The surgical strikes on the terror camps in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) have for the first time shaken Pakistan, said former diplomat and expert on foreign affairs Gopalswamy Parthasarathy here on Thursday.
Delivering the 16TH Harischandra Memorial lecture on occasion of the 83rd birth anniversary of Harischandra Buxipatra, Parthasarathy said the Pakistan Military controls relations with India. It is part of Pakistan Army policy to use radical Islam against India. The aim of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is to weaken India from within.
More than 60 per cent of the Pakistani Army is Pakistani. So except Punjab, Pakistan is fighting a war in all other fronts including Afghanisation, where lakhs of troops are deployed. So give maximum assistance to Afghanisation and use the ISI’s policy of weakening the enemy from within. Be ready to respect peace but when somebody violates it, be ready to hit it with all the force, he said.
In Pakistan the situation is such that an elected Prime Minister is afraid to name the new Army chief. “ I don’t know whether it was my fortune or misfortune to serve in Pakistan.”
But he advised not to be petty minded and mix religion with politics. Allow the common Pakistanis like students and those coming for medical treatment to come to India. However, he said “let us see how US President Donald John Trump deals with Pakistan.”
He further said if Russia has good relations with United States of America it is good for India. Speaking on China, he said along with USA, China is a world player because of its economic policies. It has now more billionaires than USA. Russia is struggling with its own problems, but in the long run it will continue to be a major power because of its abundant resources.
He praised the change in economic policy of the new government at the Centre over the last two years and said India is presently among the fastest growing economies of the world. India has a rich Buddhist circuit in India and China has more than 244 million Buddhists. But unfortunately, this market has not been tapped.
Speaking about Odisha, he said from ancient times the erstwhile Kalinga had trade links with Indonesia, Java and Sumatra. But even after 70 years of Independence , the ports and sea links have not been developed and Odisha would have been a business hub. Among others, Governor Dr SC Jamir , former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik , journalist Rabi Das also spoke. General secretary of Baxipatra Memorial Trust lopamudra Buxipatra delivered the welcome address.