India at its own game

Patron Lt Gen (Retd) SARDAR FS LODI sees India playing a familiar anti-Pakistan role.

On 11th September 2001 the two 110- storied towers of the World Trade Centre in New York were attacked and destroyed along with the Pentagon building in Washington which was partially damaged. It was a senseless act of carnage perpetuated in the most heinous and barbaric manner. For the first time the terrorists hijacked large commercial aircraft with passengers on board and used them as weapons. These aircraft were flown into the targeted building. It is estimated that over 6,000 civilians lost their lives and about 30 billion dollars worth of property was damaged.

The United States government suspects that Osama bin Laden a former Saudi Arabian citizen now living in Afghanistan and his organization, the Al-Qaida to have master-minded the attacks in New York and Washington. The US has formed a coalition to fight international terrorism and prevent further attacks. Pakistan has joined the coalition and agreed to provide “unstinted” support. The United States has requested for intelligence sharing, overflight facilities and logistic support for its operations against Afghanistan.

While the world attention is focused on Afghanistan and the war against terrorism India is following its own agenda as it suddenly finds itself outside the glare of American support. During the Clinton administration India made every effort to entice the United States, perhaps with the promises of “containing China” and providing a large lucrative market for American goods. There were also suggestions that India shared a common goal with the west of preventing the spread of “Muslim Fundamentalism” in the region. India also assured the United States and other oil consuming nations that she could ensure the safe and uninterrupted flow of oil through the Gulf, by employing her strong Navy.

This cosying up to the United States was finally reward by a five-day visit to India by President Clinton, during his South Asian tour. The American President in stark contrast spent only a few hours in Pakistan. India gloated unabashedly over the success of her foreign policy. She had finally been able to befriend the only super power while still retaining her close ties with Russia. India felt that she had now been acknowledged as the regional power in the area which entitled her to forge a permanent strategic partnership with the United States. She was also desiring a permanent seat on the Security Council.

But the world changed after the tragic events of 11 September, which required new alliances to face the new threats. Overnight, Pakistan was thrust into the position of a front line state and became the key ally of the United States. According to a foreign correspondent any discussions that India and the Bush administration may have been pursuing, came to an abrupt halt. It was felt by the newspaper community that to the utter chagrin of India, Pakistan was again in the driving seat.

In an effort to prevent any co-operation with Pakistan, India immediately offered the use of her military and air basis to the United States. “India’s obscene haste” was noticed and commented upon by foreign defence analysts. India’s well-known author Arundhati Roy had this to say in an article published by the “Guardian” newspaper of London in its issue of September 29, 2001. “Today, as some of us watch in horror, the Indian government is furiously gyrating its hips, begging the US to set up its base in India rather than Pakistan”.

When these efforts failed India sent Jaswant Singh post-haste to Washington to change the course of events. Jaswant Singh was holding two important ministries of Defence and External Affairs. To reinforce the effort Brijesh Mishra the national security adviser who was in Moscow was asked to drop what he was doing and rush to Washington. India was offered some “face saving” bonhomies but nothing substantial. In her frustration and haste India overlooked the fact that her importance had suddenly waned as she was not required, at least in the immediate future to “contain China” as China was part of the coalition against international terrorism.

While some asked, “Is India in danger of losing out to Pakistan in the great game” the government of India adopted a new approach. All efforts, government and non-government were now combined to prove that a link exists between Pakistan, the freedom struggle in Indian-occupied Kashmir and Osama bin Laden, which would damn Pakistan. Mr. L. K. Advani the Indian Home Minister went to the extent of saying in an interview conducted by Karan Thapar that every Mujahideen killed by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir was carrying a photograph of Osama bin Laden. The new logo of some of the Indian TV stations is to show the burning towers of the World Trade Centre in New York followed by the Indian airplane hijacked to Kandahar and the car bomb in Srinagar the summer Capital of Indian-held Kashmir.

Most of the discussions that take place on Indian TV networks concern Pakistan in one form or another. It is amazing to see how obsessed India is with her small neighbour. Some retired generals of the Indian army and former Indian High Commissioners to Pakistan took it upon themselves to chart the course of future events in South Asia. Some of these gentlemen advocated in all seriousness that this was the time to attack and capture, Azad Kashmir while Pakistan was occupied with the situation in Afghanistan and was having problems within the country and the Army as well. As India had already moved extra troops in occupied-Kashmir and shifted fighter aircraft to forward basis, the suggestions on the TV networks could well have been officially motivated to gauge world public opinion.

To keep the pot boiling India resorted to heavy firing across the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir and along the working boundary near Sialkot. The civilian population along the border villages were the main targets and suffered heavy casualties. President General Musharraf’s telephone call to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee helped in defusing the tense situation somewhat.

Since the 11th September attacks in the US and American bombings in Afghanistan India has been planning to take some ground action against Azad Kashmir. India’s Deputy Home Minister I.D. Swami said in Srinagar on October 3, that military strikes on alleged guerilla camps in Azad Kashmir were one of the options in New Delhi’s arsenal to combat the “insurgency” in occupied Kashmir. “Striking ‘terrorist’ camps in PoK (Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir) has always been a possibility. This has been one of the options”, he said.

For this purpose extra troops were inducted into Kashmir and fighter aircraft moved to forward basis. To provide valid reasons to attack Azad Kashmir under the prevailing international environment, a plane hijacking incident was created. The plan had to be abruptly abandoned and the Indian aircraft landed in New Delhi when it was pointed out that under the new rules a hijacked plane would be shot down if it entered Pakistan’s airspace. India had to face an embarrassing situation.

DAWN in its editorial of 13 October described the situation in the following words. “India has been peeved by the fact that, while Pakistan is now the focus of world attention, India has been sidelined and ignored. The hurt seems to be deeper because, even before anyone had asked for it, India had offered logistic support (and air basis) to the US-led coalition”. The paper went on to say, “India also seems frustrated over the world community’s refusal to link Islamabad to the terrorist attacks in the US and to see a parallel between what happened in New York and Washington and what has been going on in Kashmir over the last eleven years or so”. The paper concludes by saying: “one hopes New Delhi would not attempt any mischief while Islamabad and the world community are engaged in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan”.

With the rise in tension between the two countries President General Musharraf found it necessary to warn India when he said in a TV interview on 22 October. “India will be paid back in the same coin”, if it resorts to any “adventurism”. He said “we will teach them a lesson if they would try to do anything against Pakistan”. President Musharraf said this in the context of the movement forward of Indian troops and the rhetoric indulged in by Indian leadership during the last few weeks. When asked about US role in case India attacked Pakistan, President Musharraf said: “We should believe in our own strength and we should not expect others to help us in defending our country”.

Unfortunately the Indian Prime Minister and the Army Chief in Kashmir are again making threatening statements. On 31 October Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee while addressing a political rally warned President Pervez Musharraf not to take India’s patience for granted. This encouraged the Indian Army’s GOC-in-C Northern Command Lt. Gen R. K. Nanavatty to say in an obviously officially motivated statement that the Indian Army was prepared and would take military action against Pakistan if the need arose. The General went on to say somewhat ominously: “The nuclearisation of the sub-continent may have altered the situation, but space still exists for limited conventional operations”.

India is perhaps under the illusion that by conducting military operations against Azad Kashmir she could remain within the nuclear threshold and avoid a nuclear war. This is indeed the greatest military fallacy of present day times and should not be risked in South Asia where the bitterness runs deep. India should realise that it is her option to start a conventional operation, once that happens she loses the option to keep it confined to conventional means alone. That option would pass to the other side.

Differences between India and Pakistan can only be solved by a dialogue as President Musharraf has been urging for some time now. India has used brutal force to subdue the civilian population of Jammu and Kashmir and failed. She cannot hope to achieve peace by enlarging the scope of her military operations. It is better and wiser to return to the negotiating table and take the Agra process some steps further towards peace and amity.