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Modi's doing a better job at handling Pakistan than Manmohan

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Kanchan Gupta
Kanchan GuptaApr 02, 2016 | 12:08

Modi's doing a better job at handling Pakistan than Manmohan

Many cacophonous voices of protest have been heard over the visit of a Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which was taken on a guided tour of the relevant spots related to the terrorist attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot on January 2 this year.

Accompanying the Pakistani team were senior officials of India's National Investigation Agency (NIA). The five members of the JIT were later briefed by NIA officials, shown evidence of the involvement of the Jaish-e- Mohammed, its leader Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf.

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Pakistani Joint Investigation Team after their investigation inside Pathankot IAF base.

They were given DNA samples of the terrorists who sneaked into the airbase and were neutralised. They were allowed to meet witnesses in the case and record their statements.

Protests

The raucous protests primarily came from three political parties. There was the Aam Aadmi Party which berated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "bending his knees" before Pakistan.

Such spurious concern for national pride and national interest sits uneasy on the stalwarts of AAP. Their utterances, like those of the Shiv Sena, on other issues that impinge on our sovereign interest give the lie to their fake rage over the JIT's visit.

The Congress, spurred by the belief that hyper-nationalism would fetch the party votes in the Assam elections, chose to gloss over its own record in power while lashing out at Modi.

If co-opting Pakistan, even if without any expectations, in combating cross-border terrorism is a sin, then the original sinner was Modi's predecessor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

After all it was Singh who, during his meeting with General Pervez Musharraf at Havana in 2006, had accorded Pakistan, the acknowledged perpetrator of terrorism, the status of "victim of terrorism". The joint statement issued after the meeting had announced the setting up of a "Joint Anti- Terror Mechanism" at the institutional level.

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That "Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism" met at least on three occasions. Expectedly, nothing came of the exercise as Pakistan kept promoting cross-border terrorism in India as well as in Afghanistan, targeting Indian missions in that country.

A look-back would also inform us that a team of Pakistani prosecutors had visited Mumbai in connection with Pakistan's "investigations" into the 26/11 attacks. Although Pakistan has not formally closed its inquiry and prosecution of those guilty of plotting the carnage that left 166 people dead, the prime accused remain untouched and unaffected.

Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi is back to rallying and leading the Lashkar-e- Taiba while Hafiz Saeed spends his time spewing venom and calling for the destruction of India.

Similarly, the Jaish-e-Mohammed has been a valued asset of the ISI to implement Pakistan's policy of inflicting a "thousand cuts" on India. Masood Azhar may have kept a low profile but that did not make him a lesser evil.

There is some evidence to suggest that both the civilian government, headed by Nawaz Sharif, and the Army are trying to tame the monster that was created in pursuance of Pakistan's policy of hurting India and seeking "strategic depth" in Afghanistan.

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This is likely more out of compulsion than a change of heart and ideology. In Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein ultimately turns on his creator. In Pakistan, too, the hand that nurtured jihadis is in danger of being bitten off.

Pakistani civilians are being blown up and shot dead on an unimaginable scale. Every day brings its story of horror and grief. But is there any remorse?

If straws in the wind are any indication, the Pakistani establishment has begun turning the screws, not necessarily to kill the monster of terrorism (as both Islamabad and Rawalpindi would want the world to believe) but to keep the rabid dog on a leash

The execution of Salman Taseer's murderer is no evidence of a putsch for tolerance. It is at best a demonstration of who wields power in that benighted country.

Carnage

The Easter Sunday carnage at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park is a counter-move to demonstrate that the Pakistani state is helpless in the face of rising jihadism, and that it is too effete to protect its own people.It's immaterial that the victims of Easter Sunday's suicide bombing were Christians.

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Easter Sunday carnage at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore.

In the past, Sunnis, Shias and Ahmediyas have been similarly slaughtered.

Given this scenario, there really is no reason for India to be either hopeful of restraining Pakistan or expect investigators in that country to determine guilt and punish the guilty to bring cross-border terror attacks to a closure through justice.

At the same time there are other realities that cannot be ignored. This is the first time that the Pakistani government has set up a JIT which includes representatives from the Army and the ISI, apart from civilian agencies, to inquire into India's claims.

In the past, our claims were invariably brushed aside as "fiction". We have seen this happen with the numerous dossiers handed over to Pakistan detailing Pakistani involvement in the 26/11 attacks.

Benefactors

Clearly Pakistan would want its benefactors, especially the US and China, to believe it is serious about fixing accountability and punishing the guilty.

Such calculated gestures are designed to convince Washington DC and Beijing where policymakers are more than willing to be convinced by the most insincere gestures of Pakistan. In this situation, India cannot but play along.

Indeed, it has to stay a step ahead so that it is New Delhi, and not Islamabad, that gets to call out treachery and violation of trust.

Unfortunately, that is how it is going to be for the foreseeable future. And for that, the government of India will have to constantly think out of the box and take both Pakistan and its benefactors by surprise.

A casual reading of Manmohan Singh's statements between 2004 and 2014 would show that he repeatedly called for out-of-the-box ideas to deal with a recalcitrant Pakistan. Unfortunately, the UPA's best ideas allowed Pakistan to stay ahead of India.

It's only now that we are getting to see New Delhi taking Islamabad by surprise and stumping Rawalpindi.

Modi knows what he is doing. It is debatable whether Sharif does. As for the Americans and the Chinese, they would be equally clueless.

Foreign secretary S Jaishankar is proving to be the best strategist India has had in recent decades. It's an entirely different ball game India is playing these days. The newfound chutzpah is awesome.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Last updated: April 05, 2016 | 15:37
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