Imran cornered: Modi for 'Code of Conduct' against terror; Iran, China want 'inclusive Govt'

As Imran preached stability overseas, TTP added to domestic woes

New Delhi:

There is a saying and it suits the geo-strategic scenario pretty well, if you sow the wind, you are bound to get the whirlwind.

As Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan flew to Tajikistan capital, Dushanbe, along with his hardliner Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and sought to make a strong case of ‘stability’ under Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, in his backyards there remained multiple challenges from Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP).

Is Pakistan caught between two friends who bank heavily on medieval interpretation of Sharia? 

The Afghan Taliban leadership is today left to make a clear choice between the TTP and the authorities in Pakistan. 

The TTP is seen as a ticking bomb. While Imran made an effort to sell out ‘stable Afghanistan’ card, the new Iran President Ayatollah Raisi firmly told him during a bilateral meeting to ensure ‘an inclusive government in Kabul.

"The key to solving Afghanistan’s problems is to form an inclusive government and prevent foreign interference in the country’s affairs", Raisi told him.

Even 'iron brother' China favoured an inclusive government and it was articulated by the Chinese President Xi Jinping himself.

In the meantime, TTP leader Ayman Al-Zawahri has pledged allegiance to Afghan Taliban and also alarmed authorities in Pakistan that it would continue to work and create conditions for 'Sharia implementation' in Pakistan.

In other words, Islamabad has to live with the monster it has created.

Major Gaurav Arya, a well known security analyst says – " When Taliban freed TTP terrorists from Afghan jails, Pakistan protested. That same Pakistan is now planning to pardon TTP terrorists. After years of falsely accusing India of funding TTP, is this a tacit acknowledgment by Pakistan that TTP is their asset?

Pakistan was celebrating for a while on the fall of Afghanistan. The speed at which the change over took place could not have happened without Islamabad’s complicity, and something now realised by the US.

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, when grilled told a Congress committee that Washington could 'reassess' its ties with Islamabad.

For months now, while Pakistan has pushed the Afghan Taliban to stick to violence and power of the barrel road map to dethrone Ashraf Ghani, but at home it said TTP was “after all, our people”.

The refrain being ‘amnesty’ guided by the spirit – “Come here, it is your country”.

But Imran Khan, his vocal ministers and army top brass did not appreciate that the TTP’s understanding of a country could be much different from what Pakistan is today – at least women are not forced indoors.

But ‘Taliban Khan’ and his men and ‘bosses’ in Rawalpindi have to do a stock taking of facts and pragmatism.

India’s enemy could be easily turning on as Imran’s enemies too !

When Pakistan’s ISI chief was trying to display ‘the victory’ with his sinister smile perhaps aimed at India, little did Islamabad realise that by then hundreds of inmates in Afghanistan jails including Pul-i-Charkhi prison have fled.

Anis-ur-Rehman, a Kabul-based journalist, has said last month that 2300 TTP fighters too have been released from Kandahar and Kabul prisons.

 

It is ironic but true that in seeking ‘amnesty’ for TTP, the ‘re-Talibanised Afghanistan’ could be only getting a strategic depth in Pakistan.

The TTP has already warned Pakistani media that they should not be described as ‘terrorists’. The real warning is to Rawalpindi and their chosen men under Imran Khan.

As many as nine splinter groups have already come under an umbrella grouping in last few years suggesting that the TTP can easily demand its slice of the cake.

The cake here would come with bloodshed. 

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Imran cornered: Modi for 'Code of Conduct' against terror; Iran, China want 'inclusive Govt'

New Delhi: 

It was a sort of a nightmarish overseas trip of an over ambitious Prime Minister.

Imran Khan, having shed his cricket icon image, is today confused and isolated making impatient pleas for 'incentives' for the terror regime called the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his remarks for the SCO-CSTO Outreach Summit on Friday said, theree should be norms based on the principle of "zero-tolerance towards terrorism".

"These should be a Code of Conduct to prevent activities like Cross-Border terrorism and terror financing .... If instability and fundamentalism persist in Afghanistan, it will encourage terrorist and extremist ideologies all over the world," Modi said.

He further cautioned in explicit and strong language - "Other extremist groups may also be encouraged to come to power through violence. All our countries have been the victims of terrorism in the past".

Of course, the Summit was attended virtually by Presidents of Russia and China - Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping -

and among others Imran Khan himself, who unlike others flew to Dushanbe pleading for 'funds and stability'

for Afghanistan. 

If Modi's articulate statement was not enough, earlier in the day, new Iranian President Ayatollah Raisi

told him during a bilateral meeting: “We should try to help Afghanistan form a Govt  that includes all 

groups based on the will of the people. The key to solving Afghanistan’s problems is to form an inclusive 

government and prevent foreign interference in the country’s affairs".

Needless to add, Pakistan's covert and overt 'interference' into Afghanistan's affairs is now a proverbial

open secret. In fact, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been also grilled by several Congress

lawmakers in America on Pakistan's double-tongued games for the last many years.

Even the Dushanbe Declaration adopted Friday was crystal clear and echoed the lines of PM Modi

and Iranian President.  "Member States believe that it is critical to have 

an inclusive Government in Afghanistan, with representatives from all ethnic, religious and political 

groups of Afghan society," it said.

Tajikistan, which hosted the SCO Summit, is generally seen as opposed to the Taliban as Tajiks

form the second largest minority in Afghanistan and they are not comfortable in a Pashtun dominated 

arrangement under radical Talibans. 

PM Modi also said: "....together, we should ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used to 

spread terrorism in any other country.SCO member countries should develop strict and 

agreed norms on this subject. In the future, these norms can then become a template for 

global anti-terror cooperation".

Of course, Chinese President urged "relevant parties" in Afghanistan to eradicate terrorism but he  

promised to provide more help to the war-torn nation,

Even Xi sensed the mood of the Summit well and remarked that Afghanistan should be guided 

to be more open and inclusive, and pursue "moderate" domestic and foreign policies.

However, speaking via video link, Russian President Putin said Moscow supported a United Nations 

conference on Afghanistan and that world powers should consider 'unfreezing' Afghanistan's assets.

But Russia also said it would be premature to 'recognise' the Taliban.

Russian Special Presidential Envoy for SCO, Bakhtiyer Khakimov, in an interview with TASS, 

had explained: “At this stage, all member states have an understanding that there are no reasons 

for an invitation until there is a legitimate, generally recognised government in Afghanistan". 

Only 'concession' for Imran Khan has been that many leaders and important stakeholders

concurred with Pakistan that the war-ravaged Afghanistan should not be abandoned. 

PM Modi also said the developments in Afghanistan has led to the "uncontrolled flow of drugs, 

illegal weapons and human trafficking".

"A large number of advanced weapons remain in Afghanistan. Due to these there will be a risk of instability in the entire region. The RATS mechanism of SCO can play a constructive role in monitoring these flows and enhancing information-sharing," he said.

Modi said: "From this month, India is chairing the Council of SCO-RATS. We have developed proposals for practical cooperation on this subject"

.

The SCO-RATS is short for the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure headquartered at Tashkent in Uzbekistan.

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