Pak-Afghan quest for peace

Author: Sikandar Noorani

It is an undeniable lesson of the regional history that unrest or violence in Afghanistan always affects Pakistan as well. Expeditious restoration of peace is a common Pak-Afghan necessity which must not be trivialized on any pretext. Since the days of Russian Invasion in mid-seventies, pain of every strike on Afghan soil is felt with equal sorrow and concern on Pak side as well. Besides being a shelter for more than three million refugees, Pakistan is no less than a homeland for all those Afghanis who took birth in post Russian era on Pak soil.

A number of Afghan students are studying in Pak educational institutes. Despite unpleasant experiences of migration and a natural urge to embarrass native lands, an unbreakable bond of shared interests and accommodative inter-dependence prevails in the roots of Pak-Afghan societies. Respectable return to homeland is the foremost desire of all Afghan refugee families who had undergone the nerve breaking experience of survival under extremely odd times. In reality, the accumulative impact of internal disunity, insurgencies, corruption, foreign intrusions and terrorism has never let the Afghanistan to be a stabilized and well-governed piece of land. Its susceptibility to all kind of opportunist poachers kept increasing with every passing day. India has been rigorously exploiting the abysmal vacuum of governance and stability in Afghanistan to strike at the exposed weaker flanks of Pakistan.

Active presence of hardcore terrorist elements on Afghan soil under Indian patronage has remained a sore point in regional dynamics. Most of the heinous and deadly attacks on Pakistan were conceived and executed from Afghan soil by Indian patronized terrorist groups. Uphill task of fencing on western border is being carried out by armed forces primarily to curtail the frequent intrusions of Indian sponsored terrorists in Pak territory. Recently, it was very rightly pointed out by Taliban chief negotiator that India’s deep connections and venomous support to the spoiling elements in Afghanistan has remained a key factor behind incurable destabilization. Certain greedy and unwise elements in Afghan ruling regime, under Indian instigation, endangered the common objectives by pursuing the flawed policy of hitting Pakistan through terrorism and false propaganda. Hateful media campaigns were organized on behest of India at such a critical juncture when Pakistani nation was busy fighting a nerve breaking war against deep-rooted terrorism. Indian rhetoric to brand Pakistan as a terror sponsor state busted on the face once the later stood victor in war on terror after a long resilient fight.

Disclosures and confessions of Indian spy Khal Bhohshan Jhadeve finally endorsed Pak security concerns about India. Afghan instability and unrest, largely attributable to destructive interference of US’ ally India, is primarily Pak centric in nature. It is worth noticing that violence and political polarization kept increasing exponentially with the ill-intended flow of Indian resources in top power circles of Afghanistan. Polarized Afghanistan suits to New Delhi as it guarantees unchecked pursuance of heinous game of proxies. Recent settlement between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah on post-election disputes has alarmed many bells in New Delhi. Return of Abdullah Abdullah as head of high peace council appears as a serious sign of objective acceleration towards Intra-Afghan Dialogue.

Unfortunately, blindfolded with RSS’ extremist ideology revolving around ignition of populist right wing bigotry, Modi regime absolutely lacks the sense for non-violent means

This is a good omen amid prolonged surge in violence after inking of US-Taliban peace deal in February this year. Brutal terrorist attacks on Sikh Temple, Hazera Community funeral gathering and maternity ward of a hospital were all aimed at derailing the peace process. While covertly playing proxies and patronizing hardcore terrorists against Pakistan, Modi regime openly opposed emergence of Taliban as a key stake holder on Afghan canvas. A day prior to inking of US-Taliban deal, Indian envoy was found whispering in Kabul palace against the historic peace process and assuring full support to spoil the environment for restoration of peace.

Meaningful delay in prisoners’ swap, intermittent strikes by Afghan forces and mysterious deadly terrorist attacks by ISKP have posed a great delay on Afghanistan’s march towards peace. India is best suited to play the role of a peace spoiler! Desperate for an early exit from Afghan arena, US has also realized the efficacy of Pak advice of preferring political dialogue to use of force. Contrary to this universally acknowledged method of conflict resolution, Indian extremist cult comprising all brands of bigots and warmongers, knows nothing but violence, terror sponsoring and malicious conspiracies.

Recent meetings of Khalil Zad in Islamabad and his subsequent whirlwind tour of Kabul and Doha revolved around engaging the real regional stake holders. Unannounced rather surprising Kabul tour of Pak COAS has sent across a message of pleasant hopes about restoration of durable peace in the region. New Delhi has got all the reasons to be irked after seeing Ghani and Abdullah having exhaustive sessions with Pak delegation to explore the modalities to accelerate on the path of peace, prosperity and regional cooperation.

These recent developments mark the beginning of an embarrassing end of Indian destructive interference in Pak-Afghan bilateral matters. Sane minds in India do have a realization that regional cooperation and positive political dialogue is the only way forward to settle the contentious disputes between nuclear powers. Unfortunately, blindfolded with RSS’ extremist ideology revolving around ignition of populist right wing bigotry, Modi regime absolutely lacks the sense for non-violent means. Obviously, success of Pak-Afghan quest for mutual objectives entirely depends upon cooperation, vigilant watch over the spoilers and rapid trust building.

The writer is a freelancer

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