Scarcely a soul envisaged last week's "trust deficit" discussions between Pakistan and India producing any results worth a fig. Unfortunately, they failed to achieve even that. Outside of the obvious attempt to assuage U.S. leaders, the biggest riddle is why India would ever agree to meet with Pakistan to discuss issues of trust in the first place, when India now has definitive proof in hand that Pakistan's intelligence agency, army and navy were in league with the hateful Islamic jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that led to the deaths of 173 people.
A bigger riddle is why U.S. head of state Hillary Clinton handed Pakistan a check for $500 million in development funds yesterday while Pakistan provides a safe haven for Taliban and al Qaeda leaders. Even more surreal is Mrs. Clinton giving Pakistan's leaders said aid and shortly after asserting in an interview that someone in the Pakistani establishment knows where Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar have taken sanctuary (by chance, is anyone else tearing their hair out?).
If anything, the precarious relationship between India and Pakistan deteriorated after the countries' two foreign ministers haggled in daylong sessions on July 15 - not over substance but over what issues they would discuss and when they would discuss them.
The day ended with an uncomfortably contentious press conference as India's cool-hand-Luke Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna deflected questions darted at him from a hostile Pakistani press corps. Mr. Krishna kept his dignity but while watching the video of the circus it at times looked like Krishna was secretly praying for anyone or anything to abort the proceedings as the madman to his left, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, defensively gyrated with eyes widening as he over enunciated every word while smacking his lips and jabbing his finger in the air emphatically several times - looking less the part of a senior diplomat at a press debriefing and more the part of an amateur thespian at Shakespeare in the park.
The tension was firmly established on the eve of the trust-a-thon when Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai was quoted in the Indian Express saying David Coleman Headley, the Chicago-based Pakistani-American who conspired with terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to launch the Mumbai siege, disclosed that Pakistan's intelligence services controlled and coordinated the terrorist barrage from beginning to end.
It's no wonder that Mr. Qureshi seemed so awfully fidgety. Though Qureshi had plenty of time to come up with a decent response to this particular accusation, his pathetic rejoinder consisted of an ad hominem attack against Pillai, comparing him to the founder of LeT, Hafiz Saeed, who is basically the equivalent of Osama bin Laden to India.
Both the Indian and Pakistani press chastised Mr. Pillai's ill-timed public divulgence, though it doesn't diminish the veracity of his statement in any way. Nor does it detract from the confession that Headley gave to India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) during the course of a 34-hour interrogation from June 3 to June 9. Headley, who is still in FBI custody, informed Indian authorities that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was involved in planning the attacks, clearing weapons, funding the surveillance of targets in Mumbai and acquiring boats.
Yet, the world should have been spared from Mr. Qureshi's histrionics because India should have demanded no trust-building exercises would take place until this issue was completely resolved. During post-game diplomatic trash talking, Mr. Qureshi had the gall to accost India for not talking about what Pakistan wanted to talk about and he seemed genuinely irritated India dare try and stick to the pesky issue of the overwhelming evidence that Pakistan attacked them. But Qureshi's "cherry-picking" invective was the first untruth he told the media because India's foreign minister went above and beyond his technical mandate and offered to discuss all of the issues, including Kashmir, Jammu, Siachen and Sir Creek.
What Mr. Krishna was not willing to do was commit to a time-bound issue resolution roadmap, so Qureshi blasted Krishna afterwards for being "selective" during the discussions. He went so far as to insultingly suggest Krishna was not mentally prepared.
The second lie Mr. Qureshi told was a dense one - the type of fib that has zero upside and is so easily refuted it elucidates a certain underlying pathology, when he claimed Krishna was continually being interrupted with phone calls and getting orders from New Delhi. Qureshi then began to boast about his own diplomatic preparedness:
"I led Pakistan's team. I didn't need to make even a single phone call (to Pakistan leaders) during the daylong talks. If Krishna is principal for directing Indian foreign policy why were directions from Delhi being sent repeatedly?"
