Islamabad might find going tough
Do you know Rana Sanaullah? Most of you don’t. He’s the law minister of the Punjab province in Pakistan who has spilled the beans on Pakistan’s support to groups instigating an anti-Indian mindset. “How can you prosecute a group with whom the state itself has been involved with?” he said referring to militant groups like Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in an interview to BBC Urdu.
If our neighbours across the border feign ignorance on disruption of peace in our country, then Sanaullah’s statement has just pinned them down. Yes, an almost official clarification from Pakistan only vindicates India’s claim that Pakistan is behind unleashing a reign of terror on the former’s soil.
26/11 and the attack on the Pathankot airbase are two glaring examples of Islamabad’s hand behind encouraging assaults on India. Yet, our dear old pal China goes the whole hog to put a technical hold on India’s attempt to get JeM chief Masood Azhar banned in the United Nations.
Sanaullah’s confession should be taken very seriously. Instead of celebrating Narendra Modi’s completion of two years as the Prime Minister, the government should take steps to strengthen India's borders and ensure that enemies don’t have a free run on our soil. We seem to be too besotted with Subramanian Swamy’s tirade against Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Raghuram Rajan. Little do we gauge the danger looming large over our country.
But Indians won’t take such warnings seriously. Intolerance, agitation in universities, violence against women, corruption and the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s obsession with toppling state governments run by its political foes are showing India in a poor light. IS and ISI are spreading their wings all across India. By capitalising on the reach of social media, these organisations are inculcating radicalism in the youth. The government machinery is taking steps to impede the rise of anti-India sentiments. But aren't we exposing our vulnerability before the rest of the world?
Post Sanaullah’s comments, the acid test of Indian diplomacy begins. PM Modi has a busy schedule coming up with trips to Iran, Afghanistan and USA. Instead of giving lectures to the Indian diaspora and adding to the list of his followers on Twitter and Facebook, the prime minister would do well to express India’s disillusionment over Pakistan’s magnanimity towards forces trying to divide India.
US President Barack Obama has an uphill task to grant an aid worth $450 million to Pakistan. F-16 Fighter Jets from the US haven’t reached Pakistan yet. The US Congress is in no mood to allow the Obama regime to pamper Nawaz Sharif’s government. With an increasing Chinese proximity to Pakistan and the United States leaning towards India, New Delhi couldn’t have asked for a more lethal weapon to expose both China and Pakistan on various global forums. The Punjab law minister unknowingly has boosted India’s morale and given it an opportunity to underscore Pakistan’s hand behind terror.
How Modi and his colleagues will lap it up remains to be seen.