No More Pakistan now

Chennai: The Forum for Awareness of National Security (FANS) organised a discussion on national security with the theme ‘No More Pakistan’ on June 29. Intellectuals cutting across various walks of life participated in the discussion. The discussion was presided over by Dr VP Nedunchezhiyan, Associate Professor, Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, Guru Nanak College, Chennai.

Former Principal of the Army War College, Pune and Military Strategic Studies Institute, Lt. General L Nishikant Singh, VSM, delivered the keynote address on the intricacies of civil disturbances in various regions of Pakistan and the people’s movement for freedom there.

Organising secretary of FANS Shri Golok Behari Rai explained why there will be No More Pakistan in near future. He said the emergence of ‘Indian Confederation’ would be a guarantee of regional peace and development. He said the people of Balochistan, Pashtoon, Sindh and Mohajir have been striving hard to protect their cultural identity since 1948.

Dr VP Nedunchezhiyan spoke at length on the origin and the manner in which dissatisfied elements in the society are slowly and steadily transformed into hardened terrorists. A person who gets into the prison on remand for a petty offence gets into contact with hardcore elements within the prison and the continuing contacts when he gets out of the prison guides him to training sources and after various stages of the stray incident, organised crimes, handling small weapons, media publicity and so on. The PWG from Srikakulam to Khammam in Andhra Pradesh recruits its cadre from this process and has grown into a notorious gang. The militants are taught that their common enemy is the government, police, elitists, landowners and the rich. Once the person gets media publicity, he gets funding from China, Myanmar and Pakistan for acquiring weapons. He even gets trained up to the level of handling rocket launchers.

Dr Nedunchezhiyan said the agitations in Tamil Nadu are thus the first step towards recruitment of operatives. Tamil Nadu today is the breeding ground for terrorism. The agitations in Koodamkulam, Jallikattu, Methane, Neduvasal are the ones in which suitable operatives are selected by the recruiters, contacted, nurtured, brainwashed and trained. Actually, there is no starvation in Tamil Nadu as right from rice to basic clothing and minimum employment support, there is no cause for starvation. Thus the communist ideology is as good as dead. Therefore, sundry issues are taken up and highlighted for nurturing dissatisfaction among the people. He highlighted the manner in which the number of churches has grown manifold and that all churches are modern and well equipped. The foreign funding sources stand exposed now. The church had a hand in agitations in Koodamkulam, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi.

Lt. General Nishikant Singh explained why all the regions of Pakistan, except Punjab, are not happy. The 4.5 million Pashtoon population is not happy and is craving for independence. Police have committed gross human rights violations. Pashtoons are heavily discriminated against. The UN has reported that 40,000 Pashtoons are missing but the Government of Pakistan has booked only 1400 cases. The Pashtoon people are very agitated over the issue. Nowhere in the world, we find that the Government itself plants land mines and Pakistan has done that in Pashtoon region. He also outlined that the Baluchis were demanding independence from 1931 onwards. In Gilgit region, there have been mass murders of Shias, discrimination against them and heavy human right violations committed by the Pakistani Army.