistani Army has been involved in an all out war against this jehadi organisation which seeks to usurp the power in Pakistan and convert Pakistan into a sharia ruled radical Islamic country. In the offensive launched by Pakistani army using tanks, helicopter gunships, heavy artillery and F-16 fighter jets against their own people in NW Khyber pakhtoonwala province ,the Pakistani army claims to have killed 2000 jehadis of the TTP while 1.5 million people from this area have been forced to live in refugee camps under pathetic conditions.
This offensive may have temporarily curtailed the strike power of Pakistan Taliban but the Pakistani Army forgets that world most modern and well equipped American Army after fighting the same Talibans for ten years in Afghanistan is now going back having lost more than 5000 soldiers and the battle still half won. In case of Pakistan which follows the good Taliban and bad Taliban policy, to crush Taliban once for all by the military might is almost impossible. The Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban is good Taliban which Pakistan has been clandestinely helping against Americans. They have been given safe locations by Pakistan in NW Waziristan area and in Baluchistan. While their kin the Tehriek-e-Pakistan Taliban, the Pakistani army is hunting because they have gone rogue. Similarly the Punjabi jehadis of the type Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and Jaish Mohammad who are again Pakistan based and operate against India are Pakistani army’s darling boys. These Pakistan based jehadi organisations whether good or bad have large following due to the abject poverty, lack of education in that country and no jobs. The only skill these jeahadis know is use of weapons and they are paid by their respective organisations from the money collected in the name of jehad. No government in the world can change their mindset now.
Pakistan is most vulnerable in this 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan economic corridor which China is planning to build in terms of rail, road and pipelines along a 3000 km route passing through restive Baluchistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir connecting Pakistani port of Gwador with the Chinese province of Xing Xiang. This corridor can only be built if the Chinese get the necessary security on the ground. While Pakistan has promised fool proof security to China it will be impossible to implement.
The TPP spokesperson Muhammad Khusarani who released this video of OMAR-1 missile has said that not only this missile but the technology wing of Taliban which has also developed suicide belts, suicide cars, grenades and anti jammer devices will be put to maximum use by the Taliban. It is common knowledge that what technology if any Taliban has? So if they claim to have developed this missile whose range is not known and other devices also then definitely some elements of Pakistani army are helping them. If this is true and there are rouge elements within Pakistani army, which is more or less a fact, then Pakistan is doomed in terms of this infrastructure development.
We must not forget that our borders are just 600 kms from the NW Pakhtoonwala and this missile can be a big threat to us also in a futuristic perspective. So there is no harm in India opening a link with TPP to keep them in good humour and keeping them involved with Pakistani Army only following the policy that an enemy of the enemy is our friend. Similarly we must prevail upon china that before investing on infrastructure in Pakistan it must ensure that Pakistan gives up its policy of good and bad Taliban and good and bad jehadis. Pakistani army must go all out against all jehadis good or bad if china wants to succeed in its China-Pakistan corridor. It is also imperative that we develop our own capabilities to carry out covert operations. Need of the hour is proactive action.
(The author is Defence and Strategic Analyst)
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