Mr. Krishna was also perplexed by the erratic Mr. Qureshi's accusation, saying: "I never used any telephone... It is an extraordinary statement to make that I got calls. I didn't talk to anyone." Pakistan's own former foreign minister Gauhar Ayub called Mr. Qureshi's deviant behavior childish and inappropriate. Days later, Qureshi backtracked and said he never said Krishna himself was on the phone. (How I wish I was there to ask a quick follow-up: "Mr. Qureshi sir... then how did Mr. Krishna receive the orders from New Delhi?")
During the press conference, considering Pakistan will not hand over the suspects of the Mumbai attacks (the reason why becoming clearer every minute) claiming Islamabad would bring them to justice, Mr. Krishna politely fished for an update and suggested that the biggest confidence-building measure would be the complete unraveling of the Mumbai conspiracy.
Qureshi's weak non-response was better left unsaid - a "let me get back to you on that one" would have sufficed. Instead, the Pakistani foreign minister flinched and declared there was little that could be done to speed things up and emphasized that "both India and Pakistan" had independent judiciaries and governments could not dictate to the courts. Mr. Krishna did not seem to appreciate the civics lesson.
According to insiders from India, Mr. Krishna probably appeared calmer than one would expect - although he is mild-mannered by nature - because he knew all of this was coming. Days before a senior diplomat gave Krishna a tip that the process was being driven by the Pakistani army or as CNN-IBN's Paarull Malhotra put it: "Rawalpindi was the puppeteer and Islamabad the puppet."
India must awaken to the reality that Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani smells blood and thinks he can knock India out of the box in Afghanistan and he certainly isn't going to wait for the trust talks to come to fruition. The U.S. desperately needs Pakistan - evidenced by the mad cash the U.S. has dished out - and Kayani knows this and is going to make sure Pakistan has a foothold in Kabul when the dust settles. It's a good wager the wise General isn't going to let a minor issue impede progress, including the fact that Pakistan's entire armed forces have been implicated in a terror plot.
If India continues down too diplomatic a road they are going to lose out in Kabul as the U.S. continues down the path of least resistance until it finds a feasible remedy. India has stated they would not participate in full blown official diplomatic discussions with Pakistan until the extremist groups in Pakistan are fully dismantled, which would entail the dismantling of the Pakistani state. Perhaps it's time for India to try and convince the U.S. a dismantling of this sort is the best remedy possible.
Michael Hughes writes similar articles as the Geopolitics Examiner and the Afghanistan Headlines Examiner for Examiner.com.
Follow Michael Hughes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mhughes3500
'This is duplicitous only if you close your eyes to the Pakistani reality, which the Americans never did,' Friedman said. 'There was ample evidence, as the WikiLeaks show, of covert ISI ties to the Taliban. The Americans knew they couldn't break those ties.'
'They settled for what support Pakistan could give them while constantly pressing them harder and harder until genuine fears in Washington emerged that Pakistan could destabilise altogether,' he said.
'Since a stable Pakistan is more important to the United States than a victory in Afghanistan - which it wasn't going to get anyway - the United States released pressure and increased aid. If Pakistan collapsed, then India would be the sole regional power, not something the United States wants,' Friedman said.
So we need to cut charade and deal with the deviI directly. India needs to contact the ISI chief and had a heart to heart discussion. By Pass everyone else. They simply do not matter. least of all the so called civilians.
