Pakistan: The bully in the region

By Sobdar Baloch

If you want to know about the role of Pakistan in the region especially in Afghanistan, before any conclusion, you definitely have to consult the track record of Pakistan and need to study the biography of it based on 68 year of history (1947-2015).

The retired Pakistani generals who frequently appear on TV talk shows have been misleading the public opinion by trying to glorify the negative role of Pakistan and term it as a constructive contribution.There is no doubt that army generals are the real master of Pakistan from day one. Army is the judge, the judiciary and the executioner of the people since a segment of India was cut off from it in the name of religion and named it Pakistan. The civil governments have been and are a show case to protect the military dictatorship in Pakistan. Whether it is the relationship with US, India Afghanistan, The Arab Gulf states, Central Asian countries, the west or dealing with insurgency in occupied Balochistan, army is the key player in this regard. Army is also considered the most powerful entity in the country which overthrown most of political regimes of Pakistan on several times in its short history. It has been controlling the media, judiciary, civil society and politics without any hindrance.

We have been listening from Pakistani establishment and its army to offer a constructive and reconciliation role regarding Afghanistan’s problem but when we study 68 years of its history, we only can see the bloodshed and destruction made by the Pakistan in Afghanistan and its neighboring country Balochistan for decades.

If you have any doubt on Pakistan’s wrong doing in the region you must consult with its neighboring countries like Afghanistan, India, Balochistan and Bangladesh who can describe Pakistan’s role in their countries because they have been the victims of Pakistani terrorism for six decades. Bangladesh had lost 3 million of its citizens at the hands of Pakistan army in 1971 during its war of liberation, India had fought four major wars with Pakistan, Balochistan is still struggling to regain its independence and the current Baloch war of liberation is the fifth attempt to break free from the yoke of Pakistani slavery.

Balochistan was occupied by Pakistan at gun in 27 March 1948 and later forcibly annexed to Pakistan. Since then the Baloch nation has been struggling to regain their independence from 1948-2015. Afghanistan has been also facing Pakistani atrocities for many decades now. The 1.277 billion people of India, 156.6 million Bengalis, 30.60 million Afghans andmore than 14 million Baloch are major victims of Pakistani state terrorism in contemporary world. Fed of Pakistan atrocities and decades of sufferings at the hand of Pakistani forces, these nations are now rising against injustice, human rights violations and for their right to be free and sovereign.

One important question that come to mind ,is Pakistan really sincere taking action against its own strategic assets (the religious extremists) which it has been catering for 68 years?
Many countries of world including Russia, USA, NATO, Gulf countries, West, Afghanistan and India have been hoping that Pakistan will take action against the terrorist outfits that have been nurtured and trained on its soil but contrary to the wishful thinking of these powers, Pakistan continues to provide support and succor to its religious proxies and use them to blackmailed the world powers.

The world has let the people of South Asia, especially the victims of Pakistani state terrorism, down when they turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s war crimes against Bangladesh in 1971, in Balochistan since 1948-2015 and in Afghanistan for many decades. If one still thinks that Pakistan is neutral in Afghanistan’s issue, they don’t need to go far but seek help from YouTube and social media where they can find the video interviews and speeches of Pakistani army’s retired generals praising the Jihadi groups and Taliban fighters to continue war in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Pakistan has been officially supporting the cause of Kashmir but India and Afghanistan the neighboring countries of Balochistan have so far shown no official support to Balochistan independence movement.

“Why is it that we have not gone to school today, Dada Abu”, asks Nafeesa …

“Beta, today is the Kashmir Day whereby the whole nation expresses its unflinching support to our Kashmiri brothers and sisters”, I reply…
“Why, Abu jee”, Nafeesa asks out of curiosity…
“They are waging a struggle for their rights and we stand by them through thick and thin” ..

As we observe the day, it is important that we tell our children about what the Kashmir Day is all about, the sacrifices the Kashmiris are making for their rights and why it is important for us to support them as part of our responsibility…”

Every year on 5th February Pakistan officially marks Kashmir Day where army, political parties and militant Jihadi groups organize rallies, seminars and conferences and openly vow to strengthen the Jihad in Kashmir.  The same Jihadi bandits of Pakistani state have declared Jihad against Balochistan liberation movement. Pakistan army have established more than a dozen death squads in different districts of Balochistan. These state sponsored death squads are playing the exact role of Al Shams and Al Badar organizations which were used to counter pro-liberation parties of Bangladesh freedom movement.

The Recent attack on Bacha Khan University on 20 Jan 2016 where predominantly Pashtun nationalist students are enrolled has been seen as an obvious conspiracy of state to the attack the Pashtun nationalist Universityand kill their cadres who would become the future leader of Pashtun nation. It is also obvious that Pakistani army and its religious proxies fear from education and well-educated Baloch and Pashtun youth. Pakistan army is angry on the Pashtun uprising in Pashtun belt where people are demanding for the independent Pashtunistan. Before the Pashtun nation take up arms and go to the mountains for resistance, apparently army have initiated ruthless tactic to kill the cream of Pashtuns to silence the voice of Pashtunistan liberation movement.

Recently Pakistan is facing enormous pressure from the US and India after Pathankot attack. India had hand over two dossiers to Pakistan which contains the proof of Pakistani funded militant Jihadi groups. According to India, the mastermind behind the attack is Moulana Masoud Azhar who, the right hand of ISI and Pakistan army. He was trained and sent to Afghanistan for Jihad against the USSR troops in 1980. After defeating the Soviet Union troops, he was given another task to launch offensives against the Indian army in Kashmir.

According to available sources he was given full impunity to live in Lahore, Islamabad, cash and a huge amount of ammunition were also provided to his organization by the ISI and Pakistan army for ‘the liberation’ of Kashmir.
The demand of Liberation of Kashmir is a longstanding conspiracy theory of Pakistan army and its politicians, and Jihadist assets of Pakistan. So it unlikely that Pakistan will take action against its ownassets like Jesh-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, and other extremist groups operating in Pakistan with full protocol.

When there was a combine government of Taliban + Pakistan in Afghanistan after the USSR’s erosion, Masoud Azhar’s followers had high jack a plane from India in 2000. The plane was landed in Taliban’s heaven, Kandahar province of Afghanistan without any fear because Pakistan was the unofficial ruler of Afghanistan at this era of Taliban. After landing at Kandahar airport, Masoud Azhar’s fighters were given special protocol and prestigious respect and were warmly welcomed by the Taliban regime. India eventually give in to the pressure of those Pakistani sponsored terrorists and agreed to exchange the perpetrator Masoud Azhar in order to release all unarmed Indian passengers. This gave a new life to Mr. Masoud Azhar to coordinate and launch more attacks against India.

Pakistan army still visits to Kabul and uses the Taliban, Haqani Network’s card to blackmail Mr. Ashraf Ghani’s government to keep them away from India’s friend list. Balkh Police chief, Sayed Kamal Sadat categorically said in his official statement that attackers of Indian consulate are from Pakistani military. These attacks are enough evidences of Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism in Afghanistan. Intellectuals believe ISI is aggressively pursuing its terror policies ever before but unfortunately on the other hand India and Afghanistan governments in spite of such obvious involvement of ISI behind the attacks, are hoping for good from Pakistan.

Difa-e-Pakistan Council chaired by Moulana Sami-u-Haq, created, financed and backed by the ISI, is actively recruiting fighters to encounter Indian interests in the region. Difa-e-Pakistan Council is considered the political platform of ISI and Pakistan army to provide the ground support to Pakistan army to bargain with the world. The DPC initiated its first assignment by blocking the NATO supply to Afghanistan, which passes through the territory of Balochistan (Karachi to Chaman Border) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa KPK (Torkham border). The organization totally comprises of top Jihadi groups whose prime objective is to lodge terror attacks inside Afghanistan, infiltrate in to India and radicalize the youth in Balochistan. No political party in Pakistan is united on even identical issues, they always have been seen quarreling on TV debates and stage rallies against each other but the army has very tactfully brought around 40 Jihadist groups under one umbrella to blackmail the NATO, USA, India and Afghanistan. Difa-e-Pakistan Council reads the exact script of Pakistan army and its main tower is in GHQ where it retrieves signals from. Its fighters are actively involved in Afghan and Kashmir Jihad. These Jihadi stare termed as heroes by Pakistani generals and hard core extremist groups.

By reading the Biography, profile and background of the members of Difa-e-Pakistan Council one can find the jaw dropping fact that these religious parties also have their own separate Jihadi militias groups supported by Pakistan army and ISI. They are working on identical agendas on separate platforms. The surface political front is apparently aimed to provide Pakistan army political support but their hidden agenda is to recruit jihadist and send them to Afghanistan, Balochistan and Kashmir for the Pakistani army’s version of Jihad. These religious parties are the camouflage proxies of Pakistan army and ISI. Most of these are now associated with the global terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, ISIS or Daaesh, Alshabab and Boko Haram.

Baloch pro-freedom leader Hyrbyair Marri in a recent statement termed the Taliban, ISIS and Jihadi militants the plain-clothed personnel of Pakistani army. Mr. Marri is absolutely right in is observation about nexus between Pakistani army the religious extremist groups. As he is one of the most experienced leaders and pioneering leaders of the current Baloch struggle for freedom.

In the list below you will figure out the two Hindu community parties and one party is from Christian minority. The purpose to including their name in Difa-e-Pakistan Council is to send a message to the people that minorities in Pakistan are safe and sound in Pakistan but the ground reality are in total contradiction of DPC’s claim. Hundreds of Hindu families have been forced to leave the country. Thousands of families are seeking asylum in India. Many Pakistani Christians and Hindus have either been killed or still languishing in Pakistani jails for alleged blasphemy. The Difa-e-Pakistan Council have done nothing to raise voice against arrest and murder of Hindus and Christian by Pakistani religious terrorist organisations.

Media reports suggests that in the month of November 2013, an angry mob set fire to over 100 homes in the Joseph Colony Christian settlement, near Badami Bagh (Lahore). Residents were forced to flee and at least 35 people were injured. The attack resulted from an accusation of blasphemy registered against one of the residents, Sawan Masih who reportedly had an argument with a Muslim two days before the attack.

The anger of the Islamic community did not subside and the following morning a large group of people ransacked Joseph Colon and set several houses on fire.

Salamat Masih, one of the resident of Badami Bagh, Lahore told media reporters that “when we started to hear a noise, and suddenly a sea of people fell upon the colony. They threw acid and stoned our houses, then set them on fire. The authorities intervened only when everything was destroyed”. The local Iman issued an edict that Sawan Masih shall be killed whenever he is found.

It is worth mentioning that Hindu community is facing same sort of humiliation and harassment by the religious parties who are the members of Difa-e-Pakistan Council.

1: JUI-S (Sami ul Haq) (President)2: JUD (Professor Hafiz Muhammad Saeed) (Vice President)

3: JI (MoulanaSiraj Ul Haq) (Secretary General)

4: AhleSunnatWalJuma’at (Moulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi) (Joint Secretary)
5: JUP (Dr.Sahibzada Abdul Khayr Zubair, Shah OvaisNoorani)
6: JUI-N (Maulana Asmatullah, MaulanaA.Qadir)
7: JamiatMashaikhAhle Sunnah
8: Muslim Conference AJK (sardarAtiq Ahmed)
9: Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (Abdul Latif Khalid Cheema)
10: Mohsinan-e-Pakistan (Mr.Abdullah Gul. Rep of AQ khan)
11: Pakistan Water Movement (Maulana Nasr)
12: Tehreek e Ittehad (Gen.Hamid Gul)
13: Muslim League Zia (Ijaaz ul Haque)
14: Awami Muslim League (Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed)
15: Tehreek-e-HurmatRasoon (Maulanaamirhamza)
16: Sec.Gen DPC (Qari Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh)
17: Ansar ul Ummah (Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman Khalil)
18: AMTKN (Maulana Ismail Shujabadi)
19: Pakistan Ulema Council (Allama Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi)
20: Tehreek-e-Azaadi Kashmir (SaifullahMansoor)
21: Muslim League-Sher-e-Bangal (Dr.SualehZahoor)
22: AMTKN-International (M.IlyasChinoti MPA)
23: Sunni Ulema Council (MaulanaM.Ashraf Tahir)
24: Christian Community (Adv.Yusuf)
25: Sikh Community (SardarShaam)
26: Hindu Community Lahore (Manohar Chand)
27: Hindu Community Khi (Ramesh Laal)
28: JamiatIttehad ul Ulema – Pakistan
29: Tanzeem-e-Islaami (Hafiz Akif Saeed)
30: JamatAhle-Hadith (A.Hafeezropri)
31: JamiatAhle-Hadith (Second.GenIbtisamElahiZaheer)
32: MutahidaJamiatAhl-e-Hadith (Naeem Badshah)
33: Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (Syed Muhammad Kafeel Bukhari)
34: JamiatAshatTauheedsunnah (MaulanaTayyabtahiri)

Who is Moulana Masoud Azhar?

One must not be excited and believe in Pakistan’s narrative of conducting investigations to the culprits involve Pathankotattack. The world, particularly Indian government needs to ask Pakistan to arrest or crackdown against the religious extremist groups which are working under the banner of above parties.

Moulana Masoud Azhar is one of the iceberg of massive Jihadi factories of Islamabad, producing suicide bombers and extremists. Until these all terrorist sponsored organizations are not kept behind the bars or bombed, hoping for peace in the region is nothing less than day dreaming.

Pakistan army is cunningly clever they may try to arrest few extremist figures to calm the Indian pressure and to show to the world that they’re taking action against religious extremism. But there will not be a massive operation or use of heavy gunship helicopters and tanks in Raiwand, Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi as it is conducting offensives in occupied Balochistan and Pashtunistan on daily bases.

Pakistan army and its government is feeding misinformation to the world that investigations are underway regarding Pathankot and Bacha Khan University attacks. There are rumors that Masoud Azhar is detained but Pakistan’s defense spokesperson denies his arrest. Intellectuals say Mr. Azhar may be called by the ISI only to inform him on Indian dossier regarding Pathankot. This friendly investigation is a tactical move to silence India and mislead the rest of the world.

It is an undeniable truth that religious groups are the second important assets of Pakistan army after its nukes in order to blackmail the world. To keep India and Afghanistan under constant pressure there is no any useful tool then such extremist groups. Intellectuals largely believe that Pakistan though can’t formally send its foot soldiers to fight inside India and Afghanistan, the Jihadi groups are the better choice to pursue the same assignment of Pakistan army.  If someone hope that Pakistan army and establishment will carry out fruitful operations against its own national assets (the religious groups) who have been catering the army’s goals and ambitions, is living in fool’s paradise.

One has to thoroughly research on the sequence of events and the narrative and policies of Pakistan about Taliban and Al Qaida after 9/11 terror attacks. The government of Nawaz and Raheel are reading the same script of Musharraf’s regime. Ex-army Chief General Pervez Musharraf proudly terms the terrorist Jihadi groups as heroes of Pakistan on TV channel interviews. Zardari regime Sheltered Usama Bin Laden, Mullah Umar and other Islamic terrorists, but were misleading the World and US about presence of top Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. Eventually Usama Bin Laden was hunt down by the US special forces exactly under the nose of Pakistan army’s Kakol base, some 850 yards away from the garrison.

It is high time the world now must understand the reality that Pakistan is the bone of contention of religious extremism around the world. It is overwhelmingly an accepted fact that Pakistan is a paid killer not a pain killer because it never wanted peace in the entire world since its birth. It is a crucial need for the world to search for an alternative friendly country in the Asia to rein on the Pakistani sponsored extremism state terrorism and that is Independent of Balochistan.

Pakistan a front friend or front row foe?

Pakistan’s external minister Sartaj Aziz has blamed the US for “decades of instability” in the region, saying Washington’s foreign policies are behind the rise of militant groups, particularly Daesh.

At a Senate meeting in Islamabad on Monday, adviser to Pakistani PM on national security and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said Daesh, mainly active in Iraq and Syria, is a byproduct of Washington’s long-running agenda in the region.

Blaming the US Mr. Taj further said that “It was the US that created the militant groups operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas in 1980s and left them there after the ex-Soviet Union’s war in neighboring Afghanistan ended. This contributed to decades of instability in Pakistan and the region,” stressed the Pakistani official.

He said Washington is repeating the same policies in the region, setting the stage for the emergence of Daesh in the Middle East.

The comments come in response to US President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on 19 Jan 2016, in which he blamed the policies of some governments, including Pakistan, for instability in the region. Press TV reported.

Pakistan army considers the Jihadi groups and Taliban as their assets. An Ex-DG ISI Khawaja Ziaudin categorically stated on ARY TV channel on 8 Jan 2016 that the Taliban and other Jihadi groups must not be target in Zarb-e-Azb because they are our fifth and sixth line of defense.

Militant’s Jail break prior to Zarb-e-Azb

15 June 2014; Pakistan army try to create a hip to fool the US and rest of the world that it has started comprehensive military offensives against extremist groups and Taliban hideouts and Al Qaida fighters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Waziristan regions. The army named it the Zarb-e-Azb operation. But there is lots of ambiguity about this operation from day first. Experts believe Pakistan army deliberately evacuated the good Taliban and pushed them into Afghanistan bordering regions which resulted increase attacks inside Afghanistan against NATO bases and Afghan troops.

It is interesting to know that before the Zarb-e-Azb there were some major jail breaks where thousands of Al Qaida, ISIS associated militants and Pakistani sponsored extremist fighters were deliberately released.

July 2013; At least 248 prisoners escaped, of whom six were later re-arrested, senior government official Mushtaq Jadoon told ARY television, describing about 30 of them as “hardcore militants”.
Malik Qasim, prisons adviser to the chief minister of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, confirmed that 248 had escaped.

April 2012; More than 200 heavily armed Taliban militants travelling in several vehicles attacked the Central Jail in Bannu, Southern District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, releasing 384 prisoners in a pre-dawn assault on Sunday, officials said.

Adnan Rashid joined PAF as a junior technician in 1997. Security officials apprehended him from Balochistan in 2004 in connection with a plot to assassinate Musharraf. Sources said that he was shifted from Kohat to Bannu Jail some Eight months ago.

Killed in Afghanistan buried in Pakistan

After the friendly and so called Zarb-e-Azb operation in Waziristan, rapid increase of attacks on Afghan soil has been witnessed. Pakistan army shifted the whole militant groups into Afghanistan to carry out ruthless attacks on NATO and Afghan soldiers to embarrass Mr.Ghani’s government and term it as weak and incompetent.

Al Badar and Jamaat-ud-Dawa lead by Hafiz Mohammad Saeed who is also heading terrorist activities in Kashmir, claimed on 20 November 2015 that his 22 members were killed in a US drone attack in the Alisher districts of southeastern Khost Province of Afghanistan bordering with Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghan officials have confirmed the casualties of Pakistani sponsored militant group. Alamzeb Khan, the district Nazim of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Dir region told Radio Mashaal that the dead bodies have been shifted into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

The officials in Afghanistan also confirmed the heavy casualties of Hafiz Saeed group wanted by US and India. However the local sources say the number of casualties are higher than 70. The increase wave of attacks by Pakistan sponsored Taliban on Capital Kabul and other provinces is the reflection of Pakistan’s dirty policies to keep Afghanistan unstable which president Ghani described as an“unannounced war.”

What to be done?

The icon of Balochistan freedom movement, Hyrbyair Marri, the most powerful and influential figure, widely respected inside Balochistan and abroad said in a TV Interview, “The solution of Balochistan’s long lasting issue is the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of Pakistani occupying forces from Baloch homeland. Inhabitants of occupied Balochistan have decided not live with Pakistan as slaves any more. If Pakistan wants to escape Bangladesh type genocide and war crimes in Balochistan and want a face saving, it must roll back its army without any delay. China must quit Balochistan and its halt so called development projects until the Balochistan issue is resolved,” Baloch leader.

The world has piles of proofs of Pakistani sponsored terrorism in Afghanistan, India and Balochistan. Before Pakistan launches another 9/11, 26/11 and Afghan parliament type attacks, world must declare Pakistan as a terrorist state and impose tough sanctions on it. The military aid must be fully cut and its UN membership must be withdrawn. US, India and Afghanistan must carry physical and direct operations inside Panjab province and hunt down all Pakistani terrorists hideouts, training centers, cut all their supply lines going from Balochistan territory. A free and sovereign Balochistan can play a vital role to uproot the terrorist operating from Balochistan soil.

Independence of Balochistan to be acknowledged worldwide, Baloch Sarmachaar (Freedom fighters) fighting the liberation of Balochistan must be given latest equipment and technology to defend their territory from Pakistani Jihadi militants which are posing great threat to the stability of the region. The Baloch, Pashtuns under Pakistani occupation and the Afghan leadership must join hands against Pakistani terrorism. Like the Kurds the Baloch must be given full moral, political, diplomatic, financial and military support to disable Pakistani militants who are rapidly infiltrating into Afghanistan and rest of the world.