By Asif Haroon Raja
India has made its standing in the world because of its size, geo-strategic importance and huge economic market. It is largest in size and population and militarily and economically the strongest country in South Asia. Indian army of 1.4 million is third largest after China and USA. It has 34 combat divisions.
In the 18 infantry and ten mountain divisions, there are 360 infantry battalions. It has two airborne brigades having 20 combat helicopter units and 90,000 surface-to-air missiles and wide variety of surface-to-surface missiles. In the three armored divisions, seven independent armored brigades and five RAPID divisions there are 93 tank regiments with 4500 tanks and 40 mechanised battalions. In two artillery divisions and independent brigades there are 52 air defence regiments and 200 artillery regiments having 12000 artillery pieces. Besides, India has formidable air force and navy.
Diplomatically it is well placed in world comity and enjoys best of relations with world powers as well as Muslim world. Till 1990 it was strategic partner of former Soviet Union and after the demise of latter it became the strategic partner of USA and continues to maintain best of relations with Russia. It has of late warmed up its relations with China after pushing the border dispute on the back burner. Israel developed special ties with India and both strive to destroy Pak nuclear facilities through a surgical strike or covert means. Israel has become biggest arms supplier of India.
In marked contrast to its high standing across the globe where it shows its humane face, India does not enjoy good reputation within South Asia where its interests clash with neighboring countries. Rather than acting as a big brother and winning over militarily and economically weak neighbors, it has all along adopted a hostile posture to make them subservient to its wishes. It is so obsessed with becoming the unchallenged regional power that it is spending huge amounts on acquisition of weapons of all hues and in modernizing its armed forces. Instead of attending to miseries of Indian people who commit suicide and sell their children and honour and their kidneys to survive, India is going berserk in building up its military power. Over 70% of Indians live below poverty line but Indian propagandist project India as ‘India shining’.
Among its neighbors, Pakistan is its chief rival since it refuses to accept India’s hegemony. Indian leaders are still not reconciled with existence of Pakistan and vie for its dismemberment.
Its survival and progress traumatize them and to lessen their anguish, they find ways and means to impede and possibly block all avenues of progression and keep looking for opportunities to deliver a death blow. India has gone to war with Pakistan five times including two limited conflicts in Rann of Katch and Kargil. Several times the two armed forces came close to a major clash with nuclear overtones. It is essentially Pakistan phobia which impels India to keep expanding its arsenal. Out of thirteen Corps, seven Indian Corps are poised against Pakistan.. RAW in close collaboration with CIA, FBI, Mossad, MI-6 and RAAM is currently engaged in destabilising Pakistan through clandestine means using Afghan soil.
Indian defence budget for the current financial year has jumped by 50% and amounts to $32.7 billion to carryout further force modernisation program. It doesn’t include expenditure on nuclear production and space projects. It plans to import military hardware worth $30 billion from USA by 2010. Cash strapped USA urgently in need of cash to tide over its economic recession and fiscal depression is too willing to oblige. 126 mirages are being procured from France, 66 Hawk trainers fighter jets from UK and a Phalcon. Navy will receive six French scorpion submarines, nuclear submarines, long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Army will get 12-1500 howitzer guns worth $ 3 billion from South Africa, Israel and Sweden D-90S tanks and MBRLs. Hectic preparations are underway for NBC warfare. It has taken the plea that it sees the possibility of NBC weapons falling into hands of terrorists.
In last three years India spent $ 10.5 billion on military imports. It has become largest arms importer among the developing world. It launched indigenously built nuclear submarine Arihant with underwater ballistic missiles capability on 26 July 2009 and has also procured AWACs. All these point towards its hegemonic designs. India launched a spy satellite in collaboration with Israel recently. When it learnt that China intends acquiring anti-satellite capabilities and has increased its naval presence in Indian Ocean to protect its commercial interests, it got edgy and said it is against militarization of space. None questioned India as to why it wants to keep space demilitarized and why not sea, land and air where it is spending billions to build up naval, army and air force assets. Taking advantage of civilian nuclear deal it inked with USA in 2008, it is modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal. India’s agreement to place its 4 out of 22 nuclear reactors under safeguards of IAEA by 2014 is inconsequential. In next five year time, it would be able to manufacture 200 additional nuclear bombs thereby doubling existing stock level. It is a purposeful move to pressurize Pakistan to do the same well knowing that US influenced IAEA has double standards when dealing with Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Indian lobby in USA succeeded in making Kerry Lugar aid bill for Pakistan harmful. Apart from other insulting conditions, the bill seeks freeze of Pak nuclear program.
