Pakistani Military Leadership’s Bold Message to Top American Military Commander

The Pakistani military leadership sent this clear and strong message to American Admiral Michael Mullen: in case of any kind of aggression being adopted by India, Pakistan will respond fiercely. It has also declared that in such a situation the Pakistani military deployed on the Afghan border will be retrieved. Admiral Mullen had separate negotiations with the President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Geelani, Army Chief Genral Kiani, and also with the ISI chief as well.

During the time when the American admiral was busy in negotiations in Pakistan, the U.S.’s secretary of state, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, was engaged in explaining to India how dangerous it would be to increase the conflict with Pakistan on the current situation. However, she asserted that Pakistan should have to close down the terrorist camps. Meanwhile, during the course of conversation, Indian external minister Mr. Parnab Mukherji once again repeated the same accusation that the terrorists came from Pakistan.

First let’s go through the activities of American Military Chief Michael Mullen in Pakistan.

The real fact is that Admiral Michael Mullen arrived in Pakistan with the same mission with which Dr. Condoleezza Rice visited India. In the wake of Indian warnings of attacking Pakistan, the American administration perceived that if there was any aggression by India, it would conversely affect America, rather than Pakistan.

America is entangled between FATA and Afghanistan, and it may be noted that more than eighty thousand Pakistani military personnel are deployed on the Durand Line (international boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan). In the case of the Pakistani military being retrieved from this border, the Taliban would heavily attack American interests from both sides.

Admiral Michael Mullen visited Pakistan to prevent any possible danger to America’s interests in the region, which it may face as the result of the conflict between India and Pakistan, and to ensure the protection of those interests.

Rather than having open talks on this important issue, he presented himself as diplomat, and asked Pakistan not to spoil the relationship with India. However, the standpoint adopted by the Pakistani military leadership when responding to the admiral increased his anxiety with the fear of what will happen to American interests if Pakistan retrieves its army from Durand Line.

In this regard we think that the military leadership of Pakistan has truly represented the passions and feeling of the nation by clearly explaining its standpoint to Admiral Michael Mullen: that in the case of any aggression from India, Pakistan will roughly respond to it.

Although we are aware of how our national and military leadership perceives the accusing and warning attitude of India, we would like to bring two important points before our military leadership, in this regard.

The first thing is that the nation (the Pakistani people) has now overlooked all its internal differences during this tough time, and is completely supportive of its military and government. The nation is not even slightly afraid of war.

The second thing is that although the nation is very aware of the devastation and destruction caused by war, the courage and fearlessness demonstrated by the nation during this tough time is praiseworthy. The overwhelming response and praising of the nation of the decision not to send the ISI chief and later the representative of ISI to India, has become so universal that it shows the love and devotion of the Pakistani people to their country. In this way they have also showed the world they would not be ready to send single peon to India on her demand.

Moreover, in this regard, another thing which has come to light is that every Pakistani feels that India is their enemy, to the same extent as during the years between 1965 and 1971. They have perceived that India has continued to keep hostile attitudes toward Pakistan and its aims are not good regarding Pakistan. This is a fact that the Pakistani leadership should know.

If our leadership is thinking about putting out a friendly hand to India despite its awareness of all these facts, then it would be counted to the insult to the passions of the nation.

What the Pakistani people are seeking from their leadership are courage and daring, and they would like to see the promises and claims of the political leaders in practical form. Although during their election campaign every political leader promised to provide “courageous leadership” in their advertisements and banners, when the time came to show these promises in practical form most of our leaders disappointed the nation.

Now is the hour of need to respond the provocative speeches of India by responding vigorously, rather than adopting apologetic manners. It should be taken into consideration that India would not make the mistake of waging war with Pakistan, and even if it does make any such mistake, she will always regret it.

Every Pakistani holds the passion to die for the pride of their country, and they don’t see the war on the scale of gains or losses like Indians do. The Pakistani army leadership should keep their courage high. And they should be aware of the fact that the nation would not disappoint them in any type of critical situation.