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In 2017, the European Foundation for South Asia Studies [EFSAS] also confirmed that “Apart from training and funding the terrorist organizations, the ISI [Pakistan army’s spy agency] has fundamentally altered the dimensions of the conflict in Kashmir by transforming it to a movement being carried out by foreign militants on Pan-Islamic religious terms.” Two years later, the European Union also stressed on the need for Pakistan to “continue addressing terrorism including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for such attacks.”
Fountainhead of Terrorism
When he stated that “Terrorism is not something that is being conducted in dark corners of Pakistan; it's done in broad daylight,” India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wasn’t revealing a secret but merely stating something already known to the international community. Didn’t US President Donald Trump say the same very thing in his 2018 post on Twitter [now X] stating that "They [Pakistan’s government and army] give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan”?
But Trump isn’t the first one to expose sponsorship of terrorist groups by the Pakistan army.
Way back in 2002, President George W Bush had told media persons that, "I think it's very important for President Musharraf to make a clear statement to the world that he intends to crack down on terror.” The then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had also warned Pakistan that "The very strong feeling in the international community is that people want to see the circumstances brought about where dialogue and the political process can take the place of extremism and terrorism."
In 2017, the European Foundation for South Asia Studies [EFSAS] also confirmed that “Apart from training and funding the terrorist organizations, the ISI [Pakistan army’s spy agency] has fundamentally altered the dimensions of the conflict in Kashmir by transforming it to a movement being carried out by foreign militants on Pan-Islamic religious terms.” Two years later, the European Union also stressed on the need for Pakistan to “continue addressing terrorism including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for such attacks.”
Tokenism and Selective Approach
On the one hand, the international community’s passionate endorsement of the inescapable need for concerted action against terrorism and creation of The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism [UNOCT] in June 2017 through a UN General Assembly Resolution to combat terrorism at the global, regional, and national levels is a reassuring development. However, while the whole world appears to be one on the need for combating terror, the international community regrettably doesn't walk its talk.
On its part, Washington does deserve due credit for taking down several high profile terrorists belonging to Al Qaeda, Daesh/Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the course of its global war on terror. However, its discernable selectivity while dealing with Pakistan for sponsoring and sheltering terrorists reeks of motivated selectivity.
The fact that the US kept Islamabad completely in the dark regarding Operation Neptune Spear launched to eliminate Osama bin Laden staying in Abbottabad clearly indicates that it was aware that the ISI was complicit in arranging this ‘safe-house’ for the 9/11 mastermind. Yet it didn't take any action against Islamabad for providing refuge to the world's most wanted terrorist.
Conversely, even after Laden was tracked down to a compound just a stone’s throw from the Pakistan Military Academy, Washington continued to treat Pakistan as a “major non-NATO ally” in its war on terror. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 persons [including six American nationals] were killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] terrorists, Washington announced a $ 10 million bounty on its mastermind Hafiz Saeed under the Rewards for Justice Programme.
This document mentions that “The United States continues to seek information on Saeed because the Pakistani judicial system has released convicted LeT leaders and operatives in the past,” and this unambiguously confirms that Washington has no faith whatsoever in the sincerity of its major ally in the global war on terror. Yet it keeps overlooking Pakistan's unending perfidy.
An Unrepentant Terrorist Sponsor
Perhaps it’s the international community’s lack of meaningful action against states using terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy that’s emboldened Pakistan to openly accept and even flaunt its links with proscribed terrorist groups. A few examples:
In 2009, the then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari confessed that “Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralised but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives.”
In 2015 TV interview, President Pervez Musharraf admitted that in the 1990s, “Lashkar-e-Taiba and 11 or 12 other [terrorist] organisations were formed. We supported them and trained them as they were fighting in Kashmir at the cost of their lives.”
In 2019, Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Imran Khan while on a trip to the US revealed that “when you talk about militant groups, we still have about 30,000-40,000 armed people who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir,"
Earlier this month, when asked about Islamabad’s long history of supporting terrorist outfits, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif while accepting the same tried to evade complicity by saying "We have been doing this dirty work for the US and the West, including Britain, for three decades."
Just the other day, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari confirmed Asif’s revelation by saying, “I don’t think that it’s a secret that Pakistan has a past as far as extremist groups are concerned.”
Ultimate Proof of Rawalpindi’s Perfidy
Islamabad has consistently denied any link with terrorists and rejects any evidence furnished thereof as inadequate. However, the airstrikes against nine terrorist centres/ facilities carried out by the Indian armed forces as part of Operation Sindoor has finally provided clinching evidence of Rawalpindi’s ongoing romance with terrorist groups.
