By Sajjad Shaukat
On December 31, 2014,
Indian agencies orchestrated a terror boat drama to defame Pakistan in the
world. In this respect, Indian media and high officials unfolded the drama on
the New Year’s eve by allegedly reporting that a Pakistani fishing boat as a Pakistan-based
group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was intercepted by Indian Coast Guards, some 356
km. off the coast of Porebandar, Gujarat. Taking a new twist which overturned
Indian aspersions in accusing Pakistan, the Indian government had claimed that
it had foiled another 26/11-type attack of Mumbai.
As per Indian Coast
Guard IG, K R Nautiyal, an operation was undertaken on a precise intelligence
tip and boat was ordered to stop, but it did not comply and sped away.
Propagating that Pakistani terrorists had been apprehended by the Indian Coast
Guard on the high seas and, after a long chase, when warning shots had been
fired, the ‘terrorists’ had blown themselves up.
Indian Coast Guard
officials stated that no body or debris was found due to bad weather. Moreover,
it was also stated that search was on for another boat which they fear was in
communication with the capsized boat.
The Pakistani media said
that the Indian media was playing up the incident without establishing proper
links to terrorism. The incident was strongly rejected by Pakistan’s Foreign
Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, terming it as mere propaganda aimed at
tarnishing Pakistan’s image. She elaborated, “Pakistan expects India to conduct
a transparent probe to ascertain the facts of the boat incident, while
highlighting that its own investigation had shown that there was no sound
evidence to substantiate India’s assertions. On the so called terror boat
incident, India has not approached Pakistan through diplomatic channels.”
However, the boat incident
had also stirred a controversy within India itself. Indian National Congress
had stated that it has doubts on government’s version of Porebandar incident.
The BJP in response had stated that Congress was lending credence to Pakistani
stance. In this regard, hitting at Congress, BJP President Amit Shah asked
the opposition party, whether it was fighting elections in India or
Pakistan.
It is notable that 48
hours after the incident, the Indian officials had started portraying another
version by suggesting that the boat which had left Keti Bandar, Karachi might
have belonged to small time smugglers.
And it was not possible
that 30 HP boat could run four state of the art Indian Coast Guard ships. The
media clips showed only fire damage to the boat, whereas, in case of an
explosion, as suggested by the Indians, complete boat which was small in size,
would have torn to pieces.
Indian officials said
that wreckage and dead bodies could not be recovered due to bad weather,
whereas, open source met data forecasted fair weather. The argument is
supplemented by the fact that small boats do not operate in deep open waters
unless weather is clear.
Meanwhile, despite the
insistence of Islamabad, no solid proof was provided by Indian authorities
about the incident, and no inquiry reports was shared with local and
international media. Hence, Pakistan launched strong diplomatic protest at UNO,
demanding impartial inquiry which could expose Indian fabricated story
regarding the Boat episode.
Nevertheless, we cannot
see the event in isolation. The aim of that stereotype Indian orchestrated boat
drama was to create an aura against Pakistan prior to US President Barrack
Obama’s visit (25-27 Jan. 2015) to India and put pressure on Pakistan
government on Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s bail issue and allege LeT as an
organization, posing regional threats. Prior to Obama’s visit, Indian
propaganda was also part of overall plan to malign Pakistan of sponsoring
terrorist activities in India. New Delhi, for the last few months, was propagating
conduct of terrorist activities by LeT inside India.
India had also been
projecting the possibility of a terrorist attack coinciding with Obama’s visit
or targeting the dignitary. In this context, Indian secret agency, RAW,
Intelligence Bureau and other intelligence agencies had been issuing threat
alert almost on daily basis. The issuance of such alerts by New Delhi reflected
the concerns of the US and the West regarding the prevailing law and order and
security situation in India—being deteriorated by the Hindu terrorism which has
been encouraged by BJP hardliner Narendra Modi who got a land sliding triumph
in the Indian elections 2014 and has become the prime minister of India. Hindu
majority was mobilized on anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim slogans. Therefore, he
is fulfilling the agenda of Hinduvta (Hindu nationalism).
In fact, Hindu politics
and culture are dominated by the fundamentalist parties such as BJP, RSS, VHP,
Shiv Sena and other similar groups which have been propagating Hindutva. Provocative
utterances of their extremist leaders have resulted into unending violence
against the Muslim and Christians including other minority groups, while, India
is also facing insurgency and terrorism in its various regions.
It is mentionable that
on January 20, 2013, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Home
minister Sushil Kumar Shinde confessed the nexus between BJP and the RSS,
disclosing that organized training camps run by these fundamentalist parties
were promoting Hindu terrorism. They also disclosed that these parties were
behind the Samjhauta Express, Meccca Masjid and Malegaon blasts including
Gujarat and Babri Masjid incidents. Earlier, New Delhi was accusing Pakistan’s
primary intelligence agency, ISI for blasts in Malegaon and other cities.
It is noteworthy that on
December 13, 2001, Indian parliament was attacked by five terrorists. Without
any evidence, Indian top officials and TV channels started a blame game against
Pakistan by involving the banned Lashkar-e-Tayba and ISI in relation to the
Parliament assault.
While, regarding the
November 26 Mumbai terror attacks, Indian rulers and media had again started a
blame game against Pakistan, propagating that Indian Mujahideen, the banned
Lashkar-e-Tayba and ISI were behind the Mumbai carnage.
Availing the pretext of
the parliament attack and Mumbai catastrophe, New Delhi had, twice, suspended
the process of dialogue with Islamabad in wake of its highly provocative
actions like mobilization of troops. Pakistan had also taken defensive steps to
meet any Indian prospective aggression or surgical strikes. But, India failed
in implementing its aggressive plans, because Pakistan also possesses atomic
weapons.
It is of particular
attention that on July 19, 2013, the Indian former home ministry and
ex-investigating officer Satish Verma revealed that terror-attacks in Mumbai in
November 26, 2008 and assault on Indian Parliament in January 12, 2001 were
carried out by the Indian government to strengthen anti-terrorism laws. It
proved that both the dramas were also orchestrated by the Indian intelligence
agencies.
Renowned thinkers,
Hobbes, Machiavelli and Morgenthau opine that sometimes, rulers act upon
immoral activities like deceit, fraud and falsehood to fulfill their countries’
selfish aims. But such a sinister politics was replaced by new trends such as
fair-dealings, reconciliation and economic development. Regrettably, India is
still following past politics in modern era.
Nonetheless, as part of
anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan move, BJP-led government which is continuously
manipulating the double standard of the US-led Western countries in relation to
New Delhi and Islamabad had orchestrated the boat drama to defame Pakistan
prior to Obama’s Indian visit.
Sajjad Shaukat writes on
international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants,
Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations
Email:
sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment