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India needs to sever ties with Pakistan now: No talks, no visits, no trade

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Ahmar Mustikhan
Ahmar MustikhanMar 25, 2015 | 11:06

India needs to sever ties with Pakistan now: No talks, no visits, no trade

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And it seems India has been acting in an insane manner in its hope for peace and goodwill with Pakistan: Islamabad continues to inflict pain and suffering on India but New Delhi keeps on forgiving the country, sadhu-style. This must now stop, suggested Toronto-based author, columnist and broadcaster Tarek Fatah at the closing plenary session of an international counter-terrorism conference in Jaipur on Saturday. Fatah, one of the main voices against Islamic terror in the world, made the statement at the conference, which was also addressed by home minister Rajnath Singh and national security advisor Ajit Doval, and hosted by the India Foundation.

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Tarek Fatah, who is hated by Pakistan right-wingers and global jihadists alike and continues to receive death threats from them on a regular basis, in his number one recommendation to New Delhi stated: "Disengage with Pakistan completely. No talks, no visits, no trade." Some may think Fatah's recommendation is a hard line on the issue and runs counter to the general practice of diplomacy to have talks even with the worst enemy, especially because of India's burgeoning trade interests. According to the Business Standard, "In 2012-13, India's total trade with Pakistan stood at nearly $2,606 million - a growth of nearly 34 per cent over the previous year. Of this, the share of India's export to Pakistan was $2,064 million, while import was $541 million." Fatah, on a query on how India will lose vast sums of money if there is no trade with Pakistan, responded: "Two billion dollars is a drop in the ocean." Many a seasoned diplomat will agree with Fatah that for diplomacy to succeed at times it is a must not to talk to the adversary, even if small commercial interests have to be sacrificed for long-term strategic interests.

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Peaceniks in Indian politics over the decades have failed to note Pakistan's outright dishonesty. The thuggish nature of the Pakistan generals, who are running the foreign policy of Pakistan since the soft coup of general Raheel Sharif last fall, is well-known both in the country's domestic politics like killing of prime ministers, and in matters of international importance like sheltering jihadists Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Some people in Washington DC call Pakistan a "kleptocracy" - a state that runs on lies. Pakistan generals and the jihadist proxy organisations view Hindus of India not as equal humans but cowards - just like they call NATO and US soldiers "chocolate boys". Unofficial spokespersons of the Pakistan Army and ISI, like Zaid Hamid, openly talk about slaughtering Indians in Afghanistan and Kashmir. That Pakistan is the proverbial crooked tail of the dog that will never straighten out was best evidenced in mid-December last year when seven desperadoes of the Pakistani Taliban, the country's most prized asset turned rogue, attacked the Army Public School in Peshawar, killing more than 145, including 132 students. Even as the Indian leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, extended a hand of sympathy to Pakistan, the ISI's blue-eyed boys were blaming India for the attack. These folks, mostly from Punjab, dream of turning back the clock of history to the mogul era of Muslim rule over India.

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Tarek Fatah in a second recommendation asked: "End the ridiculous 'Aman ki Aasha' that has been a one-way traffic of ISI aunties coming to India and running circles around Indians, and even cause the fall of one of India's brightest sons". It is nothing but a shameful exercise of Pakistan's upper class Hindu hating, pan-Islamist charade by Jinnah's orphans who benefit enormously. An entire industry has been created that is milking Indian goodwill to do the Pakistan military-civilian establishment's bidding and propaganda. "Though Tarek Fatah refused to clarify who he meant by "one of India's brightest sons", it was clear that he meant Shashi Tharoor. Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar, 52, was found dead in her suite at a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014, just a day after she was involved in a spat with Lahore journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter, The Express Tribune and other newspapers reported. News reports said Delhi Police has asked the high commissioner of Pakistan that they want to question Aman ki Asha advocate Mehr Tarar, though they said she is not a suspect. "No comments. And that is my only comment," Tarar responded on Twitter, on March 12. Earlier, on January 12, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy had tweeted: "When Tharoor allegedly spent three night with suspected ISI compliant journalist Tarar, he was India's Union minister. That is like Profumo."

