India's Stance at Nuclear Security Summit Highly Positive

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's US visit can be termed successful from various aspects. He had gone there to take part in the conference held at the initiative of US President Barack Obama. The conference objective was to prevent illegal exchange of nuclear technique and ensure that nuclear weapons and technique do not fall into terrorists' hands.

The conference attended by representatives of 47 countries raises the hope that a positive decision would be taken in the near future to make the world secure of nuclear weapons. Doubtless, the endeavors to wipe out all nuclear weapons from the earth should continue to be made between Russia and the United States. To bring about reduction in the nuclear arsenal in the two countries should be viewed in this very context.

Issue of Nuclear Disarmament
At present, the eyes of the world are set on Iran and North Korea that are engaged in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Other countries also can tread the same path in the times ahead, which may lead to the destruction of the entire world.

India adopted a highly positive stance at the conference. Even as the country is not among nations that have signed the agreement regarding nuclear disarmament, its viewpoint has been that the United States and other big countries should also destroy their nuclear weapons to a large extent and then only the target of making the world free of nuclear weapons can be realized.

Mumbai Mayhem
At the end of his US visit, Dr Singh referred to the India-Pakistan relationship and emphasized that Pakistan should clarify its policy on India and terrorism spreading all across the world. The mayhem created by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiyiba in Mumbai is by now a universally known fact. Yet, Pakistan's adamant attitude has made it evident that its intentions toward India are still mala fide.

In so far as the details of the Mumbai terrorist attack are concerned, India has conveyed all information through various dossiers given to the Pakistani Government. But when intentions are not without malice, how can the policy become clear-cut?

Conditions in Pakistan's Provinces
The way Pakistan now finds itself trapped in terrorism, its own future appears to be extremely unstable. In such conditions, if Pakistan tries to further complicate the situation rather than improving it, or if it sill, doesn't mend its approach through its actions then it will have to suffer a lot in the times ahead. Which is why while India's image is becoming strong at the international level, Pakistan can be reckoned among the world's extremely dangerous countries. Conditions in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan have worsened so much that it will become difficult for any government to control them.

India has so far been avoiding any big confrontation with Pakistan, which is a sign of maturity on India's part. For, the conflict between the countries can prove devastating for the regime. Doubtless, the Pakistani Government needs to rise to the reason with a sense of big responsibility. In this lies the welfare of billions of the people living in the two neighboring countries.

Pakistan's Hypocrisy Over Resolution of Kashmir Issue

Judging the present war of words between India and Pakistan on the foreign secretary level talks to be held in New Delhi, only a miracle can make them successful. The problem is not just that Pakistan is insisting on a composite dialogue whereas India wants terrorism to be the focal point of the talks. At the same time, Pakistan is trying to convince the world that its diplomatic skill has compelled India to climb down.

India's Alleged Interference in Balochistan
It is quite ridiculous for Pakistan to want a successful dialogue and also have the liberty to raise any issue like Kashmir, distribution of river waters, and India's alleged interference in Balochistan during the talks. Pakistan seems to be preparing for a wrestling bout rather than a dialogue. Right now, it is difficult to predict what kind of atmosphere will prevail during the talks and what issues will be raised. However, what is promising is that India has apparently abandoned its defensive attitude.
If Pakistan wants to add to India's problems on the pretext of discussions it is imperative for India to adopt the tit-for-tat policy. There is no other alternative. Even if Pakistan professes to want the Kashmir issue to be solved on priority basis, frankly speaking, Pakistan is least interested in settling the matter. Pakistan has been trying to corner India on the excuse of Kashmir only due to its weak diplomacy. Rightfully speaking India should have isolated Islamabad on the issue of Occupied Kashmir. After all, it is Pakistan that has forcefully occupied part of India's territory.

Basic Change in Kashmir Policy
India should now at least make a basic change in its Kashmir policy, which will convince the world that Pakistan is the obstacle in solving the Kashmir issue. If this is not done, Pakistan will continue to mislead the world by comparing Kashmir with Kosovo, Palestine etc. Instead of being accountable for the Kashmir problem, Pakistan has been acting arbitrarily on Occupied Kashmir, which is highly inappropriate.
Terrorist organizations have complete freedom there. Activities of Chinese companies in Occupied Kashmir are a problem that should be raised not only before Pakistan but also at an international level.

