Asif Mahmood
Before the shock of one terrorist attack has even subsided, another terrorist incident takes place somewhere in Pakistan. It is as if the string of sorrows has snapped and the beads are falling one after another. The latest tragedy is the Aman Mela check post incident.
Those facilitating terrorism against Pakistan are no secret. It appears that certain forces have entered the field against Pakistan with full force, and this is an all-out battle. From terrorism to information warfare, and from information warfare to false-flag operations, no veil has been left in place. Everything has become evident. Yet we are the ones who have still failed to achieve clarity.
Some have turned to terrorism after suffering defeat in direct war. Some cannot digest Gwadar. Others have their sights set on the possibilities linked to CPEC. There are also those who do not like Pakistan’s role in the Iran-US war because Pakistan helped thwart the Zionist scheme of triggering an Arab-Iran war. There are many names. Some are exposed, while others remain behind the veil. The more credible Pakistan has become in the comity of nations, the greater the discomfort of its detractors.
India’s allies in this enterprise are also before us. Under changing circumstances, the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan should have been built primarily around the economy, allowing both Afghanistan and Pakistan to benefit from it. But the situation is moving in the opposite direction, and Indian proxies are being used against Pakistan from Afghan territory.
India is our enemy, while Afghanistan is our brotherly Muslim country. We have always wished it well, and that is why some people find it difficult to understand the situation. But, surprisingly, there is one common denominator between the two countries that needs to be understood. That common denominator is hostility towards Pakistan.
This is neither a temporary nor an impulsive phenomenon. There is historical evidence of it, and I have written about it before. For the sake of reminding ourselves, I repeat it here.
India believes that the creation of Pakistan divided Bharat Mata. Afghanistan believes that the creation of Pakistan divided Afghan land.
India also builds a narrative against Pakistan through false-flag operations. Afghanistan has now started doing the same. India has a claim over Pakistani territory, and whether the government is led by the Congress or the BJP, that claim remains intact. Similarly, Afghanistan has claims over Pakistani territory, and whether the government was led by Zahir Shah, Karzai or the Taliban, there has been no change in this claim.
There are only two countries in the world that have a formal position against Pakistan’s security and openly express a desire to occupy its territory. One is India and the other is Afghanistan.
The fundamental position of both these countries poses a threat to Pakistan’s territorial security.
India has also turned water into a weapon against Pakistan and has unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, which is a violation of international law. Afghanistan, with Indian financial support, is moving in the same direction. India says it does not recognise any treaty called the Indus Waters Treaty, while Pakistan has been trying for at least the past 25 years to reach an agreement with Afghanistan on the distribution of water. Afghanistan, however, has refused to agree to any such arrangement.
Building dams is the right of every country, and Afghanistan has that right as well. But under international law, downstream states also have rights over water. To ensure those rights, international laws exist, while bilateral agreements are also concluded between states. Pakistan has been trying for decades to reach an agreement with Afghanistan on this issue, but Afghanistan has refused.
Interestingly, Afghanistan does have an agreement with Iran on the distribution of water. But it is not willing to enter into any such agreement with Pakistan. The question is: what has Pakistan done to deserve this? Why was neither a nationalist government willing to enter into such an agreement with Pakistan, nor have Islamist governments found it acceptable?
What does India have to do with Afghanistan? What goodwill does it have towards Afghanistan? Its only interest is to use Afghanistan against Pakistan. It has been doing so since the creation of Pakistan.
The continuous terrorist attacks have strung together a chain of sorrow, but there is still no clarity among us. There is too much ifs and buts. Society lies wounded in blood, yet the refrain of ifs and buts refuses to end. These are the circumstances in which the Pakistani nation needs to understand the situation with clarity: who stands where.
In the name of a sense of responsibility, we have repeated the language of brotherhood and goodwill towards Pakistan’s neighbours so often that even when a neighbour turns openly hostile, we find it difficult to believe. Our people become confused. We need to move beyond this confusion and understand the situation.
Pakistan today stands with greater confidence in the comity of nations. After the Makkah Agreement, Pakistan’s strategic importance has increased further. Many possibilities are emerging, both strategic and economic. We desperately need economic and internal stability. Neither can be viewed separately from matters of defence. They are interdependent and interconnected, and all of them have importance for national defence.
We must also come out of our state of indecision. The number of justifications offered for terrorism in Pakistan is perhaps unparalleled anywhere in the world. It is a strange coincidence. Or perhaps it is no coincidence at all. Perhaps it is an organised effort. The enemy may have succeeded, through prolonged information aggression, in making this state of confusion part of our national discourse.
Whatever the case may be, this is the time for clarity. On every front: internal, external and economic.