Another big name in the Aman ki Asha campaign is that of Mani Shankar Aiyar, a former diplomat and Congress leader. Jotish Nair, former national executive member of the intellectual cell of the BJP, appears disgusted with Aiyar's soft stance and accuses him of being a "Pakistani agent". Aiyar has close ties with Pakistan politician senator Hasil Bizenjo, who, the Pakistan media reported, received huge sums of money from the ISI for his politicking. Indians like Nair question why Aiyar and other top notch Indians forget the shrieks and miseries of the victims of Pakistani terror in Mumbai and Kashmir, including the internally displaced Kashmiri pandits - whose numbers run into more than 3,00,000. Indians who understand Pakistan know well what Aman ki Asha is all about. The BJP's Nair said that his party has always been opposed to the Aman ki Asha drama. "It's a bogus wining and dining initiative. Ghulam Nabi Fai organised a conference where many of these Aman ki Asha types attended. Fai has been convicted in a US court for spying for ISI," said Philadelphia-based professor Saswati Sarkar, who is passionate about exposing the enemies of Hindus and Indians.

Not only Indian politicos, but also journalists appear to have been taken for a ride by the ISI. Indian journalists Dilip Padgaonkar and Kuldip Nayar became guests of Fai, who has long advocated that the whole of Kashmir must belong to Pakistan, according to Indian media reports. "Even if one accepts Padgaonkar's plea that he was unaware that the ISI was funding Fai, he (and Radha Kumar who attended similar conferences in Europe) could hardly be unaware of the anti-India content of the seminars," Sandhya Jain wrote in Niti Central. In spite of his US conviction, the shameless Fai openly attended anti-Modi rallies when the Indian prime minister visited the US last fall to address the UN and talk with US President Barack Obama.

"Unless and until Pakistan stops sponsoring cross border terrorism, punishes the 26/11 perpetrators, India should not be talking to Pakistan in any level," said Nair, who is convener of the strategic affairs wing of BJP in Trivandrum. Aman ki Asha, which enjoyed full blessings of the Pakistan army GHQ and ISI, is now well-known in Pakistan. Shahrukh Hasan, managing director of the Jang Group, said the Army and the ISI were on board with everything related to the initiative. "We are partners in Aman ki Asha," Hasan quoted former ISI chief Lt General Shuja Pasha as saying, according to Jang Group's The News International. Tarek Fatah also recommended, "Please don't wait for a second Mumbai to create a Balochistan. Please start assisting the brave men and women of Balochistan today." He urged India to help the young men of Dr Allah Nazar, the chairman of the Baloch Liberation Front, and named two Baloch leaders now living in exile, Dubai-based Mehran Marri and Geneva-based Brahumdagh Bugti - they are chiefs of the Marri and Bugti militant tribes. These groups have braved the worst of army brutalities, including burning alive of their tribesmen in coal tar, enforced disappearances, bombings and displacement of tens of thousands, during the last decade.

"Plan and work towards the policy goal, unwritten and unsaid, for the disintegration of the so-called rump state that refers to itself as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I use the label "so-called state", not only because there is nothing "Paak" about Pakistan, but because of the fact Pakistan in 1971 changed its name to Bangladesh and what we call Pakistan today is merely Pakistan's leftovers."

Realism has escaped Pakistan generals thinking vis-à-vis India, which is the root cause of terrorism in the region. One such Pakistani idea is "parity" with India, rooted in the Islamic supremacist ideology. Though India is many times bigger than Pakistan in both population and geography, Pakistan generals demand parity as they say Muslims are superior to Hindus and one Muslim can dominate ten Hindus, if not more. In this backdrop, one recommendation by Fatah is to end the circus at Wagah border. "Since Pakistan itches for parity with India, please shut down the silly march of the roosters at the Wagah border cross-point. This is the single most spectacular circus that puts the rogue state of Pakistan at par with the democratic, secular and dignified republic of India," Fatah said.

Last updated: March 25, 2015 | 11:06
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