A few irrefutable facts that have emerged after the Operation Sindoor airstrikes on terrorist facilities:
Abdul Rauf Azhar, the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammad [JeM] chief Masood Azhar is amongst the five high profile terrorists killed. He had masterminded the 1999 IC 814 hijack that saw the release of three terrorists including Al Qaeda operative Omar Saeed Sheikh who was subsequently involved in the kidnapping and gruesome decapitation of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Photographs of this event show US designated global terrorist and senior LeT commander Hafiz Abdul Rafiq leading the funeral prayers of the terrorists killed in the airstrikes. A large turnout of Pakistan army officers and soldiers in uniform is clearly visible in the background.
Coffins of the terrorists were draped with Pakistan’s national flag, a protocol reserved only for state funerals accorded to members of the armed forces and high ranking dignitaries.
The funeral of terrorists were attended by Lt General Fayyaz Hussain Shah, Corps Commander IV Corps, Lahore, Maj Gen Rap Imran Sartaj, Brig Mohammad Furkan Shabbir, Dr Usman Anwar, Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Malik Sohaib Ahmed Bherth, Member of Punjab’s Provincial Assembly and several other members of Pakistan army and civilian dignitaries.
International Reaction
The international community has welcomed the end of current hostilities between India and Pakistan. However, its stoic silence on the perverse public display of solidarity exhibited by the Pakistan army and government officials with the deceased terrorists is astonishing. But then, the counter argument is that why should the international community worry about something that isn’t directly affecting it?
Overlooking the unabashed institutional support being provided to terrorists by the Pakistan army is tantamount to mainstreaming terrorism, and keeping silent on this grave issue is what gives Islamabad the nerve to accord a state funeral to terrorists who have the blood of innocents on their hands.
Providential Coincidence
When the international community failed to come together and consider instituting consequential actions against Pakistan for sponsoring the terrorists who perpetrated the cold blooded massacre of 26 tourists in Pahalgam, J&K on April 22, New Delhi decided to take things into its own hand and dispense justice by itself. Operation Sindoor, which was accordingly launched on May 7, was a total success and the Indian armed forces achieved the national objective of inflicting a telling blow to Pakistan’s terror infrastructure.
May 7 also marks the birth anniversary of India’s Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who penned down the popular patriotic song titled ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ [Walk Alone], 120 years ago. The opening lines of this inspiring composition reads, "If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone." And India did exactly this on Tagore’s 164th birth anniversary by singlehandedly pummeling nine terrorist facilities both in Pakistan occupied J&K [PoJK] and mainland Pakistan.
Isn’t this a providential coincidence?
Email;------------------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com
In 2017, the European Foundation for South Asia Studies [EFSAS] also confirmed that “Apart from training and funding the terrorist organizations, the ISI [Pakistan army’s spy agency] has fundamentally altered the dimensions of the conflict in Kashmir by transforming it to a movement being carried out by foreign militants on Pan-Islamic religious terms.” Two years later, the European Union also stressed on the need for Pakistan to “continue addressing terrorism including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for such attacks.”
Fountainhead of Terrorism
When he stated that “Terrorism is not something that is being conducted in dark corners of Pakistan; it's done in broad daylight,” India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wasn’t revealing a secret but merely stating something already known to the international community. Didn’t US President Donald Trump say the same very thing in his 2018 post on Twitter [now X] stating that "They [Pakistan’s government and army] give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan”?
But Trump isn’t the first one to expose sponsorship of terrorist groups by the Pakistan army.
Way back in 2002, President George W Bush had told media persons that, "I think it's very important for President Musharraf to make a clear statement to the world that he intends to crack down on terror.” The then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had also warned Pakistan that "The very strong feeling in the international community is that people want to see the circumstances brought about where dialogue and the political process can take the place of extremism and terrorism."
In 2017, the European Foundation for South Asia Studies [EFSAS] also confirmed that “Apart from training and funding the terrorist organizations, the ISI [Pakistan army’s spy agency] has fundamentally altered the dimensions of the conflict in Kashmir by transforming it to a movement being carried out by foreign militants on Pan-Islamic religious terms.” Two years later, the European Union also stressed on the need for Pakistan to “continue addressing terrorism including clear and sustained actions targeting not only all UN-listed transnational terrorist groups but also individuals claiming responsibility for such attacks.”
Tokenism and Selective Approach
On the one hand, the international community’s passionate endorsement of the inescapable need for concerted action against terrorism and creation of The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism [UNOCT] in June 2017 through a UN General Assembly Resolution to combat terrorism at the global, regional, and national levels is a reassuring development. However, while the whole world appears to be one on the need for combating terror, the international community regrettably doesn't walk its talk.
On its part, Washington does deserve due credit for taking down several high profile terrorists belonging to Al Qaeda, Daesh/Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the course of its global war on terror. However, its discernable selectivity while dealing with Pakistan for sponsoring and sheltering terrorists reeks of motivated selectivity.
The fact that the US kept Islamabad completely in the dark regarding Operation Neptune Spear launched to eliminate Osama bin Laden staying in Abbottabad clearly indicates that it was aware that the ISI was complicit in arranging this ‘safe-house’ for the 9/11 mastermind. Yet it didn't take any action against Islamabad for providing refuge to the world's most wanted terrorist.
