| by B.Raman
( December 13,
2012, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) If NaMo, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had
been well-advised, instead of raising the issue of Sir Creek, he would have
raised the insensitive timing of the official visit of Mr. Rehman Malik, the
Interior Minister of Pakistan, to India at the invitation of Shri Shushil Kumar
Shinde, our Home Minister. His visit is scheduled to take place from December
14,2012,a day after the 11th anniversary of the attack on the Indian Parliament
by Pakistan-sponsored jihadi terrorists on December 13,2001. This is not only
an insult to the memory of the security forces personnel who were killed during
the attack, but a reminder of the embarrassing fact that 40 years after
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) started using sponsored-terrorism
against India, we are still without an effective answer to it.
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Our battle against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism began in 1981.It has to continue without closure till we ultimately prevail. It has to be made clear to Mr.Malik that there will be no closure till terrorism originating from Pakistan ends.
One can’t have
an objection to Mr.Malik being invited to India to launch the new visa
liberalisation measures, but this was not the time to do so. ISI officers will
see in the timing of the visit a confirmation of their belief that India does
not have the will to fight their use of terrorism against us.
Pakistan will
try to project that with the execution of Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), and its seeming pursuit of the trial against
the main Pakistan-based conspirators of the 26/11 terrorist strikes, the
terrorism chapter in Indo-Pakistan relations is about to be over and a new
chapter can begin.
It is important
to make it clear to Mr.Malik and other Pakistani leaders as well as to the
international community that our battle against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism
will continue so long as Pakistan does not act against all terrorists operating
from sanctuaries in Pakistan and does not wind up the anti-India terrorist
infrastructure in Pakistani territory.
Since March
1993,the ISI has been responsible for a series of mass fatality terrorism
against us. The attack on our Parliament in 2001 and the 26/11 strikes in
Mumbai were acts of indirect aggression against India as per some resolutions
of the UN General Assembly passed on the question of state-sponsored terrorism.
All these attacks against our nationals, interests and sense of honour have
remained without an appropriate response from our Government and political
leadership.
The 26/11
strikes were qualitatively different and graver than the other acts sponsored
by the ISI in Indian territory. For the first time in the history of
Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, foreign nationals---including Americans and
Israelis—were targeted and brutally killed. It was an attack not only on India,
but also on the international community.
Any
self-respecting nation would have seen that Pakistan paid an appropriate price
for the attack. The relatives of the foreign nationals killed should have been
mobilised to pursue the senior officers of the ISI before courts of their
countries for their involvement. We not only failed to retaliate against the
terrorist leaders in Pakistan, but also failed to mobilise the relatives of the
foreign victims.
I am all for
good relations with Pakistan. Even Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao
and Atal Behari Vajpayee sought good relations. But good relations do not mean
letting Pakistan get away with its use of terrorism against us.
Our battle against
Pakistan-sponsored terrorism began in 1981.It has to continue without closure
till we ultimately prevail. It has to be made clear to Mr.Malik that there will
be no closure till terrorism originating from Pakistan ends.
I do not have the confidence that Dr.Manmohan
Singh and Shri Shinde will vigorously articulate our position to Mr.Malik.
Mrs.Sonia Gandhi and Shri Rahul Gandhi do not understand the anger on this
issue in the hearts and minds of innumerable Indians. This has to be done by
the opposition leaders and the public. Let this be raised loud and clear during
the remaining two days of the election campaign in Gujarat.
( The writer is
Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and,
presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of
the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-Mail: seventyone2@gmail.com Twitter
@SORBONNE75 )
 If NaMo, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, had been well-advised, ...){kind=link}