'Pakistan not able to handle internal insurgency, has been blaming India...': Expert

Tilak Devasher, an expert on Pakistan, has said that Pakistan, which is struggling to manage internal insurgencies, is attributing the ongoing Baloch atrocities to India as a way to divert attention from its own inability to address the situation. He highlighted Pakistan’s tendency to avoid acknowledging its mistakes and instead externalize them. Speaking to ANI news agency, he said, “Pakistan is not able to handle its internal insurgency and has been blaming India and Afghanistan for it.” When asked about Pakistan blaming India for the ongoing situation of Baloch people, he said, “This is just an excuse, and they are not able to tackle the situation, so they are blaming it (India).” Emphasising that the actual problem is the Pakistan Army, Devasher said that either their army does not have the potential to control the situation or they do not want to do it. “For the last 2.5 years, the Taliban government has been there and they have been harbouring the Taliban for 20 years now; there is no such influence on them. so how can they blame India for it…? The basic problem is that the army is not able to control this situation. Either they don’t have the potential to do it or they don’t want to do it, neither TTP nor the Baloch,” he said. This Baloch insurgency has been going on since 2003, and they are not able to control it, he highlighted. “Pakistan is known for not accepting its own mistakes and will always externalise them,” Devasher said. Underscoring the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, he said that as the Taliban is not cooperating with Pakistan, they are pressurizing them. “They said that the Taliban is not cooperating with us, so to pressure on the Taliban, they have pushed 8.7 million undocumented Afghans out of their country in these harsh winters,” he said, reiterating, “But the problem is with the Pakistani army.” Moreover, Devasher told ANI that the Pakistan Army wanted to keep this hidden, but it has been exposed now. On being asked whether the concerns and protests across the world will put any pressure on Pakistan or not, Devahsree replied, “Yes, of course,” adding that the Baloch people who are currently settled abroad are protesting and through their protests, people will get to know the atrocities done to them. “Baloch people who are currently settled in London, the US, Germany, and New York, whenever they protest, people will get to know what exactly the issue is and why these people are protesting in this bitter cold,” he stressed. “It will definitely impact Pakistan, but we still have to see how much it will impact the media and the politicians,” he added. Further talking about the upcoming general elections in Pakistan, scheduled for February 8, he said that the Pakistani army is trying to ensure that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan does not contest the elections, raising concerns about the credibility of the electoral process. “The Pakistani army is trying to ensure that Imran Khan does not contest elections and the PTI does not get enough seats; this is one of their strategies,” he said. Additionally, he said, “Nawaz Sharif PML-N comes as the single largest party but not in a majority of its own. If there is a coalition party or it gets support from smaller parties, then it can be controlled.” Now, the army has two options to keep Imran Khan out of the elections: “either to hold elections that are not credible, second, or to postpone elections.” To which he added, “Both of these options are not good…” Devasher further emphasised that the elections will not be credible at all as they have been harassing PTI. “Presently, I think the elections will not be credible at all, as they have been harassing PTI… they have disqualified candidates, they are not being allowed to visit polling stations, and a lot of people are behind bars. this shows the elections are not credible,” he added. The much-awaited general elections will take place on February 8, 2024, with the national poll organising authority finally issuing the schedule following the Supreme Court’s order. With inputs from agencies