Daily Times

India has not accepted the existence of Pakistan as an independent sovereign state, as Indian foreign policy remains Pakistan-centric. India is always busy, hatching conspiracies to damage Pakistan not only from the east but also from the west through its proxies. The Balochistan Liberatin Army (BLA) is an Indian proxy involved in the Balochistan unrest. During a meeting at Sharm-el-Shaikh, then Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Yousaf Raza Gilani handed a dossier showing evidence of the Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW’s) involvement in Balochistan to Indian PM Manmohan Singh. The same evidence has already been handed over to the United Nations (UN). The recent arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav from Balochistan proves Indian involvement in subversive and terrorist activities in Balochistan and elsewhere in Pakistan. The length of Pakistan’s border with India is 3133 kilometers, which include 700 kilometers of the Line of Control (LOC), 193 kilometers of the Working Boundary (WB) and 2240 kilometers of International Border (IB). There is a strong fencing system all along the border which is humanly not possible to negotiate. India is also in the process of further fortifying the existing fence system using a smart fencing system, an idea and borrowed from Israel. The basic aim of the system is manning the LoC and WB round the clock, thus minimising human employment and checking infiltration from Pakistan. India is also planning a laser fence meant to detect objects and set off loud sirens in case of a breach. While I was a Commander in the Chenab Rangers along the WB, my counterparts in the India Border Security Force (BSF) always raised the so called issue of infiltration from WB. I conveyed at several occasion that it is even difficult for a cat to negotiate such a fortified defense system. Former Indian Army Chief General VK Singh has admitted that India has raised a tactical support division (TSD) to perform the task of securing borders and managing the internal situation. The force is used to settle scores on both sides of the LoC, as confirmed by India Today. TSD claimed to recruit secessionist from Balochistan to carry out bomb blasts in Balochistan and the rest of Pakistan. As a Commander in the Chenab Rangers, it was my personal experience that the BSF always resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling whenever an international leader visited India to present Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism. False flag operations are covert operations carried out by a state designed to deceive public in such a way that the operation appears as if it was carried out by other entities. It is derived from the military concept of “flying false colour”. That is flying the flag of a country other than one’s own. India has a long history of false flag operations and the first such operation was the hijacking of a Fokker plane “Ganga” from India to Lahore. The plane’s hijackers were portrayed as Kashmiri freedom fighters. The motive behind this hijacking was to deny Pakistan over flight routes to former East Pakistan. On March 20, 2000, 36 Sikh men were shot dead in Chattising Pora village of Anantnag in occupied Kashmir. This was done during the visit of United States President Bill Clinton, the first visit by a US President in 22 years. The incident was blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. Later, the army claimed to kill five foreign terrorists, which turned out to be local Kashmiris dubbed as Pakistani infiltrators. In 2017, Lt. Gen KS Gill (Retired) who was part of investigations into the incident, in an interview with journalist Jasneet Singh confirmed that the Indian army was involved in the massacre. He further said this was done to impress Bill Clinton.

The truth is the Indian narrative of ‘isolating Pakistan’ was dying, therefore this false flag operation was planned and executed

Elias Davidsson, in his book ” The Betrayal of India” raised hundreds of questions and no Indian ever responded to those solid observations. The 905 page book has proved beyond any doubt the involvement of Indian Security Agencies in the attack. It has also been proved now that Ajmal Kasab was an Indian citizen who was issued a domicile by Lekhpal, revenue officer of tehsil Bidhoona, distric Auraiya of Uttar Pardesh state. In the recent Pulwama attack, an explosive laden car (350 Kilograms) rammed into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy comprising 78 vehicles and almost 2500 personnel. The attack took place on the heavily guarded Srinagar-Jammu Highway about 12 miles from Srinagar city, which killed 46 security personnel. The Indian government did not even complete a probe into the incident and there was no investigation, yet it ended up accusing Pakistan in a knee-jerk manner.

Pulwama was in the news for the last one year as hundreds of innocent Kashmiris were martyred by occupation forces in this area. This shows India has a tendency to blame Pakistan without taking stock of its own human rights violations. In another false claim Indian media reported Abdul Rasheed Ghazi was the mastermind behind the Pulwama attack, and was killed by the Indian army. Ghazi was actually killed in 2007 during the Lal Masjid operation. Now the big question is, who are the beneficiaries of this attack? Lt.Gen D.S Hooda, who commanded the Indian army’s northern command in 2016, said that it is not possible to bring such massive amounts of explosives into IoK by infiltrating the border. The truth is the Indian narrative of ‘isolating Pakistan’ was dying, therefore this false flag operation was planned and executed. Modi’s Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which was struggling politically has benefited greatly from this. The Kartarpur initiative has been a big diplomatic defeat for India. Ajit Doval never wanted this process to mature further, therefore this false flag operation was staged. An Indian, Manjuu Rathod, has also raised mind boggling questions regarding the weapons shown in video footage of the attack. The weapons were American made M16s with telescopic optic, LMG with night vision devices and laser range finders. Are these the kinds of weapons available in the Kashmir valley? Furthermore, how did the footage of the attack end up on social media five minutes after the attack? He also questioned how, without any investigation, it was known in five minutes that the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) used in the attack weighed 350 kilograms and the blame was put on Pakistan?

The attack perfectly suits Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJPs) hate driven election strategy against Pakistan and Muslims. IoK is under curfew with 700,000 Indian troops. There is one soldier for every seven civilians. In such a scenario, how can it be possible that any group was able to collect 350 kilograms of explosives and carry out the attack?

All in all, the Pulwama attack was a tragic but highly suspicious incidents and the narrative being pushed by the Indian government and mainstream media simply has too many holes in it.

The writer is a retired brigadier and currently commissioner of the Afghan Refugees Organisation, Balochistan

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2019.