Pakistan's Discomfiture
As a matter of fact, every issue that will add to Pakistan's discomfiture should be raised. That is essential since Pakistan is demonstrating a diplomatic bias instead of heading toward a solution of problems. India should not hesitate to convey to the world that having a dialogue with a prejudiced Pakistan is sheer waste of time.
The dialogue, which is to be held between the countries, might please Pakistan and satisfy the United States. However, India is unlikely to gain much from the same.

Interest of Regional Powers in Sri Lankan Presidential Elections

The Tamil community will perhaps not be in the proper frame of mind disposed toward New Year greetings. The wounds of war run deep and have not healed. The Tamil community's collective psyche has been grievously battered and bruised.
High security zones have not been dismantled in the North and East. The homelands of the Tamils ravaged. Tamil youth languish endlessly in prisons though no action is taken to investigate and clear them or prosecute them. The Tamil people are up against unprecedented sufferings in the lands of their births. But the government merely offers them concessions such as opening of roads and lifting of fishing prohibitions to lure them to the polling booths.
Attempts are made to delude the people into believing that normalcy has returned to their lives. Neither emergency regulations nor curfews have been lifted as yet. The extension of emergency regulation in parliament every month has become an institutionalized tradition. There are no more search operations and arrests in the Jaffna Peninsula. Perhaps the government has suspended these things with the objective of winning the hearts of Jaffna's citizens and securing their votes. But arrests and search operations continue unabated in southern Sri Lanka as a strategy to lure the voters there.

Election Strategy
By resolving the immediate needs of people which were lost as the fallout of the war the government is making a great show that they are the decade's long grievances of the Tamil community. Because Sarath Fonseka says that expediting resettlement is another election strategy the government retorts by saying it cannot waste time by relating tales about landmines.
Meanwhile, huge crowds throng to see Sarath Fonseka at rallies. The upcoming Presidential Election will decide whether the crowds gathering at his rallies are idle spectators or not.
The United National Front (UNF) Alliance feels that if the Tamil National Alliance lends its support to Fonseka's candidacy that along with the split in the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) would help him to secure a considerable number of Tamil votes.
R.Yogarajan who was the national organizer of the CWC and party member and Deputy Education Minister Satchithanandan, have crossed over to United National Party.
R.Yogarajan is of the view that the All Party Representative Committee [APRC], which held more than 100 sessions, will not produce any meaningful results as far as the Tamil community's grievances are concerned. He says that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government's thinking is that there is no need for any devolution of powers for the Tamil community.
Since Prof. Tissa Vitharana has not released the APRC report, Yogarajan appears to be entertaining some suspicions relating to the credibility of the report.
It is said that the Democratic People's Front leader Mano Ganeshan has been unsettled by the crossover of these two hill country politicians. Mano Ganeshan should realize the fact that crossing over is very common at this time and is an inherent feature in a democracy. Further, there is also the fact that the APRC was only a tool used by the government to lull the international community and Tamils in the country into a false sense of satisfaction.
The split in the CWC would have shocked the main political leaders. At the same time Wimal Weerawansa, leader of the National Freedom Front says the international network of the LTTE has exerted pressure on Sampanthan to back the candidacy of Sarath Fonseka.

Southern Chauvinism Continues
His statement proves the fact that southern chauvinism continues to cling on to the LTTE to press on with their political activities. And they cannot dabble in politics sans the involvement of the rebels.
While Sampanthan says it was the wrong decision taken by the LTTE at the 2005 Presidential Election because it led to their destruction, Wimal Weerawansa expresses exactly the opposite opinion.
Sampanthan seems to have accepted the reality that if he announces a TNA decision to back the candidacy of Sarath Fonseka there would be chauvinistic elements to brand him an LTTE sympathizer. And that is why he appears to be adopting the strategy of expressing anti-LTTE opinions.
He also seems to be under the impression that the Tamil population has rallied round his leadership.
But the people in the North and East are more concerned about living in an atmosphere that's free of armed groups.
Tamils and Muslims who have spent their lives in areas under the control of the armed forces look forward to an ambience that is free of armed groups and the armed forces.
Even when the LTTE conducted peace talks with the government they attached priority status to the need for a return to normalcy in the lives of the Tamil people.
Meanwhile the Jaffna university students, who released a statement during the period when the election for the Jaffna Municipal Council was held, have released another statement relating to the presidential poll.
The secretary of the Students Union of the University says that either boycotting the Presidential Election or contesting the election independently cannot be welcomed.
Contesting or voting in the election is the democratic right of the people. There is also the fact that this election is not a political battlefield for the Tamils. Tamils should understand the fact that the man elected as president will have power to rule the entire nation. Further, this election is also a war of sorts for western and regional powers who seek to dominate the Indian Ocean. These powers are the driving force which makes both presidential contenders dance to their tune.