Conversely, even after Laden was tracked down to a compound just a stone’s throw from the Pakistan Military Academy, Washington continued to treat Pakistan as a “major non-NATO ally” in its war on terror. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 persons [including six American nationals] were killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] terrorists, Washington announced a $ 10 million bounty on its mastermind Hafiz Saeed under the Rewards for Justice Programme.
This document mentions that “The United States continues to seek information on Saeed because the Pakistani judicial system has released convicted LeT leaders and operatives in the past,” and this unambiguously confirms that Washington has no faith whatsoever in the sincerity of its major ally in the global war on terror. Yet it keeps overlooking Pakistan's unending perfidy.
An Unrepentant Terrorist Sponsor
Perhaps it’s the international community’s lack of meaningful action against states using terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy that’s emboldened Pakistan to openly accept and even flaunt its links with proscribed terrorist groups. A few examples:
In 2009, the then President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari confessed that “Militants and extremists emerged on the national scene and challenged the state not because the civil bureaucracy was weakened and demoralised but because they were deliberately created and nurtured as a policy to achieve short-term tactical objectives.”
In 2015 TV interview, President Pervez Musharraf admitted that in the 1990s, “Lashkar-e-Taiba and 11 or 12 other [terrorist] organisations were formed. We supported them and trained them as they were fighting in Kashmir at the cost of their lives.”
In 2019, Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Imran Khan while on a trip to the US revealed that “when you talk about militant groups, we still have about 30,000-40,000 armed people who have been trained and fought in some part of Afghanistan or Kashmir,"
Earlier this month, when asked about Islamabad’s long history of supporting terrorist outfits, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif while accepting the same tried to evade complicity by saying "We have been doing this dirty work for the US and the West, including Britain, for three decades."
Just the other day, Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari confirmed Asif’s revelation by saying, “I don’t think that it’s a secret that Pakistan has a past as far as extremist groups are concerned.”
Ultimate Proof of Rawalpindi’s Perfidy
Islamabad has consistently denied any link with terrorists and rejects any evidence furnished thereof as inadequate. However, the airstrikes against nine terrorist centres/ facilities carried out by the Indian armed forces as part of Operation Sindoor has finally provided clinching evidence of Rawalpindi’s ongoing romance with terrorist groups.
A few irrefutable facts that have emerged after the Operation Sindoor airstrikes on terrorist facilities:
Abdul Rauf Azhar, the brother of Jaish-e-Mohammad [JeM] chief Masood Azhar is amongst the five high profile terrorists killed. He had masterminded the 1999 IC 814 hijack that saw the release of three terrorists including Al Qaeda operative Omar Saeed Sheikh who was subsequently involved in the kidnapping and gruesome decapitation of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Photographs of this event show US designated global terrorist and senior LeT commander Hafiz Abdul Rafiq leading the funeral prayers of the terrorists killed in the airstrikes. A large turnout of Pakistan army officers and soldiers in uniform is clearly visible in the background.
Coffins of the terrorists were draped with Pakistan’s national flag, a protocol reserved only for state funerals accorded to members of the armed forces and high ranking dignitaries.
The funeral of terrorists were attended by Lt General Fayyaz Hussain Shah, Corps Commander IV Corps, Lahore, Maj Gen Rap Imran Sartaj, Brig Mohammad Furkan Shabbir, Dr Usman Anwar, Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Malik Sohaib Ahmed Bherth, Member of Punjab’s Provincial Assembly and several other members of Pakistan army and civilian dignitaries.
International Reaction
The international community has welcomed the end of current hostilities between India and Pakistan. However, its stoic silence on the perverse public display of solidarity exhibited by the Pakistan army and government officials with the deceased terrorists is astonishing. But then, the counter argument is that why should the international community worry about something that isn’t directly affecting it?
Overlooking the unabashed institutional support being provided to terrorists by the Pakistan army is tantamount to mainstreaming terrorism, and keeping silent on this grave issue is what gives Islamabad the nerve to accord a state funeral to terrorists who have the blood of innocents on their hands.
Providential Coincidence
When the international community failed to come together and consider instituting consequential actions against Pakistan for sponsoring the terrorists who perpetrated the cold blooded massacre of 26 tourists in Pahalgam, J&K on April 22, New Delhi decided to take things into its own hand and dispense justice by itself. Operation Sindoor, which was accordingly launched on May 7, was a total success and the Indian armed forces achieved the national objective of inflicting a telling blow to Pakistan’s terror infrastructure.
May 7 also marks the birth anniversary of India’s Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, who penned down the popular patriotic song titled ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ [Walk Alone], 120 years ago. The opening lines of this inspiring composition reads, "If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone." And India did exactly this on Tagore’s 164th birth anniversary by singlehandedly pummeling nine terrorist facilities both in Pakistan occupied J&K [PoJK] and mainland Pakistan.
Isn’t this a providential coincidence?
Email;------------------------------nileshkunwar.56@gmail.com
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