Check up,who is NPegasus ??. You have been trapped in a suicidal web,a deadly game plan by most notorious KGB & their Allies in Indian Sub Continent. Who is this NPegasus, calling India a sloppy Nation ??.Indian PM Nehru pursued advance policy against China from 1959 to 1962, pushing Chinese from their territory, from one position to another in Phases, till 1962,when,China retaliated, & India suffered a humiliating defeat.In 1971 Indian forces for one year carried clandestine operations in East Pakistan(Now called Bangla Desh) in the guise of Mukti Behni.India raised trained,deadly armed & financed Lankan Tamil Terrorists (LTT) from 1974 & sent 2 lakh Indian Army in Sri Lanka to help LTT Terrorists.Indian PM VP Singh realizing the blunder, pulled out, Indian Army from Lanka to save the situation.Are these acts/operations are sloppy ones. Ask “Mr NPegasus, who is definitely an Agent of KGB & its Allies/ Fascist Hindutva Taliban, who carry deadly false Electronic Warfare propaganda.They want America & Muslim states(Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran..)to bleed physically & get economically ruined.Their Intention is to ensure continuance of this pointless Christians & Muslim War,they maneuvered its occurrence so intelligently, to fulfill their mission"Winning War against America & Islamic states, without fighting A War Themselves." America must identify the hidden hands & the hidden enemy which masterminded these conflicts.
I'm Martian, rsngh1949; visiting planet earth because it's too hot this time around.
I appreciate you for saying, so eloquently, what needs to be said aloud. I suspect as the US/NATO begins to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2011, India - as sloppy as it is - will be rudely woken up from its slumber by battle hardened - Arab, Uzbek, Pashtun and Pakistani - terrorists on Indian soil.
USA & UK ,so far the most mature,with foresight,vision,strategic analysis have been most intelligently,shrewdly,effectively trapped by certain forces into Iraq & Afghan War.Taking advantage of 9/11 tragedy the emotional USA well trapped by massive world bide electronic propaganda, that for safety,2 Muslim nations, IRAQ & Afghanistan which can not make even a motor cycle,should be occupied.Was it KGB alone or few more agencies of region,which wanted America & UK to bleed, having financed Taliban for Afghan liberation from Russians, ensure Muslim & Christian Conflict.
(a) Bleed America,avenge Taliban support in liberating Afghan from Russian Occupation.
(b) Weaken USA,UK economically by trapping them in baseless/pointless War
(c) Influence Afghan,Ensure Muslim fight among themselves & avenge Pakistan support of Taliban during Russian occupation
(d) Increase own influence in region, keep USA,UK, engaged in useless War
(e) Weaken Islam by raising boggy of terror, eliminating Islamic leadership
KGB, & other spy agencies of region made USA,UK fools,who were earlier supporters of Afghanistan,Iraq & Pakistan.KGB & other agencies give America, well concocted,fabricated, manipulated intelligence & played havoc with America & Islamic states in region.America's war expenditure in Iraq & Afghanistan is more than total GDP of India.American economy & effort destroyed. Global economic melt down.Even Britishers,got effectively,intelligently so well trapped to bleed.Both religions Christianity & Islam trapped in deadly War.KGB & other agencies are upbeat,successful in their design in ensuring Christian & Islamic War & "BE WINNER, WITHOUT FIGHTING A WAR
USA & UK ,so far the most mature,with foresight,vision,strategic analysis have been most intelligently,shrewdly,effectively trapped by certain forces into Iraq & Afghan War.Taking advantage of 9/11 tragedy the emotional USA well trapped by massive world bide electronic propaganda, that for safety,2 Muslim nations, IRAQ & Afghanistan which can not make even a motor cycle,should be occupied.Was it KGB alone or few more agencies of region,which wanted America & UK to bleed, having financed Taliban for Afghan liberation from Russians, ensure Muslim & Christian Conflict.
(a) Bleed America,take revenge for financing Taliban to liberate Afghan from Russian Occupation.
(b) Weaken America & UK economically by trapping them in baseless/pointless War
(c) Influence Afghan,Ensure Muslim fight among themselves & avenge Pakistan support of Taliban during Russian occupation
(d) Increase own might in region by keeping USA,UK, engaged in useless,pointless War
(e) Weaken Islamic states by raising boggy of terror, & eliminating leadership of Islamic States
KGB, & other spy agencies of region made USA,UK fools,who were earlier supporters of Afghanistan,Iraq & Pakistan.KGB & other agencies give America, well concocted,fabricated, manipulated intelligence & played havoc with America & Islamic states in region.America's war expenditure in Iraq & Afghanistan is more than total GDP of India.American economy & effort destroyed. Global economic melt down.Even Britishers,got effectively,intelligently so well trapped to bleed.Both religions Christianity & Islam trapped in deadly War.KGB & other agencies are upbeat,successful in their design in ensuring Christian &
Robert Baer, former CIA field operative in the Middle East and the author of "See No Evil," says: "The notion that we are are in Afghanistan to make our country safer is complete bullshit."
