Pakistan: A land of Treachery and Terror
Date:18 Dec , 2012
It happens only in India is a cliché well known. But, seeing Pervez
Musharraf featuring in a leadership summit recently on one of our
national TV channels proved beyond doubt that moolah (read TRPs) is all
that matters and that the fact that this johnny should be tried for war
crimes in both India and Pakistan has no meaning for the media as long
as the TRPs are clocking.
Captain Saurabh Kalia and five other soldiers who were captured by
Pakistani forces on May 15, 1999 were brutally tortured for 22 long days
before they were shot, and their mutilated bodies delivered to India.
Not only did Musharraf stab us in the back in Kargil, he has the
blood of hundreds of Indian soldiers on his hands. More importantly, he
was heading the Pakistani Army and is the man responsible for ignoring
India’s official protests during the Kargil War, when bodies of Indian
prisoners of war returned by Pakistan showed most heinous torture,
brutality and mutilation in captivity before being shot dead. Captain
Saurabh Kalia and five other soldiers who were captured by Pakistani
forces on May 15, 1999 were brutally tortured for 22 long days before
they were shot, and their mutilated bodies delivered to India.
Wikipedia says, “The post-mortem revealed that the Pakistan army had
indulged in the most heinous acts; of burning their bodies with
cigarettes, piercing ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before
removing them, breaking most of the teeth and bones, chopping off
various limbs and private organs of these soldiers besides inflicting
all sorts of physical and mental tortures before shooting them dead, as
evidenced by the bullet wound to the temple.”
Similarly, Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, whose MiG was shot down over
Indian soil on May 27, 1999, was used for target practice by Pakistani
soldiers after he bailed out and opened his parachute. Despite Indian
protests, not one enemy soldier responsible for these acts was
officially identified by Pakistan and tried.
Not only was this in violation of Geneva Conventions, it was also
gross violation of human rights. There was no protest by human rights
groups and NGOs and no mention in the annual reports of the ACHR,
Amnesty or any other HR organization. Musharraf probably would have
given awards to perpetrators of these heinous acts.
Pakistan media itself has described how some 500 bodies of Northern
Light Infantry soldiers were unceremoniously dumped in the middle of the
night at the doorstep of their families in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Obviously, the international community cannot institute measures to
ensure obligation by a rogue country like Pakistan. Not that Musharraf
had any concern for dead Pakistani military soldiers, amply proved when
he disowned them as ‘freedom fighters’, refused to take over their
bodies and eventually were given religious burial by the Indian Army.
Pakistan media itself has described how some 500 bodies of Northern
Light Infantry soldiers were unceremoniously dumped in the middle of the
night at the doorstep of their families in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
The Dawn published from Karachi described this very graphically. Can
there be a worse example of prostituting the uniform and that too by the
head of an army? And, we call this slimy fellow for a leadership
summit?
Yet, as in 2011, Musharraf somehow is able to sell to some Indians
that he is the only fellow who can control Pakistan and solve the
J&K issue. How naïve can we be? This conman makes some believe that
he plans getting back home, launch his own political party
(Pasdaran-e-Pakistan) and try his luck a second time to rule the
crucible of terror. He apparently feels he can not only get back home
but become President of Pakistan once again. He would do well to read up
on Pakistan’s history where loyalty comes cropper at the opportune
moment; replaced by deceit and violence – remember what Zia-ul-Haq did
to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, what Musharraf himself did to Nawaz Sharif and
the manner in which the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was orchestrated
by Musharraf. The straight fact is that should he get back to Pakistan,
he will simply be bumped off, much before the law can act on the
warrant issued in his name.
During Musharraf’s presidency, when a young married lady doctor was
raped by an army captain, instead of instituting an inquiry into the
incident, Musharraf tells reporters that the woman has got herself raped
in order to obtain a visa to the US on sympathetic grounds. This too
was covered well in Pakistani and international media. The couple was
eventually hounded out of Pakistan. How do you question the level of
morality of an individual if there are no morals in the first place? His
crowning act was telling global audiences on the electronic media,
“There is not a single terrorist on Pakistani soil.” Do you need further
proof of his hollowness?
As President, he was pointed in saying, “Even if the Kashmir problem is resolved, Jihad against India will continue.”
Yet, on numerous occasions our media has described Musharraf as “the
best bet for India”. How can our perceptions be so coloured and why are
we unable to read his character. As a Lieutenant General, he made a
presentation to the Pakistani Ministry of Defence that Pakistan must
annex J&K reasoning that at the time of Partition, the per capita
availability of water in Pakistan was 6000 cusecs, which had already
reduced to 1000 cusecs at the time of the presentation. As the Army
Chief, he repeatedly exhorted Benazir Bhutto to let him annex J&K.
As President, he was pointed in saying, “Even if the Kashmir problem is
resolved, Jihad against India will continue.” In his autobiography “In
the Line of Fire”, which he authored as the President of Pakistan, he
refers to India twice as “the most devious enemy” repeatedly. What can
you expect from such a fellow? How can he be the best bet for India?
Our venerable TV channel calls Musharraf for the Leadership Summit
despite him portraying himself as the champion of India’s Muslims during
the India Today Conclave of 2009 but receiving a mouthful from Maulana
Madani who gives him a shut up call, telling him to mind his own
business and leave the Muslims of India alone.
It was also pathetic to see the recent TV interview featuring
Musharraf and Jaswant Singh on Bloomburg TV with Musharraf smugly
talking of ‘demilitarization’ and Jaswant Singh nonchalant about it.
It would be prudent on part of our august TV channel to educate
itself on something called ‘self esteem’. On the other hand if TRPs is
all that matter then perhaps we would witness them inviting Hafiz Saeed
or Dawood Ibrahim for the Leadership Summit in 2013. As they say, it
happens only in India !
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