By Sajjad Shaukat
Both India and Israel which had openly jumped on Bush's anti-terrorism enterprise after the September 11, are acting upon a secret diplomacy, targeting Pakistan and China in particular and other regional countries in general. In this context, proper media coverage was not given to the Indo-Israeli secret diplomacy, which could be assessed from the interview of Israel's ambassador to India, Mark Sofer published in the Indian weekly Outlook on February 18, 2008. Regarding India's defence arrangements with Israel, Sofer had surprisingly disclosed "We do have a defence relationship with India, which is no secret. On the other hand, what is secret is the defence relationship". And "with all due respect, the secret part will remain a secret." On being asked whether he foresaw joint exercises, Sofer replied, "Certain issues need to remain under wraps for whatever reason."
Indo-Israeli nexus remained under wraps till 2003, when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited India to officially reveal it. In this respect, Indian 'The Tribune' wrote on September 10, 2003, "India and Israel took giant leaps forward in bolstering the existing strategic ties and forging new ones" and Tel Aviv has "agreed to share its expertise with India various fields as anti-fidayeen operations, surveillance satellites, intelligence sharing and space exploration." Next day, 'Indian Express', disclosed, "From anti-missile systems to hi-tech radars, from sky drones to night-vision equipment, Indo-Israeli defense cooperation has known no bounds in recent times". On September 5, 2003 American Wall Street Journal pointed out, "The U.S. finally gave its approval to Israel's delivery of Phalcon Airborne Warning & Controlling Systems (AWACS) to India"-this "sale might affect the conventional weapons balance between India and Pakistan".
Before it, Jerusalem Post had also indicated about Israeli sale of the Arrow-II anti-ballistic missile defense system to India, revealing that "the U.S. was a collaborator in the project". The Post further elaborated that "Israel could be acquiring an element of strategic depth by setting up logistical bases in the Indian Ocean for its navy." In fact, links between India and Israel were started in the early years of the former Prime Minister Indra Gandhi when she asked the chief of RAW Rameshwar Nath Kao to establish a clandestine liaison with Mossad to monitor military relationship between Pakistan, China and North Korea.
During the era of Zia-ul-Haq, a RAW-Mossad joint plot was detected to attack Pakistan's nuclear plant at Kahuta. The matter is not confined to purchasing of military equipments only, Indo-Israeli overt and covert links are part of a dangerous strategic game in Asia. In this connection, the then Israeli premier, Benjamin Netanyahu had already made it clear in July 1997 saying, "Our ties with India don't have any limitations-as long as India and Israel are friendly, it is a strategic gain". There are other reasons behind Indo-Israeli secret diplomacy.
Fast growing economic power of China coupled with her rising strategic relationship with the Third World has been misperceived by the Americans and Indians. Owing to this jealousy, tactical support of Washington to New Delhi, indirect military aid through Israel, the US-India nuclear deal-all are part of American desire to make India a major power to counterbalance China in Asia as both of them see China a "future strategic competitor". As regards Indian new military build up, on May 31 this year, after 43 years, New Delhi re-opened its Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) airbase in northern Ladakh, which overlooks the strategic Karakoram Pass and is only 8 km south of the Chinese border-Aksai Chin area. India has also erected more than 10 new helipads and roads between the Sino-Indian border.
It is of particular attention that in May 1998, when India detonated five nuclear tests, the then Defense Minister George Fernandes had declared publicly that "China is India's potential threat No. 1." India which successfully tested missile, Agni-III in May 2007, has been extending its range to target all the big cities of China. On the other side, a 'nuclearized' Pakistan, depending upon minimum deterrence, having close ties with Beijing is another major target of the Indo-Israeli secret diplomacy. However, Beijing and Islamabad cannot neglect their common defence when their adversaries are following a covert strategy.
Formation of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), voicing for a multi-polar system in the world might be cited as an example. Under the new proposed deal with Pakistan, China will be able to use the Karakoram Highway and ports of Gwadar and Karachi for transporting its goods to the Middle East and Africa. It is notable that on April 18, 2008, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi openly claimed that "some external forces were trying to weaken Pak-China strategic ties by creating misunderstandings". On August 8, 2007 Major Tanvir Hussain Syed (R), the former parliamentary secretary for defence accused the American CIA of killing Chinese nationals in Pakistan to harm the cordial relations between Islamabad and Beijing.
It is mentionable that in the recent past, when anti-government violent protests by Buddhist monks erupted in Tibet's capital, Lhasa including nearby provinces, New Delhi, while acting upon a secret diplomacy backed the same, though outwardly denied. New Delhi shows that despite Sino-Indian border dispute, she does not favour an independence of Tibet and avoids any propaganda against Beijing. But Indian stand was indirectly expressed by its leaders and media. For example, the former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha said, "We want good relations with China, but if we reach a point of conflict over Tibet, we should be prepared for that eventuality."
Indian media had left no stone unturned in exaggerating the casualties by manipulating China's crackdown against the militants of Tibet, which was essential to restore law and order. Nevertheless, it is because of the strategic developments in Asia that the issue of Tibet and Dalai Lama is being manipulated by the anti-China states. The state-run China Daily, on July 27, 2006, denounced the Lama as a "splittist" and pointed out that he has "collaborated with the Indian military and American CIA to organise Indian Tibetan special border troops to fight their way back into Tibet". As regards Islamabad, US, India, Afghanistan and Israel are in collusion as part of a plot to 'destabilize' Pakistan for their common strategic interests.
It was due to new subversive acts of the militants in Balochistan and the tribal areas, especially Swat, backed by CIA, RAW, Khad and Mossad that on June 29, 2008, Prime Minister Gilani stated that there were "several enemies of the country" and "foreign hands were also involved in the acts of terrorism". On August 4, President Musharraf also said that India was behind the unrest in Balochistan, providing arms and ammunition to those involved in violence in the province. Recently, Islamabad indicated evidence that there are a number of Indian training camps in Afghanistan from where saboteurs are being sent to these areas to commit terrorist activities. During the recent trip of Prime Minister Gilani to the US, American media propagated ties between Pakistan's intelligence service, ISI and militants in the tribal regions, blaming it for the bombing of Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7.
These false allegations were also repeated by Kabul and New Delhi. The main aim behind was to tarnish the image of ISI to conceal the clandestine activities of CIA, RAW, Mossad and Khad which have been creating unrest in Pakistan. The fact of the matter is that by availing the ongoing international phenomena of terrorism, Jewish-Hindu lobbies are collectively working in America and other European countries to exploit the double standards of the west in relation to terrorism and human rights vis-à-vis Pakistan and China.
Israel and India are equating the 'war of independence' in Kashmir and Palestine with terrorism. They also accuse Iran, Syria and Pakistan of sponsoring cross-border terrorism in the related regions of South Asia and the Middle East. If India considers Pakistan as her enemy number one, Israel takes Iran in the same sense especially due to its nuclear programme which is also negated by the US. Tel Aviv is also against Pakistan as it is the only nuclear Islamic country. However, these similarities of interest have brought the two countries to follow a common secret diplomacy with the tactical support of Washington, targeting particularly Pakistan and China including other states like Nepal, North Korea, Bangladesh, Iran, Syria etc. |
A Hong Kong-based Chinese-language weekly said in its latest issue that an Indian parliamentarian who had served as India's defense minister had secretly visited Taiwan many times to help Taiwan develop nuclear weapons.