And Graham Fuller, former CIA station chief in Kabul, emphasizes: "Both wars have made the world much more dangerous for Americans and for any American presence overseas."
Michael Hughes, I think has been given a brief by some one from India/other place which he has inserted as it is.It HARDLY MAKE ANY SENSE.It is like teaching a tiger how to hunt.India has 10 times more men,intelligence,resources to look into the issue.Americans are depending 90% on Indian intelligence in Afghanistan as India has the best intelligence network in the region with massive resources,at least 10 times than Pakistan & America.The article is too big a joke,to be digested by a sensible man.
I thought you might have some feedback on my latest article. And feel free to comment at will below the article if you would like. They typically do not, but the comment section currently seems to be leaning too Indian right now. It could use some Pakistani perspective.
Thank you sir.
Michael Hughes
India Too Complacent About Pakistan Complicity in Mumbai Attacks
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-hughes/india-too-complacent-abou_b_652224.html
REPLY TO MICHAEL:
Michael, it is indeed a sequel to your earlier myopic one, “ Balkanization of Pakistan”; and my rebuttal was self explanatory http://pakpotpourri2.blogspot.com/2010/07/rebuttal-to-balkanizing-pakistan.html
and the commentary on it, “ if “ read shows “ our” viewpoint. As to the present comments, they are based on superfluous – slander, and allegations without a rationale or a shred of sustainable evidence. Naveed Tajammal
P.S. I have posted the above mentioned reply on the Huffington Post as well. This is for your information.
Naveed Tajammal
I distinctly recall that in our history book of Peshawar School Board, they used to cover the entire history of the land that now constitutes Pakistan. So e.g. we would not be taught about Mughal kings, but what was their contribution inside Pakistani lands and about how they (esp. Auranzaib) used to persecute Sufis and that the sufis and saints settled in Pakistani lands just because they were safe to preach here. But then this is 1970s early 80s I am talking about. I would like to check back with my relatives their to find out if it still is the case.
Your article is so biased in favour of India that it has lost all its appeal. Only Indians will get impressed by it. I can easily guess. You were the cheer leader for Bush and Cheney when they raised the bogey of Iraq's WMDs.
I have some points for you to think about, although I know you have already disappeared and will not respond to any of these:
1. Indian Government had also blamed Pakistan for Samjhota express bombing. It was later identified by police investigation that Hindu officers from Indian army were involved. The police officer investigating the whole terrorist plot (with understandably an anti-India finding, which was supposedly pro-Pakistan finding too) was mysteriously killed during Mumbai attacks. No investigation has been conducted on his killing.
2. If Clinton accused Pakistani establishment of something, how does that impact democratic government of Pakistan and why should not American support democracy in Pakistan?
3. And above all, why are we anchored on Pakistani terrorism against India? How about thousands of Pakistani military and civilians, including children killed, by terrorists? Why are you complacent about those? Not a single Indian has ever condemned terrorist attacks inside Pakistan and killing of thousands of innocents.
Read my article at the Examiner explaining how Pakistan is reaping a whirlwind from the enemy within, which includes LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) (Army of Mohammed) and other groups who now form the "Punjabi Taliban". LeT is a bigger threat to ALL of us than Al Qaeda as we speak.
http://www.examiner.com/x-30980-Afghanistan-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m6d6-Pakistans-reaps-whirlwind-from-enemy-within
How about a straight up deal. We (U.S.) give you $500 million bucks and you drag Sirajuddin Haqqani out by his beard from the caves in North Waziristan. Which you could probably do yourself - then again, he's probably hanging out having a smoke somewhere with General Kayani.
