JK News Today Commentary
“BARRICADING the capital , using cargo container to block roads , closing highways , breaking up protest rallies, banning public gatherings, arresting opposition supporters, raiding homes of opposition leaders, policing the media, orchestrating internet outages, suspending mobile network services and instituting cases against political opponents. That being the state of play today, what does it all indicate? It speaks of a siege mentality on the part of the government and establishment — a state in which they see themselves in constant danger and fearful all the time of being overwhelmed by opponents. This urges them to take strong-arm measures, not occasionally but incessantly.” This is observation about Pakistan and its state of affairs as on November 25 , 2024- the day when Pakistan’s main opposition party – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf or PTI- is planning to march onto capital city of Islamabad. This has not been penned by any anti-Pakistan writer but a prominent journalist and diplomat of Pakistan – Maleeha Lodhi in Dawn newspaper in her weekly column on Monday.
There is no hidden irony in it . This is the same very Pakistan that has launched a relentless campaign against India , particularly with regard to Jammu and Kashmir , accusing Delhi of not allowing the Opposition to raise its voice on Kashmir . It imagines things in Jammu and Kashmir where all rights are available , the people have an elected government and the opposition has right to protest , as a reflection of its own wrongdoings .
Maleeha Lodhi is no friend of India . She has written many, many toxically critical pieces about the country . She has been a cheerleader of anti-India voices on Kashmir, and when she comments about her own country and the way the hybrid government there has killed all dissent and put the economic and political stability to grave risk by such actions , it offers a glimpse of the gravity of things in Pakistan.
Our point is simple : instead of wasting its time in encouraging and exporting terrorism into Jammu and Kashmir in its bid to stake a non-existent claim on the territory , by attempting to incite few elements , it should focus on its internal situation which is getting bad to worse each day. Two of its provinces – Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – are witnessing extremist violence on daily basis in which its civilians and security personnel are getting killed by dozens on daily basis . The government and the military establishment is clueless . It has no plans and strategy to neutralize the extremist violence , except for blaming Afghanistan . This cannot be a cover for its own failures .
Pakistan , the history is filled with so many chapters , was never a politically stable state .Its politics is rooted in who is able to stoke flames of ideological and religious, and sectarian conflicts more than. Others . In that process, the political groups have aligned with the terror groups of one hue or the other . As a result the politics in Pakistan has orientation of terrorism and violence . The military is no exception . It is guilty of giving birth to the terror groups more than any other military force in the failed nations across the world .
India has genuine concerns about the situation in Pakistan , though it doesn’t comment as much on the state of affairs in the neighbouring country . The volatile situation across the border disturbs the equilibrium of stability in South Asia . The ugly developments in Pakistan have its political and economic impact on Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which constitutionally and legally is the Indian territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan .
Pakistan’s deteriorating relations with Afghanistan and Iran too have wide impact on India as Delhi is having strategic relationship with the two countries. India is interested in the stability of Afghanistan . India has invested a great deal in the infrastructural development in Afghanistan and is making all efforts to make it behave as per the required international norms. With Iran , of course, India has relations ranging over centuries.
One of the most important issues that concerns India-Pakistan relations is Delhi’s clear stand that it would have no dialogue with Islamabad unless the latter rolls back its terror machinery from Jammu and Kashmir not only from the physical geography but also the cyberspace. Pakistan has not taken even a single step in that direction . There is a deadlock, and this deadlock can end only when Pakistan understands realities and accept that “ Kashmir dispute” is over, and the only area that remains to eb discussed and decided upon is the vacation of territories of Jammu and Kashmir under its illegal occupation . But can a country roiled by its multiple internal conflicts and recurring violence do that ? Nobody is making bets on Pakistan – a failed state of barricades .
