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25 February 2016

Sharif 2.0

By Lt Gen Prakash Katoch
24 Feb , 2016

As reported in the media “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has accepted that the occupation of Kargil by Pakistani troops in the year 1999 was a misadventure and a stab in the back for the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, especially when the two countries were involved in a peace process at Lahore”. He said this while addressing a rally in Muzaffrabad, adding, “I would have said the same thing – he was certainly backstabbed …. But, who do I complain to about that now…. People of India and Pakistan are alike, except for the border in between. We both cherish Aloo Gosht delicacy.”

The ISI may be far more powerful than the IB in Pakistan but the latter would have kept Nawaz Sharif informed of the developments, thereby making him complicit to the Kargil intrusions.


The buffoonery of ‘Aloo Gosht’ apart with India having the largest number of vegetarians in the world, Nawaz Sharif was also the Prime Minister in 1999 during the Kargil intrusions and though he says that he was unaware of what Musharraf was up to, Musharraf maintains Nawaz had been duly briefed. But even if Musharraf is lying considering he is habitual liar, it is not possible that Nawaz Sharif was unaware what was happening with the Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan directly under the Prime Minister.

That the IB monitors and reports every move of the military in Pakistan to the Prime minister would be natural given the history of military coups in that country. A prime task of the IB would be to keep the Prime Minister informed about his possible dethroning. The ISI may be far more powerful than the IB in Pakistan but the latter would have kept Nawaz Sharif informed of the developments, thereby making him complicit to the Kargil intrusions.

Our media surmises that the recent ‘stab in the back’ admission is a bid by Nawaz Sharif to improve ties with India but this should hardly cause for euphoria. In the first place it is an off the cuff remark, not official. But more importantly, why did Nawaz not say this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his ancestral home when the latter made a surprise halt at Lahore on his way back from Afghanistan on December 25 last year on the occasion of Sharif’s 66th birthday and his granddaughter’s wedding.

…the question is that why is Nawaz Sharif shedding crocodile tears now for the massive Kargil intrusions during 1999 employing number Northern Light Infantry battalions (now regularized) and SSG troops? Is he doing this on behest of big brother Raheel Sharif?

Media may claim the recent remark of Nawaz Sharif a positive development but what is positive about it when the Pakistani SIT on the Pathankot IAF base terrorist strike has already absolved JeM chief Masood Azhar of any involvement and there is no hope in hell of any of the actual perpetrators being brought to justice – same as in case of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack even as an odd individual is put in a jail for some period but given the red carpet like Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Pakistani Army Chief General Raheel Sharif has said Pakistan wants cordial relations with India but without any compromise on its honour and sovereignty. But what is the sincerity that he has shown in curbing terror attacks on India? Why is it that while he is trumpeting successes in north Waziristan through Op ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ even as the strikes are on selective terrorist groups and that too with forewarning to enable escape of the leadership, a master terrorists like Hafiz Saeed with a price on his head is roaming free and holding rabid anti-india rallies? Is there any difference between Raheel Sharif and his predecessor Kayani who went on record to say that Pakistan follows “the doctrine of peaceful co-existence with its neighbours especially India” but himself went on to heighten the proxy war on India to the best of his ability?

So, the question is that why is Nawaz Sharif shedding crocodile tears now for the massive Kargil intrusions during 1999 employing number Northern Light Infantry battalions (now regularized) and SSG troops? Is he doing this on behest of big brother Raheel Sharif? Incidentally, despite Raheel Sharif’s ‘voluntary’ statements that he would retire in November 2016 at the end of his three-year term, he may well continue beyond with Pakistani media hinting that the tenure of ‘all’ army chiefs may be raised from three to four years – how very convenient. After all Nawaz Sharif has to keep his post and the Obama administration would support Raheel because of ‘services’ rendered. That the US very much has a say in the internal affairs of Pakistan has been admitted by the US Ambassador to Pakistan in a memo during October 2015. Besides this is not only a case of internal affairs because Raheel Sharif controls both the foreign and defence policies of Pakistan.

It would be naïve for anyone not to see the Pakistani game-plan in concert of their Chinese mentors in coaxing India to vacate the Saltoro Ridge.

Farhan Bokhari writing from Karachi says, Pakistan’s military has always been powerful, launching three coups in the country’s 68-year history, and is often spoken of as the real power in the land. But over the course of 2015, General Raheel Sharif increasingly overshadowed the country’s civilian government. So there is every reason to believe that whether official or otherwise, the script for every statement that Nawaz Sharif makes is handed over by Raheel.

After all, was this not the case of what Nawaz Sharif spoke at the 90th UNGA meet last year: equating plight of Kashmiris (read J&K, not POK) with Palestinians; calling for deployment of UN forces along the LoC; formalizing the 2003 cease-fire, as if a written document would make any difference with Pakistan blatantly blaming India every time they fire themselves to assist infiltration; and, asking withdrawal from Siachen when India atop Saltoro Ridge dominates Pakistani positions on lower ground on the western slopes and no Pakistani soldier has ever set foot on Siachen glacier. Besides, Saltoro Ridge being the vital strategic high ground is wedged between Chinese occupation of Shakgam Valley (5160 sq kms of Indian Territory illegally ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963), Pakistani positions in POK plus Chinese strategic lodgment in Gilgit-Baltistan, and aggressive Chinese intrusions and claims in eastern Ladakh. It would be naïve for anyone not to see the Pakistani game-plan in concert of their Chinese mentors in coaxing India to vacate the Saltoro Ridge.

While Nawaz Sharif would continue parroting the thoughts of the other Sharif, these so called peace overtures must also be viewed in concert developments in J&K. It is public knowledge that Mufti Muhammed Saeed while assuming office as Chief Minister in coalition with the BJP had openly thanked Pakistan for his winning the elections. Post his demise, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti stated that she did not have the vision that his father had, which can be interpreted many ways.

…when Mehbooba was fighting elections in 2001 her personal bodyguards were known hardcore HuM cadres. If she has delayed the formation of the new government in J&K, this has a certain purpose with obvious connivance from across the border.

But even when Mehbooba was fighting elections in 2001 her personal bodyguards were known hardcore HuM cadres. If she has delayed the formation of the new government in J&K, this has a certain purpose with obvious connivance from across the border. Pakistan had launched the Kargil intrusions for two reasons: force Indian troops out of the Valley since militancy had been brought down to a level not to the liking of Musharraf; and, cut off Siachen so Musharraf could wrest the Saltoro Ridge from India in the next phase. Pakistan succeeded in the first with one Division from Kashmir Valley rushed out to deal with the intrusions in Kargil, thereby enabling Pakistan to up the militancy in the Valley again.

Now that the militancy in J&K again has been brought to a low level, efforts appear on to do away with AFSPA in a phased manner, as reported in the media. Such areas sans AFSPA would facilitate establishing safe havens for terrorists, consequences of which are not difficult to guess. Pakistan can be expected to help create the illusion of good intentions by taking a tactical halt in J&K, not that she has not already shifted cross-border firing and terrorist attacks to the IB sector.

India would do well to take Sharif 2.0 into consideration. Nawaz Sharif and Raheel Sharif are two sides of the same coin. Nawaz has no option but to toe the line of Raheel. The latest intelligence exposure that Hafiz Saeed’s multiple Twitter accounts are managed by ISI should leave nothing more to doubt about the intentions of the Pakistani military.
© Copyright 2016 Indian Defence Review

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