Army ignores all politicians in Pakistan’

Captain Alok Bansal, a serving Naval officer and Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, tells Mayank Singh that politicians in Pakistan want peace, but not the Army and ISI

What lies ahead in Indo-Pak relations?

I feel that developments will affect Indo-Pak relations but not very significantly, if the US manages to pressurize Pakistan adequately. Recent developments have indicated that Pakistani Army and its rogue intelligence agency, ISI, are not under political control. The US might either take action against Lashkar (Jamaat ud Dawa) unilaterally or force Pakistan to hand over some of the people demanded by India to diffuse the situation.

Do you foresee any military options being exercised?

That possibility now is bleak but if the 20 men are not handed over and the issue does not fade from public memory, India may be forced to carry out a surgical strike on LeT HQ at Muridke or even target killing of its leadership by covert action.

Is Pakistan involved in the carnage?

I personally feel the recent attacks have been carried out by terrorists from LeT who have been influenced by Al Qaeda and trained by sections of Pak Army and ISI. The political government was neither consulted nor aware of the operations. The political leadership in Pakistan genuinely wants to improve relations with India but there is a strong bureaucratic-military resistance.

What according to you is the internal state of Pakistan?

Pakistan is a withering state and is being kept together by its Army. If the Army is weakened the state will wither away. The economy is in bad shape. The entire Pakhtoon belt has been affected by the virus of Islamic radicalism and the other ethnic troubles.

What can be done to control such activities?

Maritime security needs to be beefed up, at present the politicians and bureaucrats do not understand matters maritime. We need to set up an elaborate coastal security infrastructure, with coastal radar stations, transponders on fishing boats and marine police. Fishing needs to be regulated and vessels operating beyond a certain distance must have some communication equipment. There are multiple agencies dealing with maritime issues, to begin with an expert on maritime security, serving or retired, must be appointed as maritime security adviser with a maritime security advisory board. Delhi being so far off from the seas, not many security experts understand the peculiarities of maritime operations. ( Logistically, Karachi to Mumbai is three hours by a speed boat)....Continue

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Developmental Imperative - Known response, sans solution

Rana Nayar, Prof. of English, Punjabi University

Though terrorist strikes are always unpredictable, our response to these has become egregiously, hideously predictable. Every time such an incident rocks Bangalore, Ahmedabad or Delhi, leaving a few scores or a few hundred dead and many more injured, the respective state governments immediately go on the backfoot. The opposition suddenly turns offensive and starts making well rehearsed noises. Of course, the victims and their families are not even left alone to stitch together their tattered lives or absorb the daily growing influence of violence. After the Delhi blasts, the politicians (we have no statesmen left!) were, as usual, back to their games. Ironically, it was Narendra Modi who, having failed to contain terrorism in his own state, made a claim that he had forewarned the Central government. Rather than act, our former Home Minister Shivraj Patil was busy showing off his sartorial elegance and scoring brownie points by claiming that he had prior information on it, much before Modi chose to communicate it to him. No one seems to have thought it to be worthwhile to ask the Home Minister as to what he really did with the information he claims to have had.

Later in the day, when the Cabinet met to discuss the situation, the usual shibboleths were trotted off about how terrorism is a threat to the unity and integrity of our nation; how it is a law and order problem that demands more stringent vigilance on part of the security forces, but definitely no stringent laws to back them up in their fight against it. Of course, there was nothing startlingly new or refreshing about the response of the government. Over the years, our politicians have repeatedly been saying that terrorism is a ‘law and order problem’ or a ‘global phenomenon.’

Whenever our political leaders or decision-makers are either not able to deal with something or just want to shrug it off peremptorily, they often label it as ‘global.’ It sure is a refusal on their part to recognise the specifically local and national character of ‘terrorism’.....Continue

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Where Assam failed, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh set an example in stemming the tide of illegal Bangladeshi migrants

States in the northeast, the worst affected by the Bangladeshi problem, have often shown varying and sharply contrasting responses to the migrants problem. The Assam blasts had been claimed by the Islamic Security Force (Indian Mujahideen), which is believed to have among its ranks illegal Bangladeshis from the northeast. Strangely, Assam’s Congress government has for weeks now, been in the dock, blamed for trying to place the blame on militant groups like National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), to avoid displeasing its alleged Bangladeshi votebank in the state.

Meanwhile, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh continue to explore every legal provision that could help them detect and flush out illegal migrants . “Our legal provisions are such that even Indian citizens are not allowed to settle in the three autonomous councils that we have in the state,” HS Lyngdoh, Meghalaya deputy chief minister told TSI. “So where is the question of allowing illegal Bangladeshi migrants to settle in our state?”

Meghalaya has for many years now a check post at Jorabat, on the Assam-Meghalaya border, where police routinely picks suspected illegals from interstate buses. “It’s a deterrent,” says Meghalaya IG (special branch) Dr SB Singh. And how bad is the situation in Meghalaya? “It’s much more comfortable than in Assam,” says Singh. Expectedly, the state is now upset with Assam because of its failure on the Bangladeshi front. “We have check posts on every road coming into the state,” says Lyngdoh. “However, given the fact that we have a border dispute with Assam, we do not have a border so to speak with the state in many forest areas, which, therefore, are beyond our control. Once our border is sorted out, we will handle the problem there as well.” As a lot of illegals allegedly get their identity papers made in Assam, Lyngdoh said that such papers would not be accepted in Meghalaya.

Fearing a situation such as Assam, where illegal Bangladeshi nationals now dominate a number of districts, groups like Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) and the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) have been demanding stringent measures against Bangladeshi illegals in that state.....Continue

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Spot of bother

Astronomers have discovered something odd in the night sky. Millions of stars are racing at high speeds toward a single spot in the sky. The whys and wherefores of this cannot as yet be explained, simply because researchers don’t know what it is that is pulling so many galaxy clusters towards it. That is why they are calling it ‘Dark Flow’. Another mystery to ponder over about outer space....Continue

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