Asif Haroon Raja
The US-NATO-CIA-Afghan regime-India have been continually casting aspersions on
the ISI that it is ‘intimately involved’ with the insurgency in Afghanistan and
is secretly aiding Afghan Taliban. They allege that but for ISI’s support; the
Taliban couldn’t have snatched the initiative from them and forced them to
withdraw. Although the allegation is baseless and unsubstantiated, for argument
sake if it is hypothesized that the ISI is involved, what is so odd about it and
why should it surprise NATO or the US? Why should it cause so much distress
since all the intelligence agencies of strategic partners housed in Kabul are
exactly involved in same kind of racket against Pakistan since 2002? While
Afghan Taliban have a superior cause of freeing their homeland from the clutches
of invaders, the US have no moral and legal justification to invade, destroy and
occupy a sovereign country.
The US and its allies are playing a double game with Pakistan which they all
declare as their strategic ally. While claiming to be friends fighting a common
war with common objective of defeating terrorism, they have been repeatedly
stabbing Pakistan to make it powerless. While the US has forbidden Pakistan to
maintain any sort of contact with Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, it is itself
striving hard to make Afghan Taliban agree to talk. To this end, Washington
agreed in 2011 to release high profile five Taliban leaders detained in
Guantanamo Bay since 2002 in return for release of an American soldier and
opening of a Taliban political office in Doha. Had the US not backtracked from
its commitment by adding new conditions, Doha initiative would have made good
progress by now. The US has asked Afghan regime, India, Germany, Turkey, UAE,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UK and France to convince the Taliban to renew talks
stalled in March 2012.
The US forgets that it forced Pakistan to betray its friendly Muslim neighbor by
ditching it and becoming a coalition member of aggressors. It is ISAF and ANA
that are fighting the Taliban since October 2001, while Pak Army is fighting
CIA-RAW created TTP in the northwest. The latter is funded, trained, equipped
and employed by CIA, RAW, Mossad and RAAM. Pakistan has sufficient evidence to
prove involvement of foreign agencies in FATA, Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Balochistan and Karachi. Up stuck from their main bases in Swat, Bajaur and
South Waziristan in 2009, the militants couldn’t have put up such determined
fights elsewhere without intimate support of foreign agencies. Maulana Fazlullah
and Maulvi Faqir led runaway militants have been accommodated in Kunar and
Nuristan provinces, the two safe havens for these militants. They have been
given the status of refugees and provided houses and rations. They receive
funds, training and motivational talks by CIA, RAW, RAAM and instigated to
launch cross border attacks and add to the problems of Pakistan. These
absconders are involved in cross border attacks in Mehmand, Bajaur, Dir and
Chitral since 2011.
Pakistan also has enough proofs of involvement of CIA, RAW, MI-6, RAAM and
Blackwater in Balochistan. These agencies are deeply involved in fomenting
Baloch insurgency which has now got converted into a separatist movement. All
the separatist Baloch leaders like Brahamdagh Bugti, Harbyar Marri, Daood
Suleiman and Dr Wahid Baloch are residing abroad duly patronized by agencies
inimical to Pakistan. BLA, BRA, BLUF are creations of these agencies. Till 2011,
Brahamdagh was residing in Kandahar supervising insurgency in Balochistan and is
now doing the same from Geneva. These banned groups have been blowing up gas
pipelines, electric grid stations, pylons, railway lines and attacking security
check posts, military convoys, passenger trains and buses. They are involved in
kidnappings for ransom and target killings. Non-locals particularly Punjabis and
pro-government elements are their favorite targets. Frontier Corps and Frontier
Constabulary responsible for maintaining law and order are targeted by these
banned terrorist groups. All attacks on security forces are proudly claimed by
BLA or BRA. Retaliatory actions by law enforcers’ are vociferously censured by
the US, West, India, NGOs, HRW and section of local media.
Foreign funded Lashkar-e-Jhangvi aligned with TTP and al-Qaeda is involved in
stoking sectarian war. RAW has a hand in Gilgit-Baltistan sectarian tensions as
well. RAW and CIA along with militant wings of three ruling political parties
are also actively involved in Karachi where the heinous practice of target
killings is going on for the last five years. Purpose is to bring the economic
activity in the economic hub center to a complete standstill.
