The Indian Defence Minister, AK Antony, has
accused Pakistan of running training camps for militants infiltrating into Indian-occupied Kashmir. He wants them dismantled as soon as possible because their presence is a threat to India. He has added to the Indian prime ministers earlier plaint that militants in Pakistan were plotting new attacks on India.
This has
followed on the heels of accusations made by an American official about continued militant activity from the Pakistani side. But in the case of the latest accusation by Mr Antony, there is a discrepancy that is striking. Whereas Mr Singh had pointed to a militant threat from directions more than the one of Kashmir, the defence minister is focusing exclusively on Kashmir and the Line of Control (LoC).
In fact Mr Singh had noted a reduction in the intensity of infiltration into Kashmir compared to past years. This has also been corroborated by Indian army officials. Has some additional dossier of facts come to light since Mr Singh spoke that the defence minister has been forced to comment on it?
Pakistan has already officially disavowed any planning in Pakistan about attacks into India and has asked New Delhi to consult before going public on issues within the Indo-Pak equation.
On the other hand, Pakistan can hardly issue guarantees that that there is no planning going on inside Pakistan by non-state actors for more attacks inside India. It has already admitted to it in the past: it had no clue that a charity organisation was plotting the 2008 Mumbai attacks and wants more evidence from India to punish those who did it. But the question of camps along the LoC is different.
Let us first set the record state.
Such camps were functional along the LoC in the past. The entire world knew about them. Pakistani journalists knew about them and accounts were written about the heroism of their inmates in in-house journals that jihadi organisations published and circulated all over Pakistan. The truth is that Pakistan gave itself a bad name and endangered its own security at the hands of these trainees later on.
But if one talks about the camps today it will give rise to argument. If Pakistan is organising more non-state actors for assaults inside India who can they be? The one jihadi organisation it thought loyal to Pakistan stands banned and its leader is under trial for terrorism. Other non-state actors have gone and joined the Taliban and Al Qaeda and are at war with Pakistan, using the training taken at these camps against the Pakistan army.
Yet if the Foreign Office in Pakistan was asking the Indian side to be more specific, Mr Antony has done just that. He says attacks across the LoC are the biggest danger India faces from Pakistan. However, it contradicts what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was referring to a day earlier. Mr Singh had said that there was substantial improvement in Jammu and Kashmir but there were other disturbing trends on the horizon too. He was clearly referring to a new sea route.
The Foreign Office in Pakistan thinks that India should talk to Pakistan officially before going public with accusations of the above sort. Charges against Pakistan made public in India tend to stoke the fires of prejudice there and close the door on negotiation and reconciliation which is the only way to bring closure to the problem of infiltration. And if there are ambivalences in Indian perceptions they can best be resolved through mutually exchanged official messages.
Training camps are not something that can be concealed from the world in these days of satellite photography. Pakistan would be foolhardy in restarting something which has not succeeded in the past and which endangers its own internal security now. And it cant send its regular troops into Kashmir. In the absence of consultations with India, Pakistan can, however, do what India is doing: go public with rebuttals that further spoil the bilateral relationship.
Given these circumstances, our suggestion to Prime Minister Singh is that he should decide quickly about restarting the stalled dialogue with Pakistan, preceded if he likes by some back-channel communication on what the resumed dialogue will discuss. New trouble is now emanating from such unilateral statements like the one he and his defence minister have now made.
Now dumb head, tell me were did you see an acceptance of these camps in the editorial???
The editorial was JUST REFERRING to the BS spewed by Sir Anthony and has also suggested a way to india by which she can prove her allegations. Moreover, the editorial also declared that it would be AGAINST Pakistan and BAD for Pakistan and DANGEROUS for Pakistan if Pakistan would run such camps as these would endanger our own internal security and would make a fool out of us.
So.
Sir Dumb please read carefully before you start the ranting session!!
---------- Post added at 10:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:51 PM ----------
Oh sure it was.
Chill!!
