On this past Sunday, in a clash in North Waziristan two soldiers embraced martyrdom while nine terrorists were killed. In Panjgur, Balochistan, four militants were killed in exchange of fire with security forces. And, along the Line of Control there was one more violation by Indian troops, bringing the total to 848 ceasefire violations in 2020. Pakistan was neither taken by surprise nor did it fail to deliver punitive response in all these cases. Despite the fact that none of these incidents has fetched India any tangible benefit the question is why should it resort to such pinpricks? Among various answers to this question two come up as most plausible. One, New Delhi wants to divert the world attention from its atrocious occupation of Held Kashmir and swelling Hindutva-inspired anti-Muslim violence in mainland India. Two, the Indian security chief Ajit Doval wants and is engaged in waging against Pakistan "a low cost sustainable offensive with high deniability aimed at bleeding the enemy to submission". It is not that the Indian establishment has given up on its existential threat to Pakistan. The stratagems like 'cold start' and 'limited war' remain on its table. But it should not forget that such a scheming can trigger a wider conflict between the two nuclear powers. And Pakistan, as the former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif once said: "we are ready both for cold war or hot war".
After a calm of some years, Pakistan's tribal region is once again simmering with violence. During the month of April, attacks on security forces have seen a spike in North Waziristan. The terrorists are reported to have their presence in certain pockets of Dattakhel where security forces have been frequently coming under attacks. Essentially, these attacks have been carried out by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a proxy of RAW and NDS, who are comfortably housed in Afghan districts along the Pakistan border. Given Afghan Taliban's continuing attacks on government security posts, and now their refusal to ceasefire during month of Ramazan, the Kabul-New Delhi axis is raising pressure against Pakistan. This axis futilely hopes that its strategy would prevail upon Taliban to become less lethal. But Pakistan has no such clout. However, for the two the TTP terrorists are their cat's paw against Pakistan. They enjoy protective harbour in Afghanistan and India. The militancy in Balochistan too is bankrolled by India.
How ironic it is that while the entire world is focused on the rampaging coronavirus the New Delhi-Kabul duo is more interested in fomenting trouble in Pakistan than to taking care of their own people. The world may or may not take notice of this evil mindset but it is under Pakistan's sharp focus. Of course, in its response to Indian LoC violations Pakistan always ensures that its retaliations spare the Kashmiris who are now being used by Indian army as human shields. But then such a tactic has its inbuilt counteract - the peaceful Kashmiris may give up on their pacifism and take up arms against India. Indian leadership would like to recall that the Khalistan movement was embedded in the massacre of Sikhs in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Given both Pakistan and India are nuclear-weapon states, New Delhi should think twice before fomenting trouble in Pakistan's border regions. Both should live together; otherwise as they say, they will die together. And as for the Kabul regime it should stop playing India's game. It must not lose sight of the fact that its own existence; both political and physical, is at stake.
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