Shiban Khaibri
John Milton once said about the state of mind, “The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell and a hell of heaven.” While India has triumphantly exhibited its political will for the second time after 1971, the mass support and the military precision and valour to fight an undeclared war fought on our soil with intent to harm our assets both human and material and on continued basis for decades together, the fact of the matter is that if we do not visualise the presence of intrinsic support to Pakistan from so called intellectual class of a particular hue, some political leaders and parties as also shockingly certain media houses, we are doing a disservice to our country. It becomes our religious duty in whatever form and shape to contribute our mite to expose, rebut and frustrate such elements, which for reasons better known to them, become a reason to embolden the enemy and lower the morale of the armed forces.
Indian braves bombarded Balakot , Chikoti and Muzaffarabad terror camps on the instructions and full backing of the political leadership in power to retaliate and avenge Pulwama carnage of February 14 . Such an approach of giving ‘suitable reply ‘ to Pakistan was totally not only deficient but missing when for full three days our financial capital Mumbai witnessed the worst ever terror invasion via the sea route on November 26, 2008 which left 166 massacred, hundreds wounded and thousands dazed , not to speak of loss to property in hundreds of crores of Rupees. The Government in power then and currently in opposition was more concerned about assembly elections to Delhi than hitting hard the abode of terror . When after giving a reprieve to Pakistan for Pathankot attack with a strict warning , India got virtually zilch from that country in so far as mending its ways were concerned and embarked on a misadventure of Uri , this Government ipso- facto did not commit another miscalculation in placing Pakistan where it belongs , a surgical strike was conducted just within ten days. About Pulwama much more is known and is quite fresh in the minds of the people that within 12 days it was avenged with intensity in comparison to surgical strikes of Uri. It is hard to be believed that perhaps some in the opposition got jittery more in extent and measure than Pakistan, the latter exploiting the same to the hilt.
It is hard to comprehend that the ‘retaliatory (mis) adventure of Pakistan to intrude into our airspace and shooting down of their one F-16 fighter jet and we losing one aircraft coupled with wing Commander Abhinandan Vardman captured by Pakistan and the Indian leadership succeeding in pressurising Pakistan to return him, the main opposition party should feel so much embarrassed so as to have through its ‘official spokesperson’ Surjewala tweet that the Prime Minister was “hell bent upon creating a video conference record ” when the entire country was praying for return of its brave heart pilot . Does depreciation in status, value and vision set in with ageing, perhaps exactly that is being seen in the Congress party which once was of stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Shastri, Indira Gandhi , Gulzari Lal Nanda and the like. Harping on the same string – to berate, attack and severely criticise Narendra Modi, new coinage that of ‘misplaced priorities’ has been fired.
Not only this , in proverbial parlance ‘Black takes no other hue’ , Congress is seeing in all these unfortunate developments for Pakistan and glory for India as “Modi desperate only for re-election”. If the BJP and its leaders increasingly herald, acclaim and commend our armed forces and rightly so, Congress sees in it “politicising the bravery of the armed forces”. Not entirely in the lighter vein, Surjewala while “breaking” about “while entire country was praying” for return of our pilot, he did not elaborate whether Congress leaders too were praying as no photo ops were circulated about their temple pooja diplomacy and none from the top hierarchy was “seen” in any of the temples “offering” prayers only for the IAF pilot’s safe return. Hypocrisy of its own peculiar class. It is equally nothing short of absurdity for any BJP leader of state or national level to put foot in the mouth by making electoral evaluations vis-a vis the post Pulwama carnage.
Congress Party of present days must bear it in mind that after the brave Smt. Indira Gandhi, no leader of any perception or standing has been found in the party . It was she who in 1971 did care a naught for US warning of despatching its nuclear 7th fleet to overawe and subdue India precluding it from helping people of erstwhile East Pakistan fight the tyranny, repression and violation of human values in respect of its citizenry due to which hundreds of thousands of refugees from that country flooded our nearby states . The country fell on such days when for instance the decision to purchase the most sophisticated but dreaded Rafale fighter aircraft by Vajpayee Government could not be further pursued and its files kept on tossing from one table to the other during UPA 1 and 2 regime and the Air Force had to be content with third generation obsolete MiG-21, Jaguar and Sukhoi-Su aircraft .It was only in 2015 that the PM on his visit to France announced that India would buy 36 Dassault Rafales in fly-away condition , the first of these aircraft would be received during the current year. Once acquired , Indian Air force would be the most powerful force in Asia as this aircraft is a multi role combat jet , armed with missiles having infra red search system. Those who sat on files and did not take decisions for years together are today putting questions on the intentions to deal with the current situation as “misplaced priorities”.
It is shocking that there are lobbies within abetting with pro- Pakistan views and some opposition parties do not hesitate to swallow the propaganda of Pakistan , the country specialising in faking news which in turn had the potential of discouraging our armed forces. Peaceniks and “Talk to Pakistan” and “cultural and sports ties with Pakistan club” , Track 2 , 3 diplomats are all hell bent upon criticising their own government and who conveniently ignore and overlook 20 ceasefire violations committed by Pakistan when from the National Assembly of Pakistan , Imran Khan was pleading for peace and de-escalation. Could Pakistan be ever believed? What if India would have “finally settled all the problems with Pakistan “including Kashmir” with Z. A. Bhuttoo during inking of the Shimla Agreement, would subsequent Governments have abided by and complied with the provisions of the settlement ? Is there a responsible Government in Pakistan and could there be any which has the absolute power to bind subsequent Governments by all pacts, settlements and agreements signed bilaterally during a particular Government in power. The three tier executive authority wielded by the “constitutionally elected” Prime Minister, the Army and the extremist -fundamentalist forces make things extremely hazy , confused and sans any trust in Pakistan.
Wing Commander Abhinadhan, like a brave dedicated soldier, did not reportedly share with Pakistan even the details of his address but the select media , the design media persons ‘hunted’ and gave full particulars of his address , his family and what not through their news. Which aircraft he was flying , his mission, and other details , the valiant airman spoke not a word but it was provided by some over ambitious media persons and even his photograph circulated . What was the purpose behind doing all this except helping Pakistan in one way or the other. For the first time, Indian Foreign Minister attended OIC meet and while many Modi baiters take it as their defeat and to reap bleak harvest in elections , Pakistan’s Foreign Minister under protest declined to attend the meet . How come can we trust Pakistan’s peace overtures? If not immediately but in the near future , fissiparous voices and pro- Pakistan lobbyists from within shall have to be contained and disciplined as they are no less dangerous for the country .
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