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| Pakistan’s terrorist activities keep on mounting | |
By Manzoor Ahmed
Pakistan’s terrorist activities have not been a secret. It has been known for years that Pakistan has been supporting and sustaining terrorist groups despite international outcry and sanction. The audacity with which Pakistan has been doing it, so openly, leaves a serious question mark on the world’s efforts to root out terrorism. Pakistan’s continuing dalliance with terrorism is a loud and clear statement of failure on the part of the international community.
It is not wrong to say that without reigning in Pakistan, there cannot be a victory over terrorist groups.
The latest revelation of how Pakistan funded and aided an attack on the US officials in Afghanistan is not really a surprise but a valuable link of confirmations of Pakistan’s terrorist nature.
In December 2009, seven CIA personnel were killed in a deadly suicide attack at Camp Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan. Pakistan was among the first ones to condemn the attack and later deny all allegations of complicity. The Afghan security officials were the first one to point finger at ISI and the Haqqani Network, a global terrorist group patronised by Pakistan Army. It is now clear that within two months of the attack, the US had ample information about the conspiracy hatched by ISI and the Haqqani Network to target the US military camp. This is disclosed in a diplomatic cable made public early April 2016.
Pakistan ironically is not only an ally of the US but also a major beneficiary of US financial aid. The US government has sought Congressional approval of $750 million as aid to Pakistan in 2017. Many people wonder whether Washington was paying ransom to its ally for not targeting the US troops. There may be more than a nugget truth in this belief, if you look at the leaked diplomatic cable dated February 6, 2010 from Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which carries the following title-- “PAKISTAN INTER-SERVICES INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE AND HAQQANI NETWORK INVOLVEMENT IN THE 30 DECEMBER 2009 SUICIDE ATTACK ON FORWARD OPERATING BASE CHAPMAN.” OF LATE DECEMBER 2009,
The cable goes on to say that the plan to attack the US base was finalised at a meeting between two Haqqani men and some ISI officers. The ISI officers handed over $200,000 to the Haqqani men and briefed them about the attack plan which was to be carried out by a Jordanian al Qaeda member.
Another cable pointed out that such meetings between ISI and the Haqqani network were regular. The cable said: At the end of every month, senior Haqqani network leadership met with the ISID in Islamabad. The meetings were attended by SirajHaqqani andBadruddin. ISID Colonel (Nasib) chaired the meetings.ISI Major (Daoud) and Sobedar (Zarim) were also in attendance. An unknown amount of funding was provided to the Haqqanis for use in unspecified operations during these meetings.``
Aside from the Chapman attack, the Haqqani-ISI combine was responsible for the July 2008 attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, May 2010 suicide bombing in Kabul that killed five US soldiers besides one Canadian soldier and 12 Afghan civilians and a September 2011 attack on a NATO post that killed five Afghan soldiers and injured over 70 US soldiers and
There has never been a dearth of evidence against this evil combine which worked as an integral part of the state of Pakistan which otherwise claimed to be working with the US and the international community to fight against terrorism. Some of the top military and civilian leadership of the US had time and again spoken and testified that terrorist groups like the Haqqani Network were the veritable arm of the ISI, the notorious intelligence wing of Pakistan Army which reports directly to the Chief of Army Staff.
If any other country in the world had committed so many atrocities on the people of different countries, it would have been isolated and sanctioned long before. But not Pakistan. Pakistan has never been declared a terrorist state although once long time ago the US came close to doing so but then withdrew. At that time, there was not enough to nail Pakistan. But since then, the amount of evidence has only mounted. There is, in a manner of speaking, a Fort Knox full of material evidence against Pakistan, its army and its generals.
Yet, strangely, the US continues to ply this terrorist state with funds and weapons. There is no revenge for the blood of the US soldiers. This must end.
Unless Pakistan is punished, and punished severely, for its terrorist activities, there will be no end to terrorism. ISIS is less of a threat than Pakistan. Terrorist groups supported, sheltered and sustained by Pakistan since the late 80s have killed more people than any single terrorist group. Remember al Qaeda which carried out the 9/11 attack was operating out of Afghanistan and Pakistan and its chief, Osama bin Laden was sheltered, after the attack, in Pakistan. There has to be a concerted effort by the international community to make Pakistan accountable for its various commissions of violence.
(The writer is a freelance journalist based in Kashmir)
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