Despite having learnt that the US was insincere and duplicitous and was heavily
leaning towards India, Pakistan has been providing full support to it. It had
placed its seaport, airports, four airbases and supply routes at the disposal of
ISAF without charging any fee. Pak security forces are fighting the US dictated
global war on terror against their own people relentlessly. Pakistan has offered
numerous sacrifices to fight the menace of war. It suffered exceptionally
serious losses in terms of human resource victims, devastation of valuable
property, impulsive political instability, bursting social disorder, divisive
mindset, and poor law and order situation leading to creation of threatening
environment filled with sense of fear and uncertainty in the country.
More than 40,000 innocent people lost their lives, while many were incapacitated
or rendered disabled. Security forces of Pakistan were made the direct target of
terrorism and their capacity to prevail upon the militants was frequently
challenged by its own citizens. Nearly 5000 fatalities and 15000 injuries
sustained by security forces is a clear proof that Pakistan played its part with
honesty and sincerity. This high figure of casualties surpasses combine figure
of ISAF comprising 48 countries. As against paltry sum of $10 billion received
from USA in the last ten years, Pakistan lost $70 billion. Its economy has
become bankrupt while social trauma is incalculable. Instead of recognizing
Pakistan’s sacrifices and sufferings it underwent and eulogizing the
constructive role it played in trying to cleanse the ugly mess created by the
sponsors of war, Pakistan has been maligned, distrusted and given a raw deal.
Despite all this Pakistan remained committed to the cause of fighting the menace
of terrorism and participated actively in war on terror to eliminate the
terrorists. Pak Army has continued to shed blood in the face of vile propaganda
by US print and electronic media. But for the shocking events in 2011, Pakistan
would have continued to do more without a whimper. Revelations which came to
light after the arrest of double murderer CIA agent Raymond Davis were enough to
jolt the security apparatus. Had he been allowed to be grilled by ISI, he would
have exposed the whole game plan of CIA, which has created a vast network in
Pakistan major urban centres. Our former Ambassador in Washington Hussein
Haqqani and Interior Minister Malik facilitated the establishment of CIA network
and Blackwater.
These shady outfits instead of hunting the terrorists directed all their
energies towards weakening and discrediting Pak Army and ISI and trying to
achieve the US principal goal of extracting the nuclear teeth of Pakistan and
thus making it a docile state at the mercy of India. Primary purpose of
conducting stealth attack in Abbottabad on 2 May 2011 was to damage the high
reputation of Pak Army/ISI and to create misgivings between the government and
the Army.
The US callously betrayed Pakistan and then remorselessly rejoiced the event by
demeaning Pakistan. It rubbed salt in the wounds of Pakistan by unleashing a
despicable propaganda soon after the attack and became more aggressive. Drone
war was further intensified. It forgot that if the Army/ISI had a hand in hiding
Osama Bin Laden, why did they arrest all the wanted al-Qaeda high-value leaders
with head money and promptly handed them over to USA. If today al-Qaeda has
become a non-entity in Afghanistan, the entire credit goes to Pak Army/ISI and
none else. Having given a crippling blow to the fighting ability of al-Qaeda, it
was inane to keep its chief in such a prominent place, with head money of $25
million, non-operational since December 2001 and a liability.
As if 2 May stab was not enough, the US knifed Pakistan again on 26 November.
After slaughtering 24 Pak soldiers in Mehmand Agency, it behaved as if nothing
unusual had happened. It didn’t give an assurance that Pakistan’s sovereignty
will not be violated again and is not ready to cease drone attacks. Unmindful
about Pakistan’s sufferings and security concerns, it only wants Pakistan to
continue fighting the war unremittingly and to keep American interests supreme.
It is desperate to quit Afghanistan but doesn’t want Pakistan to wind up the
war. With such crass and unjust attitude, and showing disregard to Pakistan’s
sacrifices, there is little hope for Pak-US business getting back to usual.