India has all along adopted a duplicitous stance in its dealings with Pakistan. Duplicity of India can be gauged from its responses to various events. When Pakistan became member of SEATO and CENTO in 1950s essentially because of Indian threat to its security, India cried out that Pakistan was encouraging American influence in Indian subcontinent and becoming a threat to India. Nehru made this into an excuse to take a U turn on his commitment of holding plebiscite in Kashmir. India ignored the fact that it was sitting in the lap of USSR but outwardly espousing non-alignment. After getting beating from Chinese in 1962 conflict, India opened its doors for arms assistance both from Moscow and Washington. Indian military supported cross border terrorism in former East Pakistan in 1971 and broke Pakistan into two. From 1990s onwards, India forgetting its past conduct has consistently accused Pakistan of cross border terrorism in Indian occupied Kashmir where a popular freedom struggle is raging since 1989. It welcomed Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and vociferously condemned USA, western world and Pakistan in particular for supporting Afghan Jihad.
Having opposed the policies of USA for over four decades, it suddenly fell into the lap of USA the moment USSR lost its super power status and became its strategic partner in 1991. From that time onwards it has all along vied to spoil Pak-US relations and welcomed US intrusion in the region. It lent full support to Washington for its intended invasion of Afghanistan and offered its full services. It is party to occupation forces and is vying to become the key player in Afghanistan affairs. It has extracted highly prized civilian nuclear deal from USA and is receiving sophisticated weaponry from USA as well as from Russia in huge quantities without any compunction.
In contrast to huge defence budget and spending on purchase of latest state-of-art-of weapons by India, which has radically altered the military balance in its favor, any effort by Pakistan to procure its modest defence needs from USA, China or any other country is vociferously censured and hue and cry is made that it has aggressive designs against India.
Even the equipment procured for counter terrorism is objected to asserting that aid money would be used for purchasing offensive weapons for use against India. Indian rulers had raised serious objections to $10.5 billion military and economic assistance to Pakistan announced by George Bush for fighting US war on terror. They keep complaining at the top of their voices and do not stop grousing till such time the decision is reversed or the agreed to package drastically cut, or it is tied to tough conditions or India gets a better arms deal from USA. This has been the usual practice of India right from early 1950s. No one castigate India for its unwarranted wailing and none remind India that Pakistan has suffered a great deal at the hands of chauvinist India and is paying a very heavy price fighting US war on terror in terms of human losses, destruction of property and economic loss, which has been made more complicated because of Indian involvement.
Once Biden-Kerry Bill and later Kerry-Lugar Bill (KLB) was in the process of formulation, Indians raised a storm. Indian lobby in USA played a role in making the language of KLB insulting and in adding harmful clauses. Once the bill was passed which was apparently lucrative, offering $1.5 billion grant to Pakistan annually, surprisingly India did not make hue and cry. Rather, Indian media is trying to defend KLB and is speaking the language of ruling regime of Pakistan. Aakar Patel in his article titled ‘Kerry-Lugar is good for Pakistan’ appearing on 18 October in ‘The News’ has argued that the bill doesn’t infringe upon Pak sovereignty as asserted by Pak army.
He has subtly tried to provoke KLB lovers in Pakistan that army have no reason to get upset and to make its concerns public. He has eulogized Mehmood Qureshi calling him world-class, forgetting that during his last visit to New Delhi in November 2008 when Mumbai carnage took place, he and his colleagues had dubbed his utterances as insolent and puffed-up.
In case of Kashmir dispute, India has sought policy of bilateralism and non-interference of outside powers merely to prevent third party mediation or facilitation but seeks US intervention whenever it wants Pakistan to be coerced. It would welcome US facilitation on Kashmir if US Administration gives a solemn pledge that the dispute would be solved strictly in accordance with the wishes of India. Indian lobby in USA in league with Israeli lobby has become so influential that it made Obama backtrack on his commitment to amicably solve Kashmir dispute and for which Holbrooke had been mandated. India is at present in the forefront of US-Israeli game plan to destabilize, denuclearize and de-Islamize Pakistan and to turn it into a vassal state of India.
Ongoing spate of terrorist attacks in major cities of Punjab and NWFP and Islamabad and attack on GHQ has multiple aims. These are: force Pakistan to expedite military operation in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) so that large part of army gets fixed in that region and possibly get defeated; heighten animosity between the military and tribals to an extent that the latter refuse to side with it in case of Indo-Pak war; taking advantage of war in Waziristan, accelerate flow of RAW trained suicide bombers and terrorists from Afghanistan into Pakistan; carry forward war on terror to Punjab with a view to establish linkage of terrorists in south Punjab with Tehrik-e-Taliban and thus pressurize the government to launch another operation in Punjab; (ANP has already started to voice its demand for an operation in Punjab); provoke Pashtun belt of Balochistan including Quetta by launching drones on the pretext that Afghan Taliban Shura is stationed in Quetta; instigate MQM to make hue and cry about threat of Talibanisation in Karachi so as to justify demanding a military operation against Pashtun community based in Karachi. On directions from Washington, more and more fingers are being pointed towards Southern Punjab and Muredke. Idea is to keep pushing the army from one inferno into another so as to demoralize and exhaust it, lower its rising image in the eyes of public and thus place the army on a weak wicket to confront the Indian challenge.
- Asian Tribune -
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