He revealed that India has set up a 'Balochistan Operational Cell' under RAW to devise a radical force for subversion and terrorist activities in the province. He said that India's indirect interference in Pakistan is manifested in sponsoring terrorist organizations and Baloch insurgents and other sub-nationalist outfits.
He said that sponsoring outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch insurgents and the capture of Indian RAW agent Kulbhushan Jadhav from Balochistan "is the proverbial smoking gun of India's sinister designs being hatched against Pakistan."
Regarding stability in South Asia, he said the central role which affects South Asia 'for good and bad will be by and between the US and China.' Stability in South Asia is stressed by arms buildup...positioning and posturing as net security provider from Sahel to South Asia and reconfiguring geography like terminologies of 'Indo-Pacific'. This has created a permissive environment in Pakistan's neighbourhood and forcing the countries to resort to aggressive posturing in the region. Phantoms and surgical strikes, is a case in point, he added.
With growing military force and 80 per cent Pakistan-centric force potential "India is playing with the fire," he added
General Hayat stated that 'the road to peace in South Asia is the road through Kashmir. "There is no bypass. The future prospects of global peace lie within and in Asia," he stressed. He pointed out that there has been a malicious Indian intent to erase the history by mis-constructing 70-year-old indigenous freedom movement as a 'terrorist movement'. "India continues to suppress the indigenous Kashmiri struggle by use of brute force of over 65,6000 troops - one soldier for 20 Kashmiris," he said, adding that Indian forces commit massive human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, rape, torture and deliberate assaults.
He said that the Indian troops have killed over 94,000 civilians from 1989 till to date. After the killing of a young Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani, he said that the Indian troops have so far killed 160 people and injured over 19,000 others. He said that as per the Amnesty International, over 70,007 Kashmiris have either lost or partially lost their eyesight due to the use of pellet guns in Kashmir.
He asserted that Pakistan gives preference to cooperation over conflict and confrontation, adding while there has been increased emphasis on regionalism in South Asia, the region is unfortunately engulfed in inter- and intra-regional conflicts, fanned primarily by India.
He highlighted the importance of understanding South Asian construct as the region's stability is pivotal in determining global peace. On the geo-economic front, he said that South Asia is still economically underdeveloped. Due to political turbulences in the region, he said that South Asia is yet to embark on mutually beneficial models.
"While Afghanistan is seen as an extension of South Asia, with constant instability in the country, Pakistan continues to bear the brunt of terrorism," he pointed out, while referring to the death of two soldiers on the Pak-Afghan border on November 13.
He said the South Asian horizon is mainly defined by volatile nature of the Indo-Pak relationship while nuclearization of South Asia has added an intense and serious strategic dimension to this region. "Kashmir remains a nuclear flashpoint and the region needs to take practical steps to deescalate this strategic stress," he said. For this, the resolution of Kashmir conflict is fundamental and critical to reduce the chances of any strategic miscalculation, he added.
He also referred to Indian efforts of gradually manipulating and undermining the Indus Water Treaty. "Nonetheless, despite India's belligerence, Pakistan has called for engagement with all regional countries as stability can be achieved through peaceful means by engaging all stakeholders," he emphasized.
On Afghanistan, he said the country's strategic location places it at a critical juncture for regional connectivity as gateway to Central Asia. "It [Afghanistan] has also been the center for traditional 'great game', [but] continuing instability in Afghanistan has hampered the region from reaping the benefits of regional economic integration," he added. "The instability in Afghanistan is likely to be further compounded by giving unprecedented and undeserved strategic and operational space to geographically non-contiguous countries," he said, apparently referring to the Indian role given by the US in Afghanistan.
In his welcome address, President IPRI and former Ambassador Abdul Basit said, "Pakistan understands that unless we have normal and mutually beneficial relations with all our neighbours, the country cannot fully realize its economic potential and development agenda. We are trying our best to help achieve reconciliation in Afghanistan, and are also open to a sustained and meaningful dialogue with India with a view to resolving all the bilateral issues, especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute."
Dr Jens Jokisch, German Charge D'Affaires in his remarks said the conference is testimony of Pakistan's and Germany's strong commitment to promoting frank and focused discussions on topical issues. He hoped that the deliberations would 'help put things in their correct perspectives and come up with tenable solutions to the many complex challenges which South Asia is facing.'
Chairing a session on 'Regional Dynamics of South Asia' Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed stressed that Pakistan has been in the eye of the storm for past several decades, whether it has been as host to the world's largest refugee population for the longest time or as a partner in fighting the global war on terror.
In his presentation on 'Assessment of Socio-Political Trends in South Asia' Admiral (retd) Dr Jayanath Colombage, former Chief of Sri Lankan Navy and Director Pathfinder Foundation Sri Lanka, described the South Asian maritime domain as a region of three 'S'- strategic competition; strategic convergence; and strategic dilemma.
According to him, the major conflicting situation in the region is mistrust between India and Pakistan. On Pakistan's and India's SCO membership and its impact on their future relations, Dr Boris Volkhonsky, Associate Professor Institute of Asian and African Studies, Moscow State University, Russia, said that with the accession to SCO of India and Pakistan, total population of the organization reaches 45 percent of the global total, with the collective GDP exceeding a one-third of the global GDP.
"This fact in itself makes the Organisation a game changer and an important (or, even decisive) factor in the new emerging multi-polar world order," he said. According to him, the "real aims of the Global West and its vanguard, the USA, in Afghanistan are neither eradicating terrorism and drug trade, nor bringing peace and stability to the country, but rather maintaining a situation of uncertainty which would enable them to have a foothold in close vicinity to America's biggest geopolitical rivals, that are Russia and China.
He was of the view that the role of SCO in the future of Afghanistan rises immensely. "With Daesh attempting to gain foothold in the country, there is an urgent need to work out a collective approach to the issues of Afghanistan on the win-win basis with the joint participation of India and Pakistan along with all others despite all existing differences among them," he urged.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017