By Sajjad Shaukat
Every year, people of Pakistan celebrate the 23rd of March as the Pakistan Day,
with great enthusiasm and zeal. But, this time, this very day has come at a time
when Pakistan stands at the crossroads of its destiny, facing internal and
external challenges and threats to the national security of the country, which
are worrying all the citizens.
Particularly, war-like situation which started between India and Pakistan in the
aftermath of the false flag Pulwama terror attack in the Indian Occupied Kashmir
(IOK),
still exists, as the extremist government of the BJP led by the Indian
fundamentalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused the mediatory role of
any country, while continuing war hysteria against Pakistan in wake of
acceleration of shelling across the Line of Control (LoC), which has resulted
into many casualties in the Pakistani side of Kashmir. On the other side,
Pakistan’s armed forces are on high alert to give a matching response to any
Indian prospective aggression or war. Earlier, Indian Air Force conducted
pre-emptive air strike near the town of Balakot, close to the border with
Pakistan’s sector of Kashmir on February 27, 2018, claiming that Indian fighter
jets targeted the camp ofJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and killed 350 militants—the
group whom New Delhi blamed for the Pulwama attack. Next day, in response,
Pakistan Air Force launched aerial strikes at six targets in the IOKandshot down
two Indian fighter jets and captured Indian pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan
Varthaman who was released as a gesture of peace and handed over to the Indian
authorities. It resulted into diplomatic victory of Islamabad over India. Prime
Minister Modi who has directed the Indian security forces to accelerate
atrocities in the IOK, wants to obtain various nefarious designs, especially to
suppress the Kashmiris’ war of liberation and to win the general elections 2019
at the cost of Pakistan. On the other side, Western media and their high
officials are insisting upon the settlement of the Kashmir issue.
In this regard, unlike India, Pakistan’s ruling partyPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),
opposition parties, members of civil societies and military are on one page
regarding Indian aggression.
In this respect, on March 1, this year, the joint sitting of the Pakistan’s
parliament in demonstration of unity against any external aggression, passed a
unanimous resolution strongly condemning the blatant Indian aggression of 26th
and 27th of February against the country and the parliamentary leaders said that
they are standing shoulder to shoulder to the armed forces of Pakistan. The
resolution completely rejected India’s self-serving and fictitious claims of
having destroyed alleged terrorist facility—pointed out that facts on the
grounds clearly contradict India’s false claim and so have been testified by
independent observers. The resolution noted that timely and effective action of
the Pakistan Air Force repulsed the Indian attack without loss of life and
property—India’s baseless allegations against Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama
attack were politically motivated—the Indian government’s subsequent action has
been guided by its electoral calculations. Strongly condemning the Indian
atrocities in the IHK [Indian Held Kashmir], the resolution rejected the India’s
attempt to project the legitimate Kashmiri struggle for self-determination as
terrorism. It reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognised
dispute, pending on the agenda of the UN Security Council due to Indian
intransigence. It underscored that a just and peaceful solution of Kashmir
dispute. The resolution mentioned Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call to avoid
further escalation and urged the parliament of India to support the call by this
joint session of Pakistani parliament for de-escalation and dialogue between
Pakistan and India.
However, the 23rd of March 1940 was a watershed in the history of the
Sub-continent, when All India Muslim League passed the Resolution in Lahore for
the creation of an independent state. Now, it is popularly called as Pakistan
Resolution. Earlier, in his address to the Muslim League at Allahabad in 1930,
the idea of a homeland for Muslims in their majority areas had been envisioned
by the poet Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal, and had become the aspiration of Indian
Muslims.
In fact, the British colonialists in connivance with majority Hindu population
had manipulated and targeted Muslims through every possible way. In that
background, Muslims started struggle for a separate state.
Prior to the Lahore session of Muslim League, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah
had specified to this historical congregation of the Muslims, the watch-words of
‘Faith, Unity and Discipline’ which were not only necessary for waging the
battle for an independent homeland, but also for present Pakistan. So, while
struggling against the enemies, the essence of these watch-words is unity which
is the real spirit of the Pakistan Resolution.
It was due to the selfless practical unity among the Muslims under the
leadership of Quaid-i-Azam that Pakistan became a tangible reality. But that
unity started declining after passing through various crises, and the result was
separation of East Pakistan in 1971, as the India manipulated differences
between East Pakistan and the West Pakistan.
Although at present Pakistan’s various entities, general masses and military are
united against any prospective Indian aggression, yet, Pakistan Day has come at
a time when Pakistan is also facing other multiple threats of grave nature.
In this connection, on July 28, 2017, five-member larger bench of the Supreme
Court of Pakistan announced its verdict in connection with the Panama Papers
case and disqualified the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in relation to the charges
of corruption. Supreme Court also issued directives to the National
Accountability Court (NAB) to investigate the charges against the Sharif family.
Instead of accepting the verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the deposed
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the former head of the Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
started criticizing the verdict of the Supreme Court in his rallies, while
targeting other key institutions of the country. Nawaz Sharif, while forgetting
Supreme Court’s various decisions of the past, which went in their favour, has
declared the verdict of the apex court—conspiracy against his family and
government.
