Kunal Singh Speaks

To

All My Pakistani Friends

Wishing you a very happy independence day.  Wish we never loose the great gift of Freedom.

White Snipe

Last week Indian government signed a huge defense deal (2 billion USD) with USA. In the wake of Mumbai Terror Attack, and the war hysteria which has grown (or rather been deliberated created by two governments) between India & Pakistan, no political party has questioned this deal. In absence of the current crisis between India & Pakistan, such a deal would have invited censures from all political & financial circles. So, is it still tough to understand the war games?

It is not the USA Citizen who bears the burnt of those millions of dollars, which USA government pumps in to Pakistan as financial aid.  It is rather, the Indian citizens (and citizens of other third world countries) who have to pay the heavy prices of military funding to a country like Pakistan.

I feel that India & Pakistan should cut down their defense expenditures and spend the same money on national development and social welfare. This is only possible if the voters of two countries act mature, and elect only those politicians who can carry out national development, rather than playing to the tunes of so called world powers.

A couple of weeks back, in an official statement, CIA acquitted Pakistan leadership (i.e. Pakistani Civil Government, and ISI, and Pakistani Army) from any involvement in Mumbai Terror Attacks (though they were also suggesting an entirely opposite possibility, unofficially). Even the USA government did not show much interest in coercing Pakistani government to act against those, who were involved in the Mumbai Terror Attacks. In wake of the multi-billion Indo-American arms deal, American Government has started to put pressure on Pakistani Government to act against the culprits. The Pakistani government has also sensed the situation, and accepted that Kasab is a Pakistani citizen.

Has terrorism become a well planned marketing agent or is it just a coincidence? Recent news is that, India is evaluating the purchase of “Nuclear Defense System” from USA. Wow. Wonderful.

This is a follow up to my earlier blog post “Kasab is a Pakistani … so what?”. I realize that some of the readers have totally mis-understood my blog post [based on their comments at different blogs where I write]. Either I did not write well enough, or they did not read well enough, or a thought process was missing [or may be a combination of all]. In any case, I felt that some clarifications were due.

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The point which I had intended to make in my previous blog post was that Indian and Pakistani governments should take some serious steps to curb the terrorism, rather than just making statements which are of no good. I am sorry if some readers were unable to understand it [though it was well evident from the writing].

Blaming each other for the Terrorism is of no use to any of the country. We here in India get a very limited view of the other side of the story. We read and hear news reports about terrorism in India being backed by Pakistan. If you look at the news reports being published in Pakistani media, you will find it exactly opposite. You will read about terrorists [operating in Pakistan] getting support from India. You will read about Indian government’s efforts of creating a war like situation by imposing false allegations on Pakistan. Indian media portrays Pakistan as the culprit and the sole evil force. Pakistani media takes same stance on India. Net effect is that people of both the countries live in an illusion, where as the political [and military too] leadership of two countries keep on carrying out their personal agendas.

Though it is true Pakistani government was behind the Mumbai Terror Attacks [and many other such attacks in past], but this does not absolve the leadership of our country from taking the responsibilities of security lapses. Yes the terrorist were trained in Pakistan and came from Pakistan. But, what was our navy and our coast guards doing when these terrorists crossed Indian waters? Were the naval and para-naval forces not alert during the night of 26th November or they do not even have enough any provision for such patrolling? Indian government is now spending more than 100,000 crore rupees [per year] on its defense budget. As the tax payers of this country, we have right to ask our leadership to protect us from terrorism - irrespective of who is supporting this terrorism. The fact that terrorists are from India, or Pakistan, or from any other country, can not be an excuse to the government. But, sadly, the people of our country do not want to think beyond what their leadership wants them to think. Looks like that Indian citizens [even the educated ones] have been been completely befooled by the invalid stance of Indian government.

If Indian Naval and Para Naval forces were careless [either by chance or by design] on that fatal night, we need to ask questions to ourselves before pointing our fingers at the Pakistan. Of course we have questions which we need to ask to our neighbor, but that should come as a second step. First we need to know why our government does not have enough provisions for deterring any terrorist attacks? Why the terrorists convicted by supreme court are still not being executed? Why strict anti-terror laws get demolished for political reasons?

