What triggered unthinkable

The atmosphere between India and Pakistan has, of late, been so friendly that one could not imagine that an attempt by a low ranking official to take a pot shot at what had been cooking in the kitchen of India would be cleared by senior diplomats. By doing so they ran a risk the sinking of the boat of friendship in their own backwaters.

No less a person than the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh was and continues to be the godfather of the Indo-Pak project of friendship where its meaning is real and not phony. Anyway, the ill conceived plan of Pakistanis to breach the wall of intelligence of a neighbor like India boomeranged and left a bad taste in the mouth of diplomatic personnel who had to unpack the freshly packed bags.

Unfortunately, the Pakistani leaders, army generals, and politicians of all hues have not yet been able to get over the pre-partition hangover passed on by the policy making political party, the Muslim League of undivided India that all Muslims living in the Indian sub-continent are its baby. It, therefore, thinks that looking after the interests of all Muslims living on either sides of the international borders, was their Islamic duty.

This fallacious thinking has harmed the interests of the Muslim community living in India more than any other single factor: political, diplomatic or military. The Great Divide between the majority community of the Hindus and the minority community of Muslims has not yet been bridged, sixty five years after independence. Some major political parties treated the Muslim community as their vote-bank and did not encourage them to march in step with the Hindu community and be integrated with the rest of the Indians.

In Hyderabad, during the pre-independence days, the Nizam was so keen to be an independent ruler that he encouraged the Muslim Razakars politically and financially to go on a rampage. The Arya Samaj organized and led a joint movement of the Hindus of all shades. Their leadership and total participation in the Hindu Movement brought the Nizam on his knees. Sardar Patel, Home Minister of independent India, ordered the Police Action against the Hyderabad Razakars and other elements and they surrendered within three days. Peace prevailed thereafter. The talk of a separate and independent Hyderabad as a Muslim State under the Nizam died a natural death in due course of time.

When the investigations into criminal activities of some persons suspected to be involved in the February Hyderabad blasts were in progress, Pakistan’s ISI allegedly reached a Major of the National Security Guard of India and on phone feigning to be a senior officer of the Indian Army adduced confidential information of military intelligence value. It is not yet clear how an officer of the Major rank could be a simpleton to part with major pieces of military intelligence information. An investigation has been ordered into this serious breach of military intelligence.

It is a well known fact that Pakistan uses all kinds of human temptations to lure the Indian officers to part with information of important nature that would be helpful to Pakistan and would certainly be detrimental to the Indian interests in matters of national defence and international diplomacy. Obviously, the need of the hour is suitable training and orientation of the new generation of the Indian officers of the three services: the Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force so that they go hammer and tongs after Pakistan to elicit information of military nature relating to Pakistan and deny information to them about our armed forces. Of course, that would go a long way in strengthening our defences and weakening the enemy (read Pakistan) defences. When the two countries go to war against each other, notwithstanding peace efforts being made by Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India and other Peaceniks, our forces are at an advantage over the adversary.

Acharya Chanakya, while writing about war efforts being put in to defend, preserve and protect our motherland, Bharat Mata, has laid an emphasis on knowing the enemy and his forces before knowing our own troops also talked of different means and weapons to be employed to dissipate the enemy’s army and help our own army to vanquish the enemy so that we are victorious.