Gen Bajwa cannot be trusted

Arun Joshi

I sincerely trusted Pakistan army chief Gen  Qamar Javed Bajwa’s words that the Pakistan army would back the civilian government’s efforts to improve ties with India.

The “Dawn”  newspaper had  reported: “In a major gesture, the army chief reportedly said the military was ready to back political leadership’s initiative for normalisation of relations with  arch-rival India…. And urged  political leaders to try to improve  relations with India. He assured that their efforts would be fully supported by the army.” My enthusiasm was short-lived.

On Saturday evening  came the heart-breaking news that four Indian  soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a  ceasefire violation by Pakistan. Instantly I re-read the report. This time  General Bajwa’s  statement   reflected deception   all the way.

Soldiers speak like soldiers.  General Bajwa could not live  up to  that soldierly ethics.  The Pakistan army had done this kind of deceitful acts  in the past too, but this time it came within 48 hours after General Bajwa’s words  calling for peace with India. And, there was no provocation from the Indian side, otherwise the Pakistan media and Inter-Services Public Relations  would have created a  storm over that.

All those who trusted  General Bajwa  have been proven wrong.  Whether the report in “Dawn” on Thursday was true, I have my doubts now.

The Pakistan army that  set up Taliban and  fostered Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Haqqani network and the  terrorists, who killed their own schoolchildren, claims that it was fighting against terror, could not be trusted. So relying upon it again was a big mistake. It has also proved wrong all  those who saw in General Bajwa’s statement an opening to get the Pakistan army on the board in improving ties with Pakistan.

Indian soldiers  are trained to fight, but they are not supposed to die  like this.  For  me  this was something more than the ceasefire violation. It was a  deceitful action  of the Pakistani army. General Bajwa should have known, unless he has some other definition of peace in mind. Such  bloodletting on borders won’t bring improvement in ties.

The Pakistan army has no dignity for its soldiers.  So it was wrong to trust that General Bajwa and his men would have any respect  for Indian soldiers. The Pakistan army  had  refused to accept the bodies of its soldiers  killed during the Kargil war. It fell upon  Indian soldiers to bury  them with  all respect  that the dead soldiers  deserved.

The  death of four Indian soldiers — Major  Moharkar  Prafulla Ambdas,  Lance Naik   Gurmail Singh, Lance Naik Kuldeep Singh, Sepoy Pargat Singh — will always remind me that Pakistani generals  have perfected the art of multi-speak. George Orwell   could imagine only doublespeak in his dystopian novel “1984.” The Pakistan army has dwarfed that definition.

Pakistanis are also getting distrustful of this institution, which they used to love once.

The Indian Chief of Army Staff, Gen Bipin Rawat, was right  when he said no word of Pakistan could be trusted unless the terror operations cease from across the border.

Having said this, the Indian Army  should  devise a new and effective strategy  to neutralise such attempts from across the border.  This is not the time to make  noises  about the  retaliation. But the need is to make our borders safe and secure.