Charsadda attack: Pakistan needs to tame demons at home
As the shock over yet another jolting terror attack in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa targeting students sunk in, the implications of the bloodbath, though unrelated, on the India-Pakistan interplay could be fathomed. The attack has opened another window for India to drive home the point that the unidimensional approach in dealing with terrorism will not work for Islamabad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to condemn the terror strike on Bacha Khan University as it came days after the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot was attacked.
Despite the Pakistan government’s assurances, endorsed by Rawalpindi, on punishing Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leadership for the Pathankot attack, New Delhi remains sceptical if the Kashmir terrorists would be dealt with by Islamabad in a similar manner as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The deadly wave of terrorism in the subcontinent has travelled swiftly this month from Mazar-e-Sharif to Pathankot passing through Jalalabad and Charsadda. It strengthens the Indian position that any dialogue between India and Pakistan should be focused on terrorism which has overtaken all other pending issues.
The recent terror strikes are almost falling into a pattern. The attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif was followed by the Pakistani diplomatic outpost in Jalalabad being stormed.
The Jalalabad incident happened just when the Mazar-e-Sharif attack was being linked to Pakistan.
Whenever the India-Pakistan foreign secretary talks resume, Islamabad will walk into the dialogue as victim of terrorism.
India would flag the fact that terrorism is a multi-faceted monster. A positive outcome is possible if Pakistan walks the talk on its assurances given to India. Unlike the despondency-ridden past, the leadership on the either side has made the right noises.
New Delhi has refrained from accusing Pakistan directly for the Pathankot attack. The Modi government has gone to the extent of allowing Pakistani investigators to verify claims on JeM’s involvement in the Pathankot attack on the ground.
Despite a deluge of anti-India remarks on social media after the Bacha Khan attack, the Pakistani leadership has avoided making any reference about India.
The conspiracy theorists in Pakistan, however, had a field day as expected in building stories around the latest terror strike by pointing fingers at India.
The fact that the mastermind of the Peshawar school attack Umar Mansoor of the TTP owned the strike amidst conflicting claims also reflected the deep roots of terrorism within the country.
As the details of the attack trickled in, the symbolism of the terror strike on the university named after Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as Frontier Gandhi on this side of the border, was not lost in India. A close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the towering Pathan, had died on this day in 1988.
The general buzz in the security establishment in New Delhi was that by striking in a brazen manner the Pakistan Taliban has demonstrated its ability to carry out attacks despite the military action by the Pakistan Army.
The experts also viewed the development as a fallout of the events in Afghanistan where Pakistan, China and the US are pushing the Taliban to come on negotiating table for a political settlement aimed at buying lasting peace.
New Delhi has noted how Pakistan is on a reconciliatory trip. Apart from backing truce talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, it has proposed to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
On the eastern border, it has offered to address India’s concern on the Pathankot attack instead of contesting the charge.
The winds of change have been acknowledged but positive vibes are wrapped in apprehensive cloak considering the fact that the Pakistan jihad factory was established to wage war against India. In another difference from the past, Pakistan’s military establishment and the political leadership have given the impression of being on the same page on foreign policy.
Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif was sitting next to prime minister Nawaz Sharif when India’s concerns on Pathankot were addressed. The two even travelled together to Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is unusual for the army chief and the prime minister to travel in the same aircraft.
There is hope in New Delhi that the rescheduled foreign secretary-level dialogue will be held in the spirit of this changed attitude.
(Courtesy Mail Today.)