‘War on Terror’ is one of the darkest chapters in the history of Pakistan as it has severely dented our national economy worth $123 billion and taken almost 70,000 lives of security forces but ultimately trained us how to survive in any critical situation.
In the aftermath of 9/11 attacks, a new world order was enforced to deal with the menace of terrorism and to launch a worldwide crackdown against terrorists.
Although it was a difficult decision, nevertheless, Pakistan preferred to be in front line to eliminate this chapter once for all from its soil. After all, Pakistan won this war successfully and proved its mettle on the globe.
It is pertinent to mention here that no country, except for Pakistan, has won this war, even the so-called sole superpower United States of America (USA) has failed in Afghanistan.
The USA has been planning for a long time to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan but it could not due to certain reasons.
Contrary to the claim that the USA made to abolish the Taliban from the face of the earth, she is now holding negotiations with them in Doha and Dubai. Empires frequently capitulate on the claims they make so pompously, history tells us.
Earlier, the US was ignoring Pakistan’s importance in talks with Taliban but later on, she, unwillingly, acknowledged it and sought help from Pakistan to play its role in bridging the gap between them in the wake of regional peace and prosperity.
Pakistan wholeheartedly welcomed peace talks between the US and Taliban and is making all-out efforts voluntarily to build a consensus between them as it understands that peace in Afghanistan is in its favour.
It is India which is consistently trying to sabotage the peace process in Afghanistan because it is indulged in cross border terrorism in Pakistan through Afghanistan. The presence of dozens of Indian consulates in Afghanistan is ample proof of it.
In the garb of its diplomatic mission, New Delhi is provoking hatred among the Afghan people and using their land against Pakistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, like his predecessor Hamid Karzai, has a soft spot for India due to his vested interests. Sooner or later, he will also regret as Karzai is doing these days.
Since the creation of Pakistan, India does not miss an opportunity to attack Pakistan’s sovereignty and wants to isolate it in the comity of nations.
India addicted to day-dreaming, alien to ground realities, does not realises how powerful country Pakistan has become after fighting a proxy war for almost two decades.
Pakistan is a peace-loving nation, and it does not want any war with anyone on the globe because it believes in co-existence on equality basis.
But, unluckily, India is taking Pakistan’s stance as a weakness and trying to impose a war on such a nation who has been living in a war-like situation since 9/11.
After releasing the trailer of shooting down two Indian jets which violated Pakistan’s air space, it has given an eye-opener message to India not to take any more adventure as it would fire back to itself.
As a goodwill gesture, Pakistan repatriated captured Indian pilot to his country to cool down the heightened tension, arisen in the wake of Pulwama incident between the two nuclear rivals.
But in return, Pakistan received the dead body of Shakirullah who mistakenly crossed the line of control in 2003.
Keeping in view gravity of ongoing escalation with India and in the broader interest of regional peace and stability, Pakistan did not overreact on this inhuman Indian act and swallowed this bitter pill patiently.
Pakistan is leaving no stone unturned to normalise relations with India, but its warmongering premier Narendra Modi’s whole election campaign is dependent on anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan rhetoric.
That’s why; any peace-building measure taken by Pakistan has been portrayed negatively by Modi’s administration like Kartarpur Corridor. Instead of welcoming this positive gesture, he is politicising it for point-scoring for his upcoming elections and accusing his opposition party Congress for mishandling of Kartarpur during the time of partition.
Flashbacking to Modi’s track record, he was the mastermind of Gujrat 2002 anti-Muslim riots.
According to a senior police officer’s sworn statement to India’s Supreme Court, Gujrat chief minister of that time Narendra Modi deliberately allowed the massacre of innocent Muslims.
Moreover, to win the 2014 elections, he exploited religious tension pledging to build a temple at the site of the historic mosque (Babri Masjid) during his campaign.
Well! Some political pundits and astrologers have opined that due to his jingoistic internal and external policies, his political graph is gradually going down and he will have to face the music in forthcoming elections. Also, it would be his last election, they predicted.
Pakistan is the flag bearer of peace in the world. It is making consistent efforts for its revival through thick and thin, and the world is acknowledging its unflinching determination.
Pakistan is leaving no stone unturned to normalise relations with India, but its warmon-gering premier Narendra Modi’s whole election campaign is dependent on anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan rhetoric.
The writer is a freelance columnist.