Following
Pakistan’s misadventure in Kargil, some Indian intellectuals have taken to
proclaiming that there has been a ‘paradigm shift’ in American policy in
South Asia. This may or may not be true, but in the process a much more
significant shift is being missed — a far-reaching change in Pakistan's
defining ideology. It is no longer
Jinnah's two-nation theory, but the proxy Jihad initiated by the late General
Zia-ul-Haq. This new ideology is being implemented in Kashmir as well as
other parts of India by General Musharraf — a follower of Zia rather than
Jinnah.
Here is what the shift means. Jinnah's two-nation theory held that Hindus
and Muslims formed two separate and distinct nations that could never live
together. General Zia's Jihad doctrine holds that Pakistan has the right to
eliminate the non-Muslim state of India through Jihad. In
other words, whereas Jinnah’s two-nation theory acknowledged Hindu India as a
legitiamate state, Zia's Jihad doctrine does not recognize India’s right to
exist except under Islamic rule. The goal of Jihad is to turn the world into
Dar-ul-Islam beginning with India. This is according to its own offical manual,
which the Indian intelligentsia, to its lasting discredit, has ignored.
It
is important to note that this paradigm shift in the Pak-Afghan ideology (as it
should be seen) represents no more than a reversion to the historic pattern of
the Islamic invaders of India, going back a thousand years. Future Islamic
scholars will see Jinnah’s two-nation theory as an aberration, just as the
orthodox today see the tolerance extended to Hindus by Akbar, Ibrahim II and a
handful of other Muslim rulers as a deviation from the true teachings of Islam.
The two-nation theory also shows that Jinnah knew next to nothing about Islam.
Maulana Azad on the other hand, who understood Islam, opposed Jinnah and his
two-nation theory because he wanted all of India to be brought under Islamic
rule. This is also the goal of the Islamic
leaders of the Pak-Afghan axis. And this I believe to be the main agenda of
Taliban, which is the real power behind both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This
has two aspects. Pakistan’s extra-territorial ambitions don't stop with
Kashmir: it extends to all of India, and, fantastically the whole world. Next,
it sees all insurgencies in the name of Islam as legitimate. This also gives it
a tactical advantage in that any aggressive act can be carried out through these
'Jihadists' and ‘militants', allowing Pakistan to disclaim responsibility for
its terrorist acts. From proxy war in Kashmir to proxy hijacking of the Indian
Airlines plane, this has been its ploy. One should expect more.
This means: Kashmir should no
longer be seen as disputed territory but a stepping stone in Pakistan's Jihad
against India. But this is Jihad by proxy — one that uses the militancy in
Kashmir as a cover. Already there is a network of terrorist organizations all
over India financed and supported by Pakistan. These have nothing to do with
Kashmir. Even if the Kashmir problem is somehow solved, these terrorists and
their agents will not give up their program of terrorism. Further, there is now
a whole terrorist industry in Pakistan that is operating in the name of Jihad.
No Government in Pakistan can function without them. They will not just
disappear if the Kashmir issue is settled. More seriously, India would be making
a very great mistake to ignore this larger Jihad agenda by focusing solely on
Kashmir.
Seen in this broader context, the recent hijacking masterminded by
Pakistan represents an escalation of its program, which had so far been limited
to a proxy war in Kashmir. It was in effect a 'proxy hijacking', carried out by
so-called militants, which allowed Pakistan to disclaim responsibility for the
act. This is a dangerous sign. Unless effectively countered, Pakistan will think
that it can get away with anything using the militancy in Kashmir as cover. The
West — America included — is now virtually hostage to Pakistani threats to
unleash terror in the oil rich Middle East.
‘Terrorist
Manifesto’
To understand this change from the two-nation theory to Jihad, one need
only look at its official manual, the book The
Quranic Concept of War by Brigadier S.K. Malik, sponsored by the late
General Zia-ul-Haq. It is a much more reliable guide to Pakistan's psyche and
behavior than the pronouncements of soothsayers at the Wagha border and the
pontificating columnists in the English language media. It is a damning
indictment of the Indian intelligentsia — dominated by the ‘Secularists’
— that there is almost no public discussion this work of great importance.
Even worse, when brought to their attention, it is hastily ignored. Reasons of
course are not hard to seek.
The Quranic Concept of War is required reading for Pakistani
officials — both military and civilian. An Urdu booklet titled 'Jihad'
summarizing it is carried by Pakistani soldiers as well as so-called militants.
Copies of this booklet have been recovered from the bodies of killed Pakistani
fighters. Incidentally, both the Government and the media must stop using terms
like ‘militants’ and ‘militancy’. These are trained Pakistani and Afghan
soldiers and the so-called militancy is really an invasion. Call them invading
soldiers. Also, why ‘deport’ Pakistanis caught with RDX and other deadly
material instead of punishing them as mass murderers?
As far as the book is concerned, General Zia recommends it to "both
soldier and civilian alike." According to him, "JIHAD FI-SABILILLAH is
not the exclusive domain of the professional soldier, nor is it restricted to
the application of military force alone. The book brings out with simplicity,
clarity and precision the Quranic philosophy on the application of the military
force, within the context of the totality that is JIHAD." In other words,
all the resources of the state must be subordinate to the Islamic military
machine in pursuit of its cause. This is the policy that successive Governments
in Pakistan have been following. It has nothing to do with Kashmir and
everything to do with conquest by Jihad.
The instrument of this is Jihad — "the most glorious word in the
vocabulary of Islam" — which both the author and President Zia describe
as total war. "Jehad is a continuous and never-ending struggle waged on all
fronts." Another point that Brigadier Malik makes is that the war should be
carried out in the opponent's territory. "The aggressor was always met and
destroyed in his own territory," he tells us. This of course is exactly
what Pakistan is doing. But the doctrine goes further to encompass the whole
world: "It was the cause of humanity in general and not just the Muslim
community in particular," informs Brigadier Malik. It is a universal
doctrine, to be applied to all of us, and not just the believers. So India is
only a stepping stone in taking its campaign to the whole world. In other words,
Pakistan under its new doctrine sees itself as the instrument of Jihad as
ordained by God. If India fails to defeat
this Jihad, in five years, Delhi will be no safer than Srinagar.
In the face of this, it would be a very great intellectual and strategic mistake to continue looking at Pakistan in terms of Jinnah’s two-nation theory, which it has repudiated in favor of the doctrine of Jihad. Kashmir is an irrelevant diversion, invoked by Pakistan to keep India off guard, to make it focus on the wrong target. Its mission is a no holds barred ideological war of destruction against the pluralistic civilization of India. It is truly a clash of civilizations — more accurately, between civilization and barbarism.