To Pak's verbal bang-bang, India fires a dud shot

Though Delhi is playing down the provocative, threatening and extravagantly belligerent posturing by Shuja Pasha, head of the Pak spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), so as to avoid dignifying his rant and sparking off a verbal duel, it does give a peep into the minds of the powerful and the mighty across the border. Pasha talked about identifying Indian targets for retaliatory attacks and even rehearsing for the same in case India tried to pull off an Osama operation inside Pakistan. Granted that in the aftermath of the Osama killing, the likes of Shuja Pasha and the Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani are feeling more cornered, caged and embarrassed than at any other time in recent years. Their stock with both the Pakistani people and its civilian leadership has hit a new low. But there is little sign of the political leadership trying to assert itself and take advantage of this situation to bring the army-ISI nexus down one notch. [caption id=“attachment_11793” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani along with ISI chief Lt. Gen. Shuja Pasha is indulging in anti-India rhetoric to divert public attention from the Operation Geronimo embarrassment. Inter Services Public Relation/Reuters”]  [/caption] Instead of questioning the army for providing Osama bin Laden with a safe sanctuary right under its nose, the Pakistani civilian leadership, in a specially convened session of Parliament last week, chose instead to only rebuke the army for what it referred to as a security breach which the Americans were able to exploit. There was no mention—even for the sake of form—of how the world’s most wanted man could be living literally in the shadow of the Pakistani security establishment. It could not have been an intelligence failure. Even the ISI is not trying to sell that line! It’s also inconceivable that the American commandos could have done what they did without the knowledge—if not tacit support—of the Pakistani Army and security agencies. The only question that remains unanswered in this amazing saga of intrigue, treachery and deceit is this: whether the Americans found Osama by themselves or were led to the Al Qaeda leader by the ISI in a trade-off whose contours are still to become public. So in this high stakes game of double-speak and more, only the supremely innocent or foolish – and some of the peaceniks on both sides of the divide fit that description quite well - should expect any genuine soul-searching and introspection in the Pakistani top brass! If anything, the Pakistani establishment, and particularly the army-ISI combine, can only try and regain their prestige and power base by resorting to diversionary tactics and deflecting people’s attention from their failures. There’s only one time-tested way of doing that in Pakistan; go all guns blazing against India. New Delhi is the all-weather, perennial fall guy when it comes to settling intra-Pakistan power equations. So you have leader after leader in Pakistan warning India of dire consequences if Delhi attempts a Washington inside their territory. Their spy chief has gone a step further and said they have practiced mock attacks against targets in India! In a signal of sorts to both the USA and India, the Pakistani Prime Minister went off on an official visit to Beijing and the ever-obliging Dragon—which sees in Islamabad a strategic ally to keep both Delhi and Washington off balance—has given a clean chit to Pakistan for not just playing a stellar role in the global war against terror but also commiserated with Islamabad for being the biggest victim of terror. With vigorous India-bashing being successfully used as a tactic by the ruling troika of army, ISI and the civilian government in Pakistan to wriggle out of a tight situation, it was left to the main opposition leader and former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharief, to play the nice guy and say that viewing India as Pakistan’s enemy No 1 may not be the wisest way of looking at things in the present context. Even he may be playing the devil’s advocate only to score some brownie points against the civilian government. Joining the anti-India chorus at this juncture won’t get him much mileage since everyone’s at it. So what’s our reaction to all this upping of the ante by those who matter in Pakistan? Our top leadership, from the Prime Minister downwards, seems only too keen to assure Pakistan and the rest of the world that we have no intention (read capability) of ever crossing over into Pakistani territory to look for those wreaking havoc inside our homes with impunity. It’s another matter that in response we are only taunted and dared further! The other step we did take was to hand over a list of our 50 most wanted who are supposed to be living in Pakistan under the protection of the ISI. Now one of those 50 most wanted has been found living in Thane, to the north-east of Mumbai, with his wife and four children. So much for establishing our credibility on the global stage as a future superpower.