Daily Times

The second decade of the Twenty First Century has finally concluded. For Pakistan it brought numerous challenges, trials and tribulations, many of which continue. On January 27, 2011, Raymond Allen Davis, a former United States Army soldier, private security firm Black Water employee, and contractor with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), killed two reportedly armed men in Lahore. A car coming to aid Davis killed a third Pakistani, Ibadur Rahman, in a “hit and run” while speeding on the wrong side of the road. Davis was arrested and criminally charged by Pakistani authorities with double murder and the illegal possession of a firearm. The incident led to a showdown with the US, which was insisting on Raymond Davis having diplomatic immunity. The issue was settled after three months when blood money was paid to the dependents of the victims.

Pak-US diplomatic ties took a nosedive and matters came to a head with the termination of Al-Qaeda Chief Osama bin Laden at a residential compound by US Navy SEALs on May 2nd, 2011. Pakistan was charged with harbouring the terror group leader and chastised by the Occident. More trouble was on the way, on November 26, 2011, two NATO Apache helicopters an AC-130 gunship and two F-15E Eagle fighter jets opened fire at two Pakistani border patrol check-posts at Salalah, near the Pak-Afghan border, killing 28 Pakistani soldiers and wounding 12 others. This attack resulted in further deterioration of relations between Pakistan and the United States. The Pakistani public reacted with protests all over the country and the government took measures adversely affecting the US exit strategy from Afghanistan, including the evacuation of Shamsi Airfield and closure of the NATO supply line. Pakistan restored the NATO supply routes on July 3, 2012 after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially apologized for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military.

There were numerous terror attacks during the decade but the one that proverbially broke the camel’s back was On June 8, 2014 in which ten militants armed with automatic weapons, a rocket launcher, suicide vests, and grenades attacked Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. Thirty-six people were killed, including all 10 attackers, and 18 others were wounded. Prior to this attack, the Nawaz Sharif government was negotiating with the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) militants to bring an end to terror attacks. The Karachi attack prompted the launch of a massive assault in the shape of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in which the Air Force and Army combined resources to target the terror hideouts in North Waziristan.

TTP hit back with a heinous attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. The militants, all of whom were foreign nationals, comprising one Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans, entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children, killing 149 people including 132 schoolchildren, ranging between eight and eighteen years of age making it the world’s fourth deadliest school massacre. It was a watershed moment since it united the nation in its resolve to fight terrorism. The National Action Plan was evolved to combat terrorism.

It is only hoped that the next decade will be less gory but with India’s belligerence and jingoism at its peak, it seems doubtful that peace will prevail

Indians conducted numerous false flag operations to defame Pakistan. On December 31, 2014, Indian security agencies orchestrated a terror-related fake boat drama that it was a Pakistani fishing boat sent by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and intercepted by Indian Coast Guards, some 356 km. off the coast of Porbandar, Gujarat. Other false flag operations were conducted at Uri, Pathankot and a number of other locations in which Pakistan was falsely implicated. The worst was the February 2019 Pulwama attack because India used it as a plea to launch a surgical air strike on February 26, 2019 at Balakot which failed to cause any damages. Pakistan retaliated the next morning and two Indian Air Force Fighter aircraft were shot down. The pilot of one was killed but the other ejected in Pakistani territory and was captured alive. The incident brought both nuclear weapons equipped nations on the brink of war.

On March 3, 2016, Commander KulbhoshanJadhav, a serving Indian Navy Officer and senior operative of India’s secret service RAW was arrested inside Balochistan. He was in possession of a passport with the fake name of Hussain Mubarak Patel. After his apprehension, the Indian spy confessed to being involved in organizing terror attacks inside Pakistan and inciting Baloch youth to insurgency. He was tried by a Field General Court Martial and sentenced to death.

On August 5, 2019, India abrogated Articles 370 and 35A of its Constitution, which provided Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) with special status, and annexed IOK and Ladakh into Union Territories. Since then IOK is in a state of lockdown, its people are being incarcerated in their homes, denied of food, water, medicines and livelihood, lest they rise in protest.

The decade has been bloody in internal strife too. The recent assault on the Punjab Cardio Institute by a group of berserk lawyers resulted in the death of seven patients and brought shame to the judicial community.

It is only hoped that the next decade will be less gory but with India’s belligerence and jingoism at its peak, it seems doubtful that peace will prevail.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host