So, the
world has finally realised that Masood Azhar is a terrorist! One wonders about
the reason behind this enlightened thought especially so far as China is
concerned. China has relented, not
because of a change of heart, but because the international pressure and
isolation was becoming unbearable. Its opposition to proscribing Azhar was
perplexing the international community given that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the
organisation that Masood Azar heads, has already been declared a terrorist
organisation by the UNSC (United Nations Security Council) and China was party
to the decision. As such, its obduracy in “protecting” Azhar was beyond any
logic.
Pakistan, always in the lookout to secure brownie points, has
attempted to reverse the very obvious diplomatic setback caused by the
proscribing of Masood Azar. It is, quite comically, highlighting the omission in
the UN statement about the JeM chief’s personal involvement in the spread of
terror in Kashmir as also the role played by him in the terror attack at
Pulwama. Apparently, Pakistan prevailed upon its all-weather friend China to do
at least this much for it in the circumstance where the embarrassment became
inevitable.
The fact however remains that Masood Azhar is a prized asset for Pakistan. Apart from meticulously planning several terrorist attacks against India, he has succeeded in creating an army of Jihadis who are ready to lay down their lives at his command. Most of them are directed against India, particularly Kashmir. His importance lies in the fact that the then government of Pakistan along with its army and notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had made several attempts to get him released from a jail after he was arrested in Kashmir in 1994. Five years later, the Indian government was forced to release him along with two others–Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Omar Sheikh, in exchange for the safe release of passengers of the Indian Airlines Flight IC-814, which was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Pakistan should have arrested the hijackers the moment they landed in the country, instead, it gave them and their leaders Masood Azhar a hero’s welcome.
Now that Azhar is declared a global terrorist, the government of
Pakistan will be forced to arrest him and seize his assets. How the same will
be done is a big question since Azhar has, in the past, threatened the Pakistan
government of violence if it undertakes any such act. Secondly, he enjoys the
support of the Pakistani Army. Therefore, the Pakistani establishment is cagey
while taking any action against him.
Also, this declaration may well turn out to be a case of “too
less, too late.” Masood Azar has been unwell for long now and remains under
treatment in army facilities. He does not exercise effective control on his
organisation which is said to be “looked after” by his relatives, from among
whom, there are casualties reported during the Indian air strike on JeM camps
in Balakot.
His proscription will not have anything more than salutary effect
on the activities of JeM. The organisation will definitely do something big to
prove that it continues to be strong despite the setback. It would, therefore,
be necessary for the security forces in Kashmir and intelligence agencies
across India to remain extra vigilant for the reaction. The need for alertness
is necessitated even more due to the ongoing elections in India, which are now
at a very sensitive stage. Another significant aspect is the advent of the holy
month of Ramazan when a special brand of propaganda, supported by violence, is
unleashed by terrorists in Kashmir.
On the diplomatic front India should move fast to leverage the
proscription and get the international community to prevail upon Pakistan for
some concrete action in eliminating the fundamentalist Islamist organisations
operating in the country. In fact, the time has come to also expose the fault
lines in this regard that exist in China.
China
is a country that does not think twice before decimating any form of dissent
against the state and in particular when there’s a religious overtone. The
manner in which a crackdown has been carried out against the Uighur population
in Xinjiang Province bears evidence to this reality. The Uighurs, an ethnically
Turkic group of Muslims of the formerly independent Republic of East Turkistan,
which is presently under China’s control and is called the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region (XUAR) are unhappy under Chinese rule. Their freedom movement
gained momentum since the early 1990’s. The Chinese authorities reacted with
large scale arrests and summary executions. In 1998, the National People’s
Congress passed a new criminal law that redefined “counter-revolutionary”
crimes to be “crimes against the state”, liable with severe prison terms and
even execution. Many restrictions on their religion, which include forbidding
parents and guardians to allow minors to engage in religious activity that were
not found elsewhere in China were imposed in XUAR. Due to this restrictive
crackdown, the decade from 1998 to 2008 witnessed zero Uighur related violence,
but eruptions have become common since 2009.
When China can be
strict to the point of being brutal in quelling even a whiff of religion-based
insurgency on its soil, surely, as a responsible world power, it needs to show
sensitivity towards the problems being faced by other nations and regions
across the world. With the ban in place, India should further this issue by
emphasising that the delay in the process was rather unwarranted.
The proscription
of Masood Azhar, though significant and definitely a feather in the cap of our
foreign policy, should not create too much euphoria. The pressure has to be
maintained on the terrorists operating in Kashmir and diplomatic efforts have
to be further energised. The calls for opening a dialogue with Pakistan will
gain momentum once the new government takes office in India. The situation will
need to be studied deeply before taking any decision. One factor would be the
existence of a noticeable change in the attitude and policy of the government
of Pakistan post the proscription of Masood Azhar.