Afterwards, ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, the
former Chief Minister of Punjab, including some other leaders (Retired and
serving officials) of the PML-N, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) andAleem Khan of
the PTI-senior Minister of Punjabwere arrested by the NAB.
Earlier, leaders of the mainstream political parties such as PTI, PPP and
Jamaat-e-Islami which want to eliminate corruption in Pakistan had insisted upon
the former Prime Minister Sharif to accept the verdict of the Supreme Court. PTI
Chairman Imran Khan had remarked that by criticizing the decision of the apex
court and Pakistan Army in this connection and through rallies of the PML-N, the
disqualified P.M. Nawaz Sharif wanted to create rift between his party workers
and the key institutes of the country. Some other political leaders, renowned
persons and analysts had also expressed similar thoughts by opining that Nawaz
Sharif seems determined to create anarchy in the country.
It notable that Pakistan’s Armed Forces have successfully broken the backbone of
the foreign-backed terrorists by the military operations Zarb-e-Azb and
Radd-ul-Fasaad which have also been extended to other parts of the country,
including Balochistan province and Karachi. Army andcountry’s primary
intelligence agency ISI have broken the network of these terrorist groups by
capturing several militants, while thwarting a number of terror attempts. Peace
has been restored in various regions of Pakistan, including Karachi and
Balochistan.
But, these foreign elements have, again, started terror attacks in Balochistan
and other regions of the country which show that the US-led India, Afghanistan
and Israel want to weaken Pakistan and to damage the China-Pakistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC).
As Pakistan is the only declared nuclear country in the Islamic World, Hence,
the United States, India and Israel have been acting upon their collective
agenda to destabilize it. Besides, after the shift of the Great Game from
Central Asia to Pakistan (Balochistan), the country has become special target of
the American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad which are in collaboration in
supporting various terror-related attacks in various cities, including
separatist elements in Balochistan province.
In this context, in the recent past, new wave of terrorism in Pakistan, killed
several innocent people, while various terrorist outfits, particularly the
Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS, ISIL), and the affiliated
faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Jamaat-ur-Ahrar (TTP-JA also known as JuA) claimed responsibility for these
brutal acts. TTP based in Afghanistan has its connections with ISIL and other
terrorist organizations and affiliated terror groups, including Baloch
separatist elements, and all these outfits are promoting the anti-Pakistan
agenda of the foreign entities against Pakistan. As part of the double game,
CIA, RAW, Mossad and Afghan intelligence agency, National Directorate of
Security (NDS) which are in collaboration, are using these terror outfits in
weakening Pakistan and especially Balochistan in order to fulfill the covert
strategic aims of the US-led India and Israel against Pakistan, China, Russia
and Iran.
At this juncture, Pakistan is also facing multi-faceted crises and challenges
like corruption, soaring prices, energy-shortage, unemployment, crimes, lack of
health facilities, and dependence upon the US-led developed countries, IMF and
World Bank for financial aid.
Notably, present drastic situation cannot be comprehended by the general masses
and even the political leaders who abruptly change their opinion. Therefore,
they become unintentional victim of the external plotters who succeed in
creating a rift particularly between the political groups, divided on ethnic and
linguistic lines. These foreign enemies also seek to create a division between
the political leaders and the Armed Forces of the country.
At this critical moment, the Pakistan Day demands selfless national unity
practically, instead of verbal statements. This significant day emphasizes that
our political leaders must pledge that they will not manipulate their regional
and provincial differences at the cost of the national interests so as to grab
political power. In this respect, a blind dedication to one’s own race, tribe
and creed should not be allowed to create hatred in one group against the other.
They must avoid exploiting present thorny issues in order to increase their
vote-bank at the cost of the integration of the country.
Selfless unity demands that if any controversy arises among the politicians, it
can better be settled in consonance with the constitution, law and mutual
understanding of the government and political parties.
In this connection, in order to castigate the conspiracy of the external enemies
against the integrity of the country, our political leaders, media and human
rights groups must also stop manipulating any crisis against Pakistan Army and
ISI whose image are deliberately being tarnished by the external plotters
through a continued propaganda campaign.
True and selfless unity against the foreign enemies requires that our rulers and
leaders of other political parties must create national cohesion among various
segments of society. Especially, our electronic media should give a matching
response to malicious propaganda of the US-led some Western countries, including
India and Israel which are distorting the image of Pakistan, its Army and ISI.
Especially, on this very day, media must also highlight the national heroes and
their efforts, services and sacrifices, rendered for Pakistan and to project
soft image of Pakistan by showing tourism sights of the county etc.
Nonetheless, at this crucial time, Pakistan’s survival lies in selfless national
unity and strong cohesion as at present, even a layman can note that our country
is in chaos and it seems as if there is a “war of all against all” in the sense
of ‘Hobbesian state of nature.”
On the occasion of Pakistan Day, we must follow the essence of the Pakistan
Resolution in real terms by displaying selfless unity in practical terms, which
is not possible unless the government, the opposition leaders, civil societies
and media owners, including all other segments of society pledge to sign a
charter of integration which is very necessary to pull the country out of the
ongoing serious crises and threats.