Indian government has failed miserably to protect the interests of our nation. Terrorists have been attacking our country repeatedly - in all parts of the country. While hundreds of innocent people keep dieing evey month, Indian government sits quite because of political compulsion. What has our government really done to fight terror, other than raising the national sentiments by making anti-Pakistan statements? In wake of deadly Mumbai attack, every one expected central government to act hard on terrorism, but only thing they seem to be doing is to make statements. Some of you might take it as a positive steps, as in the past our government has not even done that. But does making statements really help to protect any one against maniac of terror? If at all it helps anyone, it is those members of parliament who have to face the election after a few months.

Indian government keeps repeating the same statements “Kasab is Pakistani”, “We have informed Pakistani High Commission that Kasab is Pakistani”, “We have ample proofs that there was a definite Pakistani hand behind Mumbai Attacks”, “We can act against Pakistan if they do not act against terrorist”. And Pakistani government repeatedly keeps refuting the claims of “Kasab being a Pakistani” and keeps accusing Indian government of “creating a war like situation”. If this “War of words” between India & Pakistan makes any one of you feel that your interests are being protected, you are misguided. Of what good are these statements to a person who is the victim of terrorism? These statements might give an impression that government is finally acting tough on terror, but in reality it is not. If Indian government really had any will to act against terrorist elements trained in Pakistan, least it could have done was to sack Union Minister A R Antulay [who had suggested that terrorist involved in Mumbai attack were Hindu Zionist - an approach which a section of media in Pakistan has also adopted]. The fact that our government has not sacked A R Antulay, shows governments leniency with terrorist elements. The only reason why they have been pretending to act against terror [during last few days] is that they have to face the electorate early next year.

What was this entire A R Antulay episode about - If our government can not keep its own ministers under check, then on what basis do you people believe that they will be able to keep Pakistani government under any check? Those who are really getting carried away by Indian government’s repeated claims about Kasab being a Pakistani [and this is the only thing which they seem to be doing, rather than taking some long awaited action], need to give a break to yourself  - what is our government doing to really protect the interest of our nation.

As some of the members here have pointed out, not looking in to Kasab’s nationality will be foolish. It may be true. But will it not be even more foolish if we expect the Pakistani government to act against terrorists, just because we have informed them that Kasab is a Pakistani? Many people here seem to believe that “Pakistan is running Terrorist Camps” is a breaking news. It is a well known fact world over. Do not get too much thrilled if you have heard it for the first time. It may be a news for you, but it is not for the Pakistani Government. So do not get carried away by the news stories circling around. Do you feel that Pakistani government is unaware of the terrorists camps being run by themselves in their country, and passing this useful information [that they have been training the terrorists] to them will be a good deterrent to them to close down all the terror hubs? Are we not making a fool of ourselves by asking Pakistani Government to wake up. They are already awake, it is us who have been sleeping - success of Mumbai Terrorist attack is a proof of that.

By the way, for those who feel that Indian governments claim that Kasab is a Pakistani will deter the Pakistani governmet, I have a news, Pakistani Police has yesterday arrested an Indian in Lahore. Pakistani Police has recovered fake currency and fake identity cards from his possession. He is the the main suspect behind Wednesday’s Bomb Blast in Lahore. He is a Hindu by religion and Pakistani Police claims that he was trained in India for carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan.

I feel sad when I see that leaders of both the countries are busy protecting their petty self interests, whereas the public of both the countries continues to suffer. The fact that emotional issues being raised by the selfish leaders are sufficient enough for the people to forget about their sufferings is even more sad.

In wake of Mumbai Terror Attacks, a lot of discussion has been happening on “Terrorism”. Most people today consider terrorism as a “Religious Problem”. A majority of people today thinks that only agenda of “Islam” as a religion is to preach violence and to carry out butchering. This kind of sentiments also get some fuel from the history of our sub-continent. We have had a dreadful past which starts from “mass conversion & killings” during “Mughal Invasion” but does not end at the “religious atrocities” during the partition days. It rather continues to haunt us in form of “Hindu-Muslim Riots” in the post-independence era.

