Plainspeak
Peace with India:
The Onus Lies on Pakistan Army
by Dr. Subhash Kapila

Pakistan is imploding as a result of the policies and lack of policies of the Pakistan Army. Pakistan is not imploding as a result of civilian governance of Pakistan as the Pakistan Army has throughout the history of Pakistan never allowed democracy and civilian government to strike roots. Now when Pakistan is headed towards ending up as a “nuclear weapons failed state” there is international concern about the implications of this implosion. Pressures are being built up on India by the USA and West and seconded by many strategic experts within India that India should take initiatives to retrieve the situation by making concessions on Kashmir so that Pakistan Army’s fears about India are lessened. This amounts to supporting the “Devil” that is the Pakistan Army which lies at the root of all evils in Pakistan. The world must note that Pakistan’s likely implosion cannot be pre-empted from without; Pakistan’s impending implosion can be pre-empted only by the Pakistan Army by reorienting its strategic orientations. The onus of making peace with India lies squarely on the shoulders of the Pakistan Army which despite the embattled security environment on both flanks of Pakistan has still not given up its Proxy War and terrorism against India.  

To those who advocate that India should sup with the devilish Pakistan Army, let me put some facts straight:

• Proxy War and terrorism has been persistently been used by the Pakistan Army. It started with using the NWFP tribals being used as proxies to launch its first armed aggression in Kashmir in 1947.
• The 1965 War also saw the Pakistan Army launch armed infiltrators as a prelude to Pakistan Army’ second aggression in Kashmir.
• The 1971 War saw the Pakistan Army initiate hostilities both in East Pakistan and West Pakistan.
• The 1999 Kargil War by Pakistan Army under General Musharraf bypassing the civilian Prime Minister was launched against India using Pakistan Army regulars under the guise of Kashmiri militants.

Interspersing these repeated armed conflicts initiated by Pakistan Army were many peace initiatives of India hoping that the Pakistan Army would cease its propensity for conflict against India.

Under the present Prime Minister. the Indian Government much against Indian public opinion, has gone ahead unilaterally to announce unconditional talks offers without any matching positive responses from the present Pakistani civilian government which is fearful of Pakistan Army’s negative reactions to such a move

The big question is whether the Pakistan Army and its Generals who view themselves in the mould of the Mughal invaders can set aside their delusionary mindsets that they cannot strategically downsize India by an all-out war or by asymmetric warfare in which its Proxy War and terrorism is the prime component.

All indicators suggest otherwise and it is futile for the Indian Government to exercise the option of civil discourse with any civilian government in Pakistan knowing fully well that it is the Pakistan Army which calls the shots and which is not inclined to make peace with India, the United States pressures notwithstanding.

Can the United States apply more pressure on Pakistan to see reason and reorient its perspectives that it can never ever now pursue strategic equivalence with India , nuclear weapons notwithstanding?

Once again the answer is in the negative. The United States has its own strategic imperatives to keep pandering the Pakistan Army and fan its megalomaniac obsessions.

In such an environment when another Mumbai 9/11 may be in the offing, the Indian Government would be well advised to meet such a contingency head-on with prepared military plans and options to strike out the roots of terror even now being nurtured by the Pakistan Army.
 
November 2, 2009

Top | Plainspeak