Opportunity for Tamil Community
Nowadays, Somali pirates tend to often prove the significance of the Indian Ocean. The incident involving a Chinese merchant vessel that was commandeered by the pirates has made China feel the need for positioning a deterrent Chinese naval vessel in the region.
China recently built a commercial harbor in Gwader in Balochistan, located inside the maritime boundaries of Pakistan. But since a liberation struggle is being waged in the region China feels it is not safe to construct a naval harbor there. As such, China might propose to establish a naval harbor close to Hambantota where construction of a modern commercial harbor is underway under its supervision.
At the same time India would prefer the election of a pro-India president in Sri Lanka before China strengthens its hold in Sri Lanka.
This presidential election offers an opportunity to the Tamil community to hit back at India for having helped the Chauvinistic regime in Sri Lanka on a large-scale to completely suppress and devastate the liberation struggle of the Tamil community. And Tamils have the power to accomplish this task.

Indian Intervention in Balochistan

Is the US now planning to carry out drone attacks on Balochistan, much like it has done in Waziristan and other agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)? Will the Taliban Shura - whose chief is said to be Mullah Mohammad Omar, who, according to the US and Indian propaganda, has taken refuge in Quetta - be the target for these possible attacks? Have India's activities and shenanigans in Balochistan increased from earlier on? Are the Indian agents being employed in Balochistan becoming the US' ears in regards to the Taliban Shura?

These are the questions that face Pakistan, and that have overwhelmed it. Prominent US newspaper The Washington Post wrote on September 30, 2009: 'The Taliban Shura in Quetta and the surrounding areas are planning attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan'. Pakistan has strongly denied this, but the US ambassador stationed in Islamabad, Anne Patterson, said in an interview: 'We are worried over the presence of the Taliban Shura in Quetta. We have in the past had our focus centered on Al-Qaeda, but for Washington, the Taliban Shura now heads the list'. So, is a new fight now coming to the fore in Balochistan?

Pakistanis are trying to steer clear of this fight, and it will only be best if the US avoids drone attacks in Balochistan. But the main question is: How can we be safe from Indian intervention and violent activities in Balochistan? If Pakistan is crying out on all forums in the world that India is interfering in Balochistan and backing rebellious elements there, it is certainly not being said in jest. There exists evidence, and this evidence is being presented by India and its eminent journalists, thinkers, former diplomats and military analysts. For instance, the article that former Indian diplomat M K Bhadrakumar wrote on September 6, 2006, immediately after Nawab Akbar Bugti's assassination, is both venomous in regards to Balochistan's domestic situation and a reflection of India's intervention and aspirations in Balochistan. Bhadrakumar wrote: 'Just like India wants to make (Occupied) Kashmir a part of itself at all costs, no matter how heavy the damages to life and property, Pakistan, similarly, wants to maintain its 'occupation' in Balochistan - no matter how much blood there has to be spilt'.

Prevailing Political Circumstances
This commentary is certainly provoking, though this former Indian diplomat knows very well that the political circumstances in Occupied Kashmir (Indian-administered Kashmir) and Balochistan are entirely different. Yet the said Indian Hindu deliberately steered clear of this reality and indulged in a wrong debate.

