The Awami National Party provincial president, Asaghar Khan Achakzai, lauded the Chaman Protest Committee for its enduring peaceful demonstration, spanning over a month. He commended the committee for showcasing the hardworking Pashtun community as a symbol of unity within the Afghan homeland.

Addressing the public gathering, Asaghar Khan Achakzai emphasized, “Remember, history will remember you for the cases brought against your comrades by the establishment and ruling elite. You are not alone; standing strong behind you are the successors of Bacha Khan. The sacrifices of Jailani Khan and Asad Khan remain a testament.”

He stressed their commitment to action over mere words, stating, “We stand firm beside you, offering our unwavering support. We are willing to sacrifice for your people’s welfare, following in the footsteps of Jailani Khan Achakzai and Asad Khan Achakzai.”

Achakzai conveyed these sentiments during his address at the protest dharna organized by the All Parties Traders Association affiliated with the Golden Line, witnessing a significant turnout of participants. Jamaluddin Rashtiya, former district president of the Awami National Party, also delivered a speech at the event.

Speaking further, Asaghr Khan Achchzai commended the political parties’ and traders’ union’s leadership for maintaining a peaceful demonstration on the lawn. He highlighted that the rulers’ sense of reasoning would have been lost if unity and adherence to the agreement had been maintained among friends. He criticized the ruling aristocracy, stressing that their strategy aimed to disrupt the ruling class’s tranquility and restlessness.

Highlighting the economic challenges faced by the Afghan people, he emphasized the disparity in wealth and the consequences of the ongoing genocide, indicating that accountability for injustices will eventually come. Rejecting the passport system, he urged laborers to participate in a public meeting on November 26th at the Model High School ground lawn, commemorating the country’s martyrs. He encouraged their attendance as a display of patriotism and national solidarity.

One had expected with onset of winters infiltration of terrorists across the Line of Control [LoC] in J&K would see a temporary pause.

However, with the Indian security forces and J&K police thwarting five infiltration attempts in the last three weeks alone reveals the heightened level of desperation within Pakistan Army’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence [ISI], which is responsible for overseeing the ongoing proxy war in J&K, and there are good reasons for Rawalpindi’s discomfiture.

During a 2010 interview given to Der Spiegel, Pakistan’s ex President and former Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf admitted that militant groups “were indeed formed” by the Pakistan Army. He also revealed that the Government of Pakistan [GoP] had “turned a blind eye because they wanted India to discuss Kashmir“.

So, it’s apparent that Rawalpindi was sanguine that terrorists trained and armed by it would, by creating mayhem in J&K, act as the proverbial ‘gun’ that Islamabad could hold to New Delhi’s head forcing it to negotiate the Kashmir issue on Pakistan’s terms. However, despite investing heavily in creating an elaborate terrorist infrastructure as well as spending millions in arming, equipping and sustaining terrorist groups doing its dirty work, the Pakistan Army’s stratagem hasn’t fructified.

In fact, Rawalpindi’s perverse over-obsession with its self-debilitating strategy of using terrorists as ‘strategic assets’ to wage proxy war with India in J&K has created a vicious environment which promoted growth of religious fundamentalism. This in turn facilitated the emergence of several anti-Pakistan terrorist groups that are today giving the Pakistan Army a run for their money!

Whether Rawalpindi likes it or not, the fact of the matter is that despite trying every trick in the book for nearly three and a half decades, Pakistan Army sponsored terrorism in J&K hasn’t been able to get India on its knees and beg for a dialogue on the Kashmir issue, as it had visualised. Au contraire, by making it clear that “terror and talks don’t go together”, New Delhi has effectively  destroyed Pakistan Army’s grand plans of leveraging terrorism to help Islamabad in negotiating the Kashmir issue on its terms.

Pakistan Army sponsored proxy war in J&K has today degenerated into wanton acts of violence like targeted killings of innocent people belonging to the minority community and migrant workers. This is because being forced on the back-foot by New Delhi’s deft diplomacy and proactive military response, ISI is left with no other option but to fuel communal animosity in a desperate attempt to revive terrorism and also to serve as a face saving measure by creating an illusion that the so-called ‘freedom struggle’ in J&K is ongoing!

So, while Rawalpindi will leave no stone unturned to fuel unrest in J&K by continuing to orchestrate random acts of terrorism in J&K, it’s evident that its proxy war in J&K has been defeated, thanks to the determined and synergised efforts of all stakeholders. 

By abrogating Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, New Delhi unambiguously reaffirmed the well-established and internationally accepted fact that J&K is an integral part of India, and its no-nonsense response policy to acts of terrorism through trans-Line of Control surgical strikes have definitely acted as a viable deterrent for the Pakistan Army and its ‘strategic assets’. New Delhi has also disrupted ISI’s illegal funding operations for financing its proxies like All Parties Hurriyat Conference for financing anti-India protests and promoting secessionist ideology in Kashmir Valley. 

The resultant extinction of protests endorses Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front [JKLF] chairman and senior separatist leader Yasin Malik’s  confidential admission that “Kashmir politics is no longer about ideology; it’s all a money game” ]Emphasis added], which the then US ambassador to India David Mulford had mentioned in a classified cable to Washington  made public by Wikileaks in 2006.

