I suppose you can call what India did with Mukti Bahini as terrorism. But the difference was that India was not encouraging its own people to go to such camps and fight for the greater good. Neither was it based on the 'religious jehad' concept that Pakistan used. It was a clear concept-to make East Pakistan free. It did not entail all the consequences of a global jehad. Whilst Pakistan chose that path, all the muslims the world over came to those camps to train for their jehad, and the governemnt only encouraged it in the name of Islam-that is the problem. Had Pakistan made it Kashmir specific and not made it a Jehad against Hindu's in Kashmir, things would not be this bad. Pakistan could have merely gone for the self determination/sovereignty route, but it chose religious extremism as a catalyst for its purpose. It encouraged its own people to join in. General Zia chose to radicalize its own population with Sharia laws and whatnot.
When the CIA and ISI were supporting the Mujahideen, and later the ISI supporting the Taliban, the institutional policy was not one of creating a 'global Jihad', it was of channeling religious sentiment into a worthwhile cause of freeing a Muslim country from a Soviet occupier, and in the case of Kashmir, freeing it from Indian 'occupation'. A lot of the criticism of Pakistan's polices from those years comes from a retrospective analysis of the situation - an analysis that is influenced heavily by events that have taken place since then, in which Islamic extremism has played a large role. Such analysis implies that Pakistan pushed these policies knowing full well what the results would be in the long run, when that is patently untrue. It is a simple case of no one, not the Pakistanis, not the Americans nor the Saudis (who have had the creation whose rise they funded and provided the ideology for, come back to challenge their rule and system) knowing what the long terms consequences would be.
No one would be criticizing the policy of using religion had Islamic extremism not blown out of control - no one really questioned it with any conviction while it was being implemented, including the CIA. For religiously conservative societies, it made perfect sense to use Islam as a driving cause. Understand that for many Muslims Islam is perceived to provide a code that, if followed, ensures justice, equality and peace, and policies incorporating Islam used that loyalty to religious faith as the basis - not the idea that suicide bombings or out of control violent militant groups challenging the writ of even Muslim states would be the eventual outcome.
See, the point is that India had been howling that Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism against India for a decade but no one gave a damn. No one cared, at that time, the arguments were raised that one man's terrorist was another man's freedom fighter. And 'how do we define terrorism'. Then the 9/11 happened, and other terrorist strikes the world over. Then suddenly almost every terrorist strike had a Pakistan connection somehow. Had Pakistan limited itself to Kashmir and kept things on a low(local) level, things would not have been bad for Pakistan itself, but it chose to make itself the global camp or transit route. It chose to make terrorism an extension of the state instrument.
Until India started becoming a valuable partner for the West, there was no reason to address its complaints on Kashmir because India had done the same in East Pakistan, and the West had done the same elsewhere. The same policies that the US had pursued itself were now being used against India, and since India was in the Soviet camp, why become a hypocrite for her, and criticize Pakistan?
Its all about national interest and real politic - when the West's interest came under threat, they reacted. Around that time India was emerging as an economic powerhouse, the West had growing interests there, and those threatening India had links to those threatening the West, so now being a hypocrite was fine.
So Agno, no other country would have done the same, almost all other countries would have chosen a different way, a different path.
The US cut its losses or victory and left long ago mate. Pakistan continued on that path. Its not US who's having the problems Pakistan is having now is it?
The only problem US has is of spending money to sustain its wars. Pakistan however has problems of much greater magnitude.
That assertion is belied by the fact that the USA and USSR have done exactly that, interfere and support through proxy and covert acts (often with violent and bloody consequences), elements that were deemed as advancing their interests. India intervened in East Pakistan for the same reason, all the talk about 'freeing the East Pakistanis' aside, the time lines of events in the Indian camp make clear what the intent was - as I have argued in the Pakistan should apologize to Bangladesh thread.
So, my claim is not even hypothetical - history shows us that what Pakistan did to protect its national interest has been done by other nations throughout history, and some of those actions have also backfired horribly. Pakistan alone cannot be blamed for undertaking such actions in its own national interest.
Your call. However we are discussing terrorism and that encompasses the entire spectrum, including how its harming your society. Should you not wish to continue in this aspect, i will not post on this particular issue.
My apologies first of all for being uncivil - 'ranting' was too strong a word to use for a legitimate argument (even if I think it is unrelated).