Congress-led UPA speaks Pakistan’s language
The responsibility for the recent killing of five Indian jawans along the line of Control in Poonch in Jammu & Kashmir lies to a large extent with the Congress-led UPA Government as it does entirely with the Army across the border and, by extension, the recently sworn-in Nawaz Sharif regime. By continuing to overlook the repeated breach of the ceasefire agreement along the loC by the Pakistani Army which has over the months claimed precious lives of our soldiers, and taking a soft line on the infiltrations that militants make with Islamabad's Army providing covering fire, the Union Government has encouraged Pakistan to sustain its deadly attacks. Even in the present case, the impotence of the Congress-led regime is evident from the ridiculous statement by Union Minister for Defence AK Antony that the attackers were actually terrorists dressed in Pakistani Army's uniform. His remark not only reiterates the alibi that the Pakistani establishment is forever promoting but also flies in the face of several expert opinions, including that within the Indian Army, that the neighbouring country's Army regulars had entered the Indian side of the loC, ambushed a patrol party and killed the jawans, perhaps in a bid to help infiltration. If the Indian Government believes that some “persons” dressed in Pakistani Army uniform had launched the attack, why is it wasting time by lodging a ‘strong protest' with IslamabadIJ Pakistan too has denied the role of its Army and has washed its hands of the incident, saying other elements may have been involved. It would not be an exaggeration to conclude that the UPA regime appears to be on the same page as that of its Pakistani counterpart — which suits the propagandists across the western border, and some from within India, perfectly. The conclusion that we can draw from Mr Antony's silly but dangerous clean chit to the neighbouring Army — is that the Government is desperate to push ahead with talks with the Sharif regime, and does not want to acknowledge any truth which can come in the way of that determination. While talks with Pakistan are a way out, they cannot be held when that country is bent on using violence to gain an upper hand.
Given that the UPA regime has allowed Islamabad to get away with similar atrocities in the past, it would be a miracle if it actually takes a firm stand and calls off potential talks between the Prime Ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of a United Nations meet in New York in September, or takes other measures such as scaling down diplomatic or trade ties. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's attempt to reach out to the Opposition to explain the Government's position and ‘cool down tempers' would have been more credible had his Government acted decisively in the past. Remember how he went back on the resolve that he made in January that it will no longer be “business as usual” with Pakistan after the latter's Army killed Indian soldiers and mutilated their bodies. Within months of that, business was back as usual. Trade and visa agreements fell in place and India began engaging officials of Islamabad. On an earlier occasion, after the 26/11 attacks, New Delhi had made a similar resolve, and broke that too within months. There is a limit to ill-placed generosity.