You have not yet responded to any of my points, which either proves that you are a living room journalists on payroll of India or are on purpose avoiding to answer my points when I am questioning India. It is not very difficult. Shed that cloak of Indianess for few seconds. You can do it. Try it again, point by point, please. What are your views?
1.
2.
3.
(2) Mrs.Clinton should focus on Haqqani + Quetta shura (not bin Laden,who died in 2002 according to Admiral Sirohey who I interviewed, he told me off the record, referred to him as a "ghost." Sirohey is a good man, I enjoyed the exchange.My connections are trying to lineup Hamid Gul for me, but if he reads my articles I fear my car will explode. I'm armchair journalist w/ solid connections - ya gotta gimme that).
U.S. has billions earmarked for Pakistan (granted, ineffectively distributed due to U.S. bureaucracy).but need commitment to true democracy + eliminate extremism.The military objected. Pakistani writers like Ahmed Rashid (I interviewed him too) admit Rawalpindi makes decisions not Islamabad. We don't want you to take the money + spend it on nukes + anti-indian assets. $1B of ISAF funds has gone missing. I give credit to Pakistan in the article (url below) + talk about suffering of Pakistanis. Military calling shots is the issue. Are you democracy or still military theocracy? (I've read some of General Beg's articles, I lean towards the latter).
http://www.examiner.com/x-4454-Geopolitics-Examiner~y2009m10d14-Pakistan-needs-US-aid-package-now-photo-essay
3. I already answered.
http://www.examiner.com/x-4454-Geopolitics-Examiner~y2009m10d14-Pakistan-needs-US-aid-package-now-photo-essay
Off topic a bit, I think Pakistan should point finger at CIA more than India overall historically. We helped fund and build military, ISI and we partnered w/ islamic right in the mid-50s because both of us were against communism/socialism/free-thinking (Americans won't admit this but its in the history books). Since the CIA itself was created they clandestinely fueled Islamic extremism, blinded by Cold War. U.S. screwed Afghanistan around that time too, which allowed them to fall in Soviet camp.
Now, it's past time to address the issues. Al Qaeda and company have perverted jihad. There are plenty of former terrorist groups that have a new understanding of jihad - the original authors of the books Al Qaeda used to train now renounces Al Qaeda and have made "jurisprudential revisions" to jihad handbook. Read this link:
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=25755&ref=search.php
1. Why is that when LeT attacks India it is totally under control of Pakistani ISI / military, but when it attacks Pakistan, it becomes a Frankenstein, an uncontrollable entity, and majority of Indian supporters dismiss its terrorism as, "chickens coming home to roost". Your question here is posed incorrectly assuming that I support Pakistan based extremism.
2. By criticizing Pakistan on a wholesale basis, you included, columnists tend to generalize Pakistan into a monolithic entity composed of military dictators only. I understand that it serves Indians to paint Pakistan in the dark. However, my point is that its about time writers started supporting Pakistani democracy. I believe, at least at the Government level, this is exactly what we are seeing for the first time.
You wrote, "We don't want you to take the money + spend it on nukes + anti-indian assets. $1B of ISAF funds has gone missing".
My first question: Who is 'you' here?
And then a question to you is that why are you doling out money without accountability and at the same time criticizing Pakistan as if all of the Pakistanis attacked Mumbai that day.
India, are you listening ? Dont we keep saying this to you all the time!
Here's what i think we (ahem, as in India) should do. To borrow Parrull's lingo, now we should deal with the 'pupetter' directly - and the gloves should be off. The puppets are there for entertainment, or, what was it you said, 'amateur thespians at Shakespeare in the park' and we really do have better taste!
We should, i believe dig in with everything we have, in Afghanistan. There's no sense in thumping one's chest and claiming to be a global power (or wannabes at any rate) and quaking at the thought of dealing with the unpleasant current scenario. So we want a stake in Afghanistan, so lets get on with it. i for one would not hold my breath to see what America or China or Pakistan wants or will do or are doing, or can do, or maybe will..........