India on Thursday clearly laid down conditions for non-escalation of tension and continuation of ceasefire with Pakistan. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar drew the red lines for normalization of bilateral relations. He said, if Pakistan wants to start negotiations, it must first hand over those ‘most wanted’ terrorists, whose list India had given to Pakistan, and dismantle all terrorists’ infrastructure on its soil.
Jaishankar said, Indus Waters Treaty shall continue to remain in abeyance until cross-border terrorism from Pakistan is “credibly and irrevocably stopped”.
In the past, India had given list of most wanted global terrorists several times to Pakistan. They include 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his associate Chhota Shakeel, 26/11 Mumbai attacks masterminds Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed, Sajid Mir and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, pro-Khalistan terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, and the mastermind of 2001 Parliament attack, 2019 Pulwama blast and 2016 Pathankot attack Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, to name only a few.
All these terror masterminds have been seen in Lahore, Sialkot, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Pak Occupied Kashmir living under protection of Pakistani army.
The list that S. Jaishankar has mentioned is enough for Pakistani leaders to lose their sleep. He has touched a raw vein and it is bound to make Pakistan squirm. The External Affairs Minister has caused pain that hundreds of guided bombs could not.
Pakistan is now caught in a Catch-22 situation. If it hands over these terror masterminds, the world will come to know that it gives shelter to terrorists. If Pakistan refuses to hand over, India is going to strike deep inside Pakistan.
India is going to find out the secret places where these terror masterminds have been kept in hiding by Pakistan. India will show to the world that Pakistan is running a huge terror industry, where suicide killers and terrorists are trained and sent to most parts of the world.
Irresponsible Pak nuke arsenal: hand over to IAEA
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Bhuj air base in Gujarat on Friday and nailed Pakistan’s lie about causing destruction.
A day before, during his first visit to Jammu & Kashmir post-conflict, Singh described Pakistan as a rogue nation whose nuclear arsenal must be brought under the scanner of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He said, “I raise this question before the whole world.: Are nuclear warheads safe in the hands of such an irresponsible and rogue nation? Pakistan’s nuclear weapons must be brought under the supervision of IAEA.”
Rajnath Singh said, Indian armed forces hit nine top terrorist hideouts inside Pakistan within a span of 23 minutes. “Those terrorists from Pakistan tried to strike at our head, we struck at the heart of Pakistan. Terrorists killed innocent people in the name of ‘dharma’ (religion), we bashed Pakistan because of its ‘karma’ (act). This is the age of New India.”
Rajnath Singh selected the right target at the right time. Pakistani leaders and generals gave threats about using nukes against India during Operation Sindoor several times, but our armed forces jammed the entire Pakistani air defence system within 23 minutes and then proceeded to destroy most of its air bases. Our forces fired missiles at the entrances of Pakistan’s nuclear weapon sites.
The message to Pakistan is clear: Stop giving threats in the name of atom bombs. If Pakistan resorts to more mischief, those nuclear arsenals will turn Pakistan into a graveyard. The next targets of our armed forces are going to be Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals.
A scary Pakistani leadership went to seek assistance from the US. The entire world is now pondering whether Pakistan deserves to remain a responsible nuclear power. There is a risk of terrorists getting hold of its nuclear assets. If any untoward happens in India, our armed forces are definitely going to target such installations. This can be a big danger for the rest of the world. It was, in this context, that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal must come under the scrutiny of IAEA.
Trump, trade and terror
In another flip-flop, US President Donald Trump on Thursday, while addressing his troops in Qatar, said, “I don’t want to say I did (brokered ceasefire), but I sure as hell helped settled the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile…We got it settled. I hope I don’t walk out of here and two days later find out that it’s not settled. But I think it is settled.” In fact, Donald Trump repeated what Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and our army had said. The formal request for ceasefire came from the DGMO of Pakistan army to our Army DGMO and an understanding was agreed upon. Trump did not bring about this ceasefire, but during the last one week he had made this claim several times. Today he made his U-turn. Trump is, after all, Trump. He has said several times that he is going to solve the Kashmir problem that has been festering between India and Pakistan “for a thousand years”. India has made it clear several times that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and there is no question of the involvement of any third party as mediator. Pakistan is willing for third party mediation, but India has been consistently following a policy of ” no third party mediation”. India does not require a mediator. Trump also claimed he spoke to both India and Pakistan on trade. “Let’s do trade instead of war. And Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy too, and I think they are on the way…”. I think Trump must be knowing India’s position quite clearly. Trade and terror cannot go together. Prime Minister Modi has made it quite clear several times. He had also added, water and blood cannot flow together. I hope, Trump’s advisers might have told him about this.