With Pakistan on the back foot, the time has come for New Delhi to make use of the aversion for jihadi groups in Pakistan over the Sehwan outrage. A carefully crafted approach to relations with Pakistan needs to be adopted. New Delhi should remain firm on issues of terrorism by reiterating that there can be no question of reverting to business as usual till our concerns on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India and Afghanistan are addressed”, says the author – G Parthasarathy.
Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an Ismaili Shia by birth, proudly proclaimed, just prior to Pakistan’s independence, that the country he founded on the basis of religion would not discriminate against any of its citizens on the basis of religion. While the eastern half of his country was divided on the basis of ethnicity in 1971, what remains of what he initially called a “moth-eaten” Pakistan, is now finding that religion could indeed tear the country apart. Born into a Shia family, Jinnah could well be regarded as a “kaffir” by many in today’s Pakistan. Extremist Wahhabi-oriented groups, who since the days of Gen Zia-ul-Haq have received extensive support from the army, regularly target and kill those who are Shias, or even Sunnis, who are Sufi in orientation.
The most revered Sufi shrine in Pakistan, where thousands of people of all sects and religions congregate and worship, is the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar at Sehwan, in northern Sindh. The shrine, built in 1356, was established in memory of the 13th century Sufi, Saint Syed Usman Marwandi, popularly known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, whose ancestors were devotees of the Imam Hussein, the Prophet’s grandson. Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, donated the shrine’s gold-plated main gate. For today’s jihadis in Pakistan, especially from groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that have received, or continue to receive ISI support, Sufi shrines are heretical, with its worshipers fit targets for elimination. This is precisely what happened on February 16, when a fanatical suicide bomber entered the shrine in the midst of prayers and triggered explosives, killing 88 devotees and wounding over 250.
Not surprisingly, Pakistan reacted by passing the blame to others for its incredible follies in strengthening “militant Islam”, ever since the days of the anti-Soviet jihad. This policy was followed by its backing of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the use of its “non-state actors” for its jihad in J&K and elsewhere in India. The TTP was a tool of the ISI used to wage jihad against the Americans and pro-government forces in Afghanistan, post 9/11. The situation in Pakistan changed when the army, led by the ubiquitous Gen Raheel Sharif, saw the TTP establishing a presence over large areas beyond its traditional habitat and launched large-scale operations against it. This was done without General Sharif’s bothering to secure parliamentary approval. These operations led to escalating violence and displacement of nearly a million Pashtuns from their tribal homes, with many seeking refuge in Afghanistan. Thus, while the ISI continues to back the Afghan Taliban, the army is bogged down in a continuing conflict with the TTP, some of whose cadres operate across the disputed Durand Line, separating Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The fact that Pakistan is still living in a world of delusion was evident from the reaction both by the government and the army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, to the Sehwan attack. In an effort to establish that no Pakistani groups were involved, the ISIS and then an allegedly Afghanistan-based group – Jamat-ul-Ahrar – were blamed by Pakistan for the outrage. Indiscriminate attacks against alleged terrorist locations in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan immediately followed the attack. Over 100 alleged “terrorists” were killed within hours, with the army also mounting attacks on alleged terrorist “hideouts” along the border. Officials from the Afghan embassy in Islamabad were summoned to the army’s GHQ and given a list of 76 “terrorists” said to be living in Afghanistan.
General Bajwa also called the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen John Nicholson, warning that continuing attacks across the border were testing Pakistan’s policy of “cross-border restraint”. PM Nawaz Sharif’s adviser, Sartaj Aziz, spoke in similar terms to Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar. A logical question would be whether Pakistan has done anything to prevent its jihadis, including the Taliban, LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammed, crossing the Durand Line, the LoC in Kashmir, or the International Border with India? Is it not a fact that groups once nurtured by the ISI are executing terrorist attacks within Pakistan?
With Pakistan on the back foot, the time has come for New Delhi to make use of the aversion for jihadi groups in Pakistan over the Sehwan outrage. A carefully crafted approach to relations with Pakistan needs to be adopted. New Delhi should remain firm on issues of terrorism by reiterating that there can be no question of reverting to business as usual till our concerns on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in India and Afghanistan are addressed. The cross-LoC strikes in September last year have set the precedent for India to appropriately respond to attacks on its soil by crossing established borders. Pakistan should be left in no doubt that it can no longer take Indian forbearance for granted.
The recent invitations to India and Iran from Russia to attend talks in Moscow, along with China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, on promoting political reconciliation in Afghanistan suggest that there is growing realization that appeasing Pakistan on any proposed “Afghan led” peace process is counterproductive. India would do well to use these developments for stepping up economic and military assistance to Afghanistan and expediting the operationalization of the Chabahar Port. Moreover, it would only be logical for adequate time to be given to the Trump administration to evolve its policies on dealing with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Afghanistan and India.
Pakistan should be reminded that it has not fulfilled its commitment made by PM Sharif at Ufa for talks between DGMOs of the two armies to address issues of cross-border terrorism. The growing sentiments in Pakistan against the attack on its most revered Sufi shrine should be taken note of. The existing agreements with Pakistan on group tourism and visits to shrines could be utilized to promote visits of Pakistani pilgrims to Sufi shrines in India, together with visits by musical troupes devoted to Sufi music. New Delhi has done well to facilitate participation by Indian writers in the Karachi Literary Festival. Reaching out to people getting disillusioned with Wahhabi extremism and violence in Pakistan, while standing firm on terrorism, enhances our credibility internationally.
(The author is a career diplomat. He was High Commissioner of India to Pakistan in 1998-2000)
