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| Ghost of Indo-Pak joint statement still alive | | |
The Indo-Pak joint statement of July 16,that was made after the Manmohan-Gilani meeting in Egypt,is again in the line of fire.The opposition BJP has,in advance,made its intentions clear when it announced that it would r ake up the issue of inclusion of Balohistan in the joint statement on the floor of the Lok Sabha.Again in advance the union Home Minister,P Chidambaram,has categorically stated that India has no role,or to be specific no hand,in the trouble in Balochistan.He has said that when India is already worried over tension on the border with Pakistan it has never had any plan of inciting trouble in Balochistan.He has cited the recent statement from a senior Baloch leader who has stated that India had no hand in the turmoil in one of the biggest provinces in Pakistan.Well the very topograophy of Balochistan makes it vulnerable to intrigues from its neighbours.Balochistan is placed between Pakistan,Iran and Afghanistan.It shot to news when in 1998 Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in Balochistan.Since 1970's Balochistan,the land of barren rugged mountains,has been plagued by insur gency.In the beginning it was aided by agencies from Iraq and that was confirmed when the official agency in Pakistan discovered arms,stored in Iraqi embassy,which were meant to be distributed among the insurgents fighting for liberation of Balochistan.During the last three decades Balochistan has witnessed mushroom growth of political and militant organisations campaigning for liber ation of Baloch people from Pakistan.Among the militant and political organisations that are in the forefront of the liberation campaign include Balochist an Liberation Front,Greater Balochistan National Congress,Balochistan National Movement,Baloch Students organisation and Baloch Autonomist Movement. Over the years Islamabad has felt it convenient to blame India for interference in the internal affairs of Balochistan.And while the senior Indian and Pakistani functionaries were engaged in preparing the joint stat ement which was to be issued after the end of the meet ing between the Indian Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh,and his Pakistani counterpart,Yousaf Raza Gilani,on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Egypt the Pakistan side insisted on including refer ence to Balochistan in the statement.Soon after the release of the statement Manmohan Singh explained that the Indian side had vehemently and categorically denied Pak insinuation on India's hand in the turmoil in Balochistan.Occasionally Pakistan has tried to accuse India of aiding insurgency not only in Balochistan but in Sindh and NWFP. And such accusations are made whenever Islamabad comes under world pressure for ending the menace of terrorism.It seems that Islamabad is adept in shifting the focus from terrorism in Pakistan to India's role in aiding terrorism which has not been and will not be accepted by the US and any other country.India has remained engaged in countering terrorism for the last 30 years and it cannot afford to retaliate by aiding terrorists in Pakistan.The Indian agencies may have tried to emulate the ISI by aiding terrorists in Pakistan but the demographic structure in Pakistan is a major disadvantage for these Indian agencies.Hence the ghost of joint statement may stage a comeback in the Lok Sabha.(eom)
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