Furthermore, by conducting the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar New Delhi gave foreign delegates an opportunity to physically assess the prevailing situation on ground and with this three day event remaining incident-free and passing off peacefully, Pakistani propaganda claiming that things aren’t normal in Kashmir was fully exposed.

Security forces as well as law enforcement and intelligence agencies too have rendered yeoman service in thwarting ISI’s plan of creating unrest in Kashmir. Besides conducting relentless anti-terrorist operations, security forces alongwith J&K police have also undertaken a concerted drive to identify and apprehend terrorist facilitators. This two-pronged comprehensive approach has derailed ISI’s well established terror ecosystem.

While the extraordinary professional acumen and consummate dedication of the security forces has ensured that terrorists can’t have their way in J&K, their people-friendly actions have won over the hearts of the people. Consequently, locals are now more forthcoming, and fed up with the menace of terrorism are voluntarily providing  the security forces and police accurate information regarding specific locations where terrorists are hiding.

The Indian army’s excellent performance and humane conduct during anti-terrorist operations in J&K is winning accolades from locals belonging to all sections of society. Even a well known Kashmiri activist like Shehla Rashid who was once a staunch army baiter has recently stated on social media that “Looking at the events in the Middle East, today I realise how lucky we are as Indians. The Indian Army and security forces have sacrificed their everything for our safety [sic].” [Emphasis added].

Ms Rashid has also admitted that her 2019 accusation of human rights abuse by army men [which was extensively reported in Pakistani media]  was based on a false input which she had unfortunately failed to verify. However, she’s not the only detractor to praise the Indian army’s implicit observance of an exemplary code of conduct. In a video message to his colleagues, Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Aijaz Ahmad Gojri who was apprehended in May 2018 said, “That day I fled and hid in the bushes, the army could have killed me. But they arrested me and gave me a new life…Our masters sitting in Pakistan would say bad things about the Indian Army, but it isn’t like that. You should see for yourselves. There’s a conspiracy going on, and they are playing with our lives.” [Emphasis added]

Some may claim that Gojri could have been coerced into making this statement, but he too isn’t the only terrorist who has praised the professional demeanour of the Indian army. On September 27, 2022, a joint team of the army and J&K police surrounded a house in Kulgam district’s Ahwatoo village where two local terrorists with weapons were holed up. Following its standard operating procedure aimed at preventing bloodshed, a video call was made to one of the trapped terrorists named Shafi Ganai to convey the assurance that no harm would come to him should he surrender.

Ganai did engage in a conversation with the military and even addressed him as “Sir”,  but refused to surrender saying he was “already close to death”. However, before hanging up and resuming firing on the security forces, Ganai confessed that “I swear, the way the army supports [people of] Kashmir, [the people of] Kashmir also supports the army [in the same way].” 

For reasons best known to him, Ganai had decided not to surrender. So, when in his own words he was “already close to death,” there was no reason for him to tell lies merely to humour those whom he was fighting against and through whose hands he would soon meet his end. Yet, he voluntarily acknowledged the India army’s vibrant relationship with the Kashmiri people. A video of an unidentified army man and Gania engaged in a video chat available on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul8HMrQBe2w], and this is definitely an indisputable proof of the close and strong bond that exists between the people of Kashmir and the Indian army.  

Lastly, Rawalpindi needs to accept the fact that the ‘shelf life’ of its proxy war in J&K has long since expired and is beyond resuscitation. It also needs to realise that making laughable promises to secessionists in J&K like assuring them that the Pakistan Army will go “to any extent” in fulfilling its “obligations,” doesn’t  fool anyone anymore.

So, rather than seeking perverse voyeuristic pleasure in trying to set the neighbour’s house on fire, the Pakistan Army would be doing a lot of good to its own people if it starts looking inwards and sincerely concentrates on fulfilling its constitutional responsibility to the beleaguered people of Pakistan by liberating them from the scourge of home-grown terrorism!

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a terrorist organization has threatened Pakistan on a possibility of fierce action if the latter does not stop targeting people related to it. Once promoted by Pakistan, TTP has now set eyes on the Pakistan controlled territory bordering Afghanistan. In the latest press release, the terrorist organization has stated “For some time now, the power-hungry state agencies (Pakistan) have started unannounced operations and war against those people, whose relatives are in the ranks of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, especially in Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar provinces. A number of people have been arrested during these operations, some of them have been forced to leave their homes, some businesses and properties have been confiscated, and some of them are being harassed in different ways to make them leave their areas.”

Precisely, Pakistan is facing an end that was bound to happen given its choice of means. Pakistan has been repeatedly warned that if it would create the monster of terrorism, eventually none but only it will face the ramifications. But Pakistan helped the terror industry to entrench so firm that it has now become near-to-impossible to eradicate these extremist elements, because, if the detail about Pakistani operation mentioned in the TTP release is to be believed, Pakistan is taking these actions to safeguard the territory under its control and TTP, a terrorist organization, which is threatening it to refrain from doing so. This makes the precarious situation evident.