The religion has been used in politics as a tool to unite & divide people. The kings during the non-democratic India, and Politicians in the democratic-India have over and again used religion as a tool to protect their misdeeds. Certain religious institutes & religious scholars have also colluded with them to mis-guide the people of their faiths. Even till date, religion is the most sensitive and contentious issue in India.

I read and watch a lot of debate about “Terror & Islam”. Many people believe that religious constitution of Islam is inherently violent and hence it is natural for any Muslim to be a terrorist. I am personally “not for” this argument. It is unlikely that Prophet Mohamed created a new sect, for its people to fight, kill and die. It is more likely that certain powers have hijacked a section of Islamic people (which forms a very small part of entire Islamic world) and they are using them as terrorists.

While discussing this issue on a public forum recently, I raised a few questions. I thought I will post them here too for the readers. I will request the readers to do some thinking over these questions.

(1) Indian has two Muslim dominated neighbors - Pakistan & Bangladesh. Why is that the ”inherent violence of Islam” is more evident in Pakistan but no so much in Bangladesh? Of course, there is some extent of violence in Bangladesh too, but such violence is there in non-Islamic countries too. Even in India we observe violence by non-Islamic groups. But I would like a comparison between the extent of organized terrorism in these two countries? Don’t you see a big difference? What makes the Pakistan & Bangladesh so different, despite their Islamic origins?

(2) Is it really true that the terrorism in Pakistan is funded (funded is the key word here) by Religious Powers? Though it is true that terrorism in Pakistan is being preached as some of the “Islamic Religious Schools”, but do these schools represent the true face of Islamic world? Pakistan’s economy is in shatters to be able to support its civilian base, but yet is is able to run its military programs. These military programs include development of inter-continental missiles, development of nuclear weapons, and running cost of maintaining CIA & Taliban Terrorist camps, in addition to its armed forces. If the Pakistan-born terrorism represents the true face of Islam, will not all the Muslim countries be eager to provide financially fundings to Pakistan and thus support the true spirit of their religion? But fact is that Pakistan is surviving based on funding from USA and USA backed IMF.

(3) Have we ever heard of any terrorist camps being run in Saudi Arabia? If terrorism was inherent in Islam, would we not be seeing most advanced terrorist training camps in Saudi Arabia, since it is the riches Islamic country in the world? But the fact is that (Islamic) terrorism is being preached in those parts of world, where poverty, unemployment & illeteracy is at its highest.

(4) Is USA a Muslim country? If it is not, why does it fund a Muslim country like Pakistan, whose only agenda is to preach “Islamic Terrorism”? Also, if world Muslim community is pro-terrorism, why they do not contribute to the international funding to Pakistan, in steps similar to what USA is doing.

(5) Is it not true that USA keeps funding the terrorist agenda in Pakistan and at the same time keeps carrying out a propaganda about “Islamic Terrorism” aimed at maligning the international Islamic community?

(6) We can find glimpses of “violence” in the Islamic Texts. But it is important to look at the circumstance amidst which the Islam was born. Was the Christian community at that time (800AD) as diplomatic and as peaceful as it has become today? Which was the religion to first invent the idea of Jihad? Were these not the Christian Crusader - who killed innocent people under religious umbrella? Did those crusader not enjoy the support of Church? Islam was a religion born to defend itself against a Crusading Religion, so it is only natural that its initial texts would have some thoughts and provisions about war & violence.

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Today both the religions have come a far way forward. Christianity has become much more refined, and so has becomes Islam. It is wrong to implicate the founders of Islam as war mongers & terrorists.

America is too afraid of Arab countries wealth. These countries have become wealthy after the ”Oil-Boom” which started in 1970s. As the oil market has boomed, so had boomed the American Propaganda about ”Islamic Terror”. Before ”Islamic Terror”, American propaganda was about ”Communist Evil”. Once America succeeds in destroying the wealth of Arab Nations, their next propaganda will be against the next prosperous country.