Terror Attack: Pakistan’s War-Mongering Continues, “Will Destroy any Structure,” Says Asif

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, May 3: Adding to a series of brazen threats, the Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif “warned” on Saturday that his country would “destroy” any structure built by India to divert water meant for Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty.

The decision to put the IWT in abeyance was taken in the first Cabinet Committee on Security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after the horrific terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 civilians were killed by terrorists.

Under the treaty, 80% of the Indus waters went to Pakistan, and India used 20%. For now, India can’t stop the water from flowing because it doesn’t have big enough storage systems on the rivers that go to Pakistan.

Asif continued his warmonger tactics as border tensions remain high amid buzz of a possible military retaliation by India, and said that any diversion of water would be viewed as an “aggression against Pakistan.”

“That will be aggression against Pakistan… even if they made an architectural attempt of this kind, then Pakistan will destroy that structure,” the Pakistan minister said when asked what Islamabad’s reaction would be if New Delhi constructs dams on the Indus basin.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also threatened that any move to block or change the flow of water meant for Pakistan would be seen as an “act of war.” The Pakistani government’s remarks came as Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil vowed that India would make sure “not even a drop of water” of the Indus Waters flows to Pakistan.

Earlier, Asif had threatened an “all-out war” between India and Pakistan over the issue of Kashmir. His threat was sharply reacted to by the BJP in India, which said the Pakistanis were living in constant fear.

“Khawaja Asif is visibly shaken. Though he is Pakistan’s Defence Minister, he hardly has any control. He’s merely a statement minister, constantly issuing hollow threats. The fear among Pakistanis is evident. They are losing sleep at night,” BJP national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Referring to India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said while New Delhi has warned Islamabad about cutting off water supply, it has no intention of causing harm or taking lives. Farooq Abdullah suggested India is “not as cruel” as Pakistan to “kill” people there.

“…India is the nation of Gandhi, we have threatened them (Pakistan) that we will stop the water, but we will not kill them. We are not as cruel as they are…” Farooq Abdullah said. He also alleged that when the Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan, the people of Jammu and Kashmir were not taken into confidence.

“When the Indus Waters Treaty was signed, the people of J&K were not taken into confidence. Due to its treaty, J&K has suffered the biggest loss,” the National Conference chief said. “I appeal to the government of India to work on a scheme to bring that water to the people of Jammu…” he added.

Earlier in the day, Abdullah also met tourists in Pahalgam and asserted Kashmir was and will always be a part of India. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Abdullah said after the Pahalgam terror attack “the biggest message is that the tourists are not scared.”

“The people who wanted to spread fear have lost. They (terrorists) have lost. It has been proven today that we are not going to get scared. Kashmir was and will always be a part of India. People want terrorism to finish. It has been 35 years since we have seen terrorism; we want progress. We want to move forward. We will become a superpower one day,” Mr Abdullah said.

The analysts said Pakistan’s use of terrorism to achieve its geopolitical goals was not a new phenomenon. Terrorism had been part of Islamabad’s aggressionist policy since Independence.

At the time of Partition in 1947, Pakistan backed tribal militia to invade Jammu and Kashmir and occupied a part of the Jammu and Kashmir now known as “Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK). Beyond the barbed wire fences at the Line of Control are terror launchpads that have one routine task: sending terrorists across the boundary into Jammu and Kashmir. On the other side lies Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, the portion of the Indian region that remains under the occupation of Pakistani troops. Terrorists make their way through the fencing to carry out terror attacks in the country.

These launchpads function freely despite repeated warnings to Pakistan against harbouring terrorism. And Islamabad plays ignorant. After terror struck Pahalgam last month terror links to Pakistan emerged again, exposing how Pakistan has used its occupied portion of Jammu and Kashmir to harbour terrorism.

In his first public remark on the attack, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for a “credible, neutral probe.” His remark underlines the willful ignorance of Pakistani leaders over the years of the home-grown terror infrastructure.

After occupying the PoK, Pakistan developed terror infrastructure and again used it during the 1965 war. Applying its infiltration tactics, Pakistani soldiers were sent across the border into Kashmir under ‘Operation Gibraltar.’ Disguised as locals, they intended to spark an uprising among the Kashmiris, but the attempt failed.

In 1999, when war broke out in Kargil, Pakistani terrorists again infiltrated the border. They initially denied any involvement, but evidence later emerged, establishing how terrorists trained by them had crossed onto the Indian land.

The use of proxy terror groups has allowed Pakistan to remain behind the curtains. It has created, trained, and armed multiple terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad that have carried out several attacks targeting civilians, minorities, pilgrims, and the security forces in India. With these groups claiming responsibility, Pakistan has been able to maintain “plausible deniability.”

Terrorism sponsored by Pakistan in India has seen an increase since the 1990s. Groups armed and funded by Islamabad have carried out some of the deadliest terror attacks in the country, including the 2019 Pulwama attacks. In 1993, a series of blasts left 267 dead in financial capital Mumbai, and Pakistan continues to shelter its mastermind, Dawood Ibrahim, despite global sanctions.

In 2001, the attack on the Indian Parliament was planned by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad. India had released its mastermind, Masood Azhar, in exchange for hostages of a plane hijacked and landed by terrorists in Kandahar in 1999.

Terror struck again in 2008. Several places were targeted in Mumbai. This time it was Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistan’s involvement in the attack was proven through captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab, phone intercepts, and international intelligence.

In 2016, an attack was carried out by terrorists at an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab. Despite allowing a Pakistani investigation team to visit the attack site, no action was taken by Pakistani authorities.

In 2019, the deadliest attack of the decade took place in Pulwama. A suicide bombing on a convoy of Indian paramilitary personnel left 40 dead. India had made legal requests for information on Pakistani suspects, but Islamabad ignored. India had provided Pakistan with adequate evidence of their nationals being involved in spreading terrorism in India after every major attack. However, Pakistan stuck to a script every time, either denying involvement or refusing to act.

Pakistan’s ignorance has allowed the Mumbai attack masterminds, Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, to operate freely in their country. Seventeen years on, it has made no progress on the Mumbai trial despite international pressure. While Pakistan stalled its probe after the Pathankot attack to protect the perpetrators, it ignored all legal requests for information on four suspects after the Pulwama attack.

Pakistan’s global track record of exporting terror is known worldwide. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attack, was found living near a military academy in Pakistan’s Abbottabad. He was eliminated by the US forces in 2011 while another 9/11 conspirator, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was caught in Pakistan.

Besides, several Pakistani citizens or groups backed by them have been found involved in terror attacks across the globe, including the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. Pakistan, blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for terror financing, has frozen terrorists’ assets in the past under international pressure, only to unfreeze them later, exposing their nexus with terror channels.

To save its image, Pakistan has lied blatantly in international forums when accused of providing space to terrorists. It had initially claimed that Sajid Mir, one of the conspirators of the Mumbai attacks, was dead. It later admitted that Mir was alive and in a Pakistani jail. Such lies have not only exposed Pakistan’s duplicity but also undermined global counterterrorism efforts.