The following is not an accusation made against India for the sake of making one: that nearly 600 Baloch youth are being trained under Indian supervision in Afghanistan to carry out disrupting activities in Pakistan. Moles say that two wings of the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), namely CIT-X and CIT-J are running the camps for the above-mentioned Baloch youth. Famous Indian military expert, Praveen Swami, says: 'When in the past Pakistan had shenanigans carried out in support of the Khalistanis in India, RAW had CIT-X and CIT-J carry out explosions in Karachi and Lahore, in reply. These wings of RAW were shut down in the tenure of I K Gujral, but both may now be employed again to teach Pakistan a lesson'.

B Raman has added to these comments by Swami - and this is actually an intimation of the fact that India may have certain 'motives' for intervention in Balochistan, and that these are impliedly being admitted to. B Raman is a former RAW agent and now a prominent defense analyst. He says: 'There has been a significant decrease in the number of Hindus in Balochistan. This is an outright cruelty and an act of seclusion against them by the Establishment of Pakistan. During the construction of the port at Gwadar, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had forcefully removed the Balochi Hindus from there. India is quite distressed about such measures by Pakistan against the Balochi Hindus'.

If we read this provoking statement by a former agent of the Indian secret agency together with the statement of former Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, it clearly opens up the layers to India's intervention in India. He was serving as chief of the Indian Navy when Mehta on January 24, 2008, said: 'The Gwadar Port has a strong adverse impact on India's strategic matters'.

A crushing and effective reply should have been given to this, but former President Pervez Musharraf and his supporters stayed mum. Such criminal silence can indeed be expected from a head of a state and a­ (former) head of the Pakistan Army who, for the sake of his own interests, becomes India's panhandler.

Every body knows that the Indians are behind whatever is being said against Pakistan in the name of a 'Baloch voice' and about the 'independence of Balochistan', over the past more than half a decade. But it is upsetting to see that Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz, as president and prime minister respectively, could not only not put a stopper to this voice from India, but could not raise their own voices against India either.

Independence of Balochistan
The centers under Indian supervision in Afghanistan called 'Missions in Pakistan', which prepare and distribute literature on Balochistan, are another tragic subject. It is the effect of this very literature and Indian intervention that made Nawabzada Brahmdagh say during a discussion with BBC on August 26, 2009: 'If India helps us in the independence of Balochistan, we shall accept'. It should be noted that there are 31 cases against Brahmdagh Bugti - ranging from murder to treason. Pakistan is fully assured that this mister is acting against Pakistan with all sorts of help provided by India.

It seems as if India is deliberately - and for the attainment of some greater goal -provoking its thinkers to spend all their energies in the form of the written word, so that the people of Balochistan may become wary of Pakistan and be inflamed against it. The case of Dr Ajay Sahni can be presented as an example. Ajay Sahni resides in Delhi and is an Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict (Management) and editor of the Asia Intelligence Review. He has in his comprehensive article, 'Is Pakistan Overhyping India's Role in Baluchistan' - which was published in The Times of India - resorted to a weird sort of instigation against Pakistan as regards Balochistan. He says: 'More than a million people were brought in from other provinces and settled in Balochistan so that the Baloch may be beaten on the basis of population. India, being a democratic and civilized country, can absolutely not remain isolated from whatever cruelties are happening to the Baloch in Balochistan'. This is the opinion of an Indian thinker, which in fact could be termed the Indian government's aspirations in relation to Balochistan.

Part of Joint Statement
When there was a meeting between Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) on July 16, 2009, Gilani, considering it an appropriate opportunity, mentioned the Indian intervention in Balochistan, which was then also made a part of their joint statement. This was like a great diplomatic victory for Pakistan, to which there was great reaction in India. An as extremist and fundamentalist a Hindu party as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protested against the prime minister in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. The prime minister even rescinded from his statement under pressure. A statement by Manmohan Singh in this regard was thus published on July 30, 2009: 'When I spoke to Prime Minister Gilani about terrorism from Pakistan, he told me that most Pakistanis believe that India is aggravating matters in Balochistan. I told him that we have no interest in destabilizing Pakistan. If Pakistan has evidence in this regard, we would like to see it'.

India's rescindments are known to the whole world, what difference does another one make. But the commentary that Sandeep Pandey - peace activist and prominent thinker - made on this statement in India is noteworthy too. Pandey said: 'Prime Minister Singh has in his (said) statement nearly admitted to what every Pakistani is mentioning (Indian intervention in Balochistan)'.