Wikileaks and the ISI

KARACHI: This is with reference to the report "WikiLeaks : ISI charged but not convicted" published in your paper (August 4). Only the wearer of the shoe knows how much and where it pinches. Who cares what Wikileaks says. As a nation we are more concerned about what will become of us when the Americans leave. What business do the Indians have to open up so many consulates in Afghanistan when there is hardly any Indian population there? It is one thing to get the British prime minister, during a visit to India, to make a clearly pro-India statement but it is different to safeguard and secure Indian influence in Afghanistan when the Americans are gone. We have not been able to prove Indian involvement in the Balochistan insurgency and the Indians will also be never able to link the ISI with any harm caused to Indian interests in Afghanistan. Both India and Pakistan will continue to fight proxy wars and blame each other for the damages.

India needs to understand that Pakistan would never like to become wedged between India, who continues to pose as an enemy, and Afghanistan, where Indian influence replaces that of Pakistan. The Haqqani network may not be pro-Pakistan but they are definitely anti-India. It amazes me that India, climbing on the back of the West, wants us to go after the Haqqani group by conducting operations in North Waziristan. Why would we want to add another group on our list of enemies? Why does India not stop playing games and stop interfering in Afghanistan only to cast shadows of insecurity on our western borders?

Both India and Pakistan have to stop fighting the proxies and seriously sit down and talk. Conflict resolution through talks and not proxies is the only way forward. And now Britain, against all diplomatic norms, has taken a side. Will the US come forward and speak for the people of Kashmir? I doubt it.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2010.