By organising the two-day Lahore convention through Hafiz Sayeed and his Jihadi organizations of LeT and JuD, Pakistan wants to demonstrate that the people of Pakistan are not happy with the way the events have taken place in Kashmir.
Hafiz Sayeed, the chief of Jammat-ud-Dawa, had convened a two-day convention at Lahore on December 5 and 6. And he claimed to have paid 50 lakhs Pakistani rupees for special trains to transport supporters from all over Pakistan, like Karachi, Hyderabad (Sind), to Lahore. Apart from special trains, hundreds of buses were said to have been arranged to transport the people from various cities of Pakistan to Lahore. Hafiz Sayeed claimed that the rally was meant to promote unity in Pakistan and spread a message of solidarity and unity against India for its alleged efforts to destabilise Pakistan "through terrorism and sectarianism" whatever they meant. Sayeed said that his organisation would continue to highlight "India's atrocities (in Kashmir)".
It is a well known fact that, right from the time of the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008 that Lashkar-e-Toiba and its twin organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa are proxies of Pakistan army and the ISI, with the full backing of the Pakistani Government itself.
By talking about "India's atrocities" in Kashmir, it is obvious that a large turnout of people exercising their votes in the ongoing elections, ignoring the call of pro-Pakistani elements, both within Kashmir and outside, has come as a big disappointment to Pakistani Government and its proxies. By organising the two-day convention through Hafiz Sayeed and his Jihadi organisations, Pakistan wants to demonstrate that the people of Pakistan are not happy with the way the events have taken place in Kashmir.
It may be recalled that both Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa have been specifically mentioned by the US Government as violent terrorist organisations allied with Al Qaida, as well as Haqqani's Talibans. Moreover, the US had also announced a bounty of $ 10 million for viable evidence against Hafiz Sayeed. A spokesman of US Government had also said that any assistance given to Hafiz Sayeed or his organisations would be termed as violation of the UN Security Council's Resolutions.
On an appeal by Hafiz Sayeed, the Punjab High Court in Pakistan has directed the Pakistani Government to take up with the US Government and get the $10 million bounty cancelled.
The Pentagon of the Unites States had come out with a report in October that militants in Pakistan continued to infiltrate into Afghanistan and India with a view to destabilising Afghanistan and India. Mac Miller, former Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff, had told the US Congress that Pakistan's ISI and Army were backing Lashkar-e-Toiba which had attacked Indian Consulate in Herat. The attack against Mumbai in November 2008 was an ISI backed Lashkar-e-Toiba operation which was planned at great length and carried out causing as many as 166 deaths and scores injured. The arrest of one of the perpetrators, Ajmal Kasab, was a lucky-break for the security forces, who were able to bring out all the details regarding the Lashkar-e-Toiba's involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Ajmal Kasab was prosecuted and sentenced to death and he was subsequently hanged. On India's insistence, Pakistan made a pretence of launching prosecution against the suspects involved in the Mumbai attack, but nothing has been done so far and it was all a mere charade on the part of Pakistan.
The attacks on LoC by the Pakistani troops as well as Pakistani backed infiltrators from Pak Occupied Kashmir inflicted severe casualties on several CRPF men manning the Indian posts.
The Pakistani infiltrators also carried out an attack in Srinagar itself on December 5 resulting in the death of as many as 13 persons which included CRPF men manning the posts in Srinagar localities.
And now, Pakistan and the ISI backed the Sayeed rally with finance and organization. The factors, which seem to have led the Pakistan Army and its ISI into organising the Lahore rally, are the ongoing elections in the J&K, which have gone off well with good turnout, much to the chagrin of Pakistan and its terror outfits. Sayeed termed the Kashmir elections as sham and asked his followers to help Kashmiris in their struggle to get freedom from India. He also called upon the Jihadists to adopt course of Ghaznavi and Ghauri against India.
Moreover, in Kathmandu, Prime Minister Modi did not have one to one discussion on Indo-Pak affairs, nor did Modi make any move in that direction. Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, had said that since India had called off the Foreign Secretaries level talks, it was for India to make the first move and suggest bi-lateral discussions between India and Pakistan.
Modi did not oblige and ignored Nawaz Sharif, except for a formal hand shake at the time of the Kathmandu conference along with all other leaders of SAARC countries.
US President Obama has now been invited as Chief Guest on the Republic Day next year. This visit may lead to Indo-US strategic discussions and the possible emergence of an agreed possible strategic protocol.
The National Security Guard (NSG) Chief issued a warning on October 16 that terror outfits like Al Qaida, Lashkar-e-Toiba and the West Asian based ISIS could all join hands and launch a multicity multiple attacks on India. The NSG Chief also termed the 2008 Mumbai carnage as "just a curtain raiser".
Naval Chief Admiral R.K. Dhovan addressed a press conference on December 4 and said that the dynamics of maritime security had changed, increasing threat to Indian maritime borders. The Naval Chief went on to say that there were as many as 2.5 lakh fishing boats in the sea and the possibility of terrorists commandeering a ship to carry out attacks on the coastal cities in the country had to be viewed seriously.
In the context of the serious warnings issued by the NSG chief and the warning by Indian Naval Chief, the Lahore rally need to be taken note of seriously. The multiple attacks carried out by the proxies of Pakistani army at Uri sector and elsewhere along the LoC, as well as the task carried out in more than one place in Srinagar itself, causing several casualties of army men, as well as civilians on December 5, should be taken as a dress rehearsal by Pakistani army and its proxies like LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
At the round-table organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs and The Tribune at Sapru House on December 2, the entire gamut of India's security affairs was discussed, with J&K Governor N.N. Vohra making a perceptive inaugural speech. The need for managing national security by promoting trust and mutual understanding between the Centre and the States was emphasised by him.
It may be recalled that an important proposal for setting up a National Counter Terrorism Centre was put forth by the former Home Minister P. Chidambaram at a conference organised by Home Ministry and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and attended by the DGPs/IGPs of all the States. Unfortunately, this important proposal did not meet with the concurrence of the States and the proposal is still very much at the discussion stage. India now has a National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval, with IB back ground, and he is eminently suited to work out the security issues.
(The writer is an Advisor to Observer Research Foundation and a former Governor of States and ex-director of Intelligence Bureau)
Courtesy: The Tribune
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