TTP gives stern warning

Nonetheless, mentioning the ongoing Afghan civilian deportation, the release urges that all believers and Muslim people in Pakistan, particularly scholars, political parties, and tribal leaders, need to contemplate the detrimental policy adopted by the current interim government, influenced by the establishment, fostering hatred towards the Afghan people.

Furthermore, TTP has warned all government officials and their relatives that if this dangerous act and behavior is not stopped within one month and this policy is not removed, then the first attack will be taken at the feet of government officials and their relatives.

Pakistan which calls itself a nuclear state used the menace of terrorism to destabilise Afghanistan and India, however, it has ended up being destabilized. A terrorist organization that operates on its soil is challenging its ‘sovereignty’ and it is in no position to give a tough reply. As last time when TTP and Pakistan Army indulged in clashes in Chitral, Pakistan forces suffered significant losses along with utter humiliation.

Hindus in Pakistan are one of the most persecuted communities in Pakistan, who constantly face multifaceted challenges from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In a latest development, a Hindu temple in Tharparkar has been demolished. The demolition of the temple of Mata Hinglaj, was ordered by the anti-encroachment court in Mirpurkhas. As per reports, hundreds of Hindus accumulated on the site and cried slogans against the demolition of Mata Hinglaj mandir and raised their voice against their persecution.

Interestingly, Hindu temples are often targeted in Pakistan without any materialising legal action against it. However, this time the so-called law enforcement and judiciary has ordered the penalisation of Hindus. In fact, the dacoits and the so-called law enforcement work on the same lines in Pakistan. A couple of months ago, Mari Mata Mandir, a 150-year-old Hindu temple was vandalized by the dacoits in Sindh. In both the cases, the Hindus were helpless and there was no authority to hear their grievances. On the other hand, both the act got acceptance in the radicalized establishment.

Pakistan’s inhumane face has been uncovered for one more time as it charges hundreds of dollars in Exit Permit Fee from Afghan refugees who settled in Pakistan after the Taliban takeover.

The fee is imposed targeting the refugees that are set to leave for western countries under resettlement schemes. As per these resettlement schemes the western countries, primarily US and UK, have committed to settle the Afghan refugees who fled Taliban’s persecution in Afghanistan. While the US has assured of accommodating 25,000 refugees, UK has committed to a figure of 20,000. Accordingly, United Kingdom has opened its scheme for resettlement from January this year, with an announced intake of about 5,000 refugees per year.

Refugee crisis after the Taliban takeover

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, a huge Afghan refugee crisis has mounted. This happened because of the fear of bigoted government that works on a sole purpose of executive any voice of dissent or supporting democracy, precisely the ones who are either acquainted with the former government and its offices or somehow supported the western countries during long period of struggle against Taliban.

As a result, millions of civilians, both documented and undocumented, fled the country and settled in different parts of the world. Pakistan, for obvious reasons, saw most influx. Notably, the undocumented ones include both, without visas or expired visas. Now, Pakistan has started to repatriate the undocumented persons. It all started with a crackdown and a brutal torture of Afghan civilians before giving a final deadline for voluntary return to Afghanistan, which ended on 31^st October. Since then, Pakistan has started to place undocumented Afghan refugees into detention centres for deportation.

Pakistan extorting $830 per person

Pakistan is reported to be extorting about $830 per head in exit permit fee from Afghan civilians waiting to leave for the western countries. After these reports, western countries along with the United Nations have slammed Pakistan for its actions.

Five senior western diplomats in Pakistan said that the exit permit fee in Pakistan was unprecedented internationally and had come as a shock. “I know it is very tough economically for Pakistan but really, to try to make money off refugees is really unattractive,” said one diplomat.

Another diplomat lambasted Pakistan saying, “It is very bizarre, and I personally find it very frustrating. If Pakistan wants to facilitate the process of the settlement of refugees in the West then they should not make it more complicated with such absurd conditions.” “What is the justification for this exit permit fee? To make a lot of money?”

Longstanding mockery of humanity by Pakistan

For the international community, it has come as a shock and unanticipated act of extorting money from the refugees. However, those aware of Pakistan’s real face find no reason to get shocked! Time and again, Pakistan has mocked humanity. Regions like Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, POJK and POGB are filled with such living instances. It is well known that Pakistan is going through its worst economic crisis and so it does not want to leave any opportunity to squeeze the money. It knows that the Afghan civilians leaving for western countries are going to get some humane refuge and would easily pay any amount to get rid of their authoritative regime and so It is squeezing the last penny it could.

The worst part is that Pakistan is doing this even though it is the foremost reason, this crisis had unfolded and reached this point. On one side it portrayed itself as the victim of terrorism to appropriate funds from the US and on the other hand it helped Taliban in its destabilising efforts. It was done mainly for two reasons, first to maintain the inflow of funds intact and second to use Afghanistan as its strategic backyard for launching terrorist attacks in India using the same US funds.  

Now that the US led western forces have retrieved from Afghanistan, Pakistan is trying to extort anything possible.