Revenge
There is a news item stating that the newly inducted COAS Gen Bajwa has announced that he will retaliate against the Afghan attack on the Army Public school. The Pakistani people are still in a state of shock over the feral attack. We would like the Pakistani army to take a few steps to help focus the Afghan government on the enormity of their crime against the Pakistani children. For a start, Achakzai, the facilitator of the attack should be arrested (being a Pakistani national, should be jailed in Pakistan). Certainly not sent to Afghanistan. The next equally important step should be, to send the IDPs back to Afghanistan. The hospitality we extended to these Afghan IDPs, should end immediately.They constitute a loaded gun against the security of Pakistan. The Afghani government has made it quite clear that they prefer a closeness to India. So be it. Perhaps the IDPS should be pushed across the border into India and the burden of their boarding and lodging given to the Indians.
We Pakistanis do not wish to support any longer such potentially dangerous aliens in our country. It is also regretable that General Raheel Sharif, the erstwhile COAS, did not follow up on his initial threat to wreak revenge on the Afghan government.The Pakistani people support a firm declaration of the security parameters of the state, and its neighbour should be informed in no uncertain terms, that schools and hospitals are internationally protected, otherwise the Indians, having supported such an atrocity, will have opened the floodgates to such warfare, which is internationally forbidden and morally reprehensible.
With Pakistan having achieved nuclear capability, the Indians should realise that this added ability has brought equality to the neighbourhood, and a nuclear war is not in anyone’s interest certainly not over 1 billion Indians with seven hundred million Indians living below the poverty line and no toilets.The incumbent COAS should send a clear message to the Afghans that there is a new chief in power, and his mandate is not bound by any “deal” with the Indians, and he will not tolerate any softness towards our prime enemy, and, this enemy will not be allowed any leeway in the battle for our sovereignty and the protection of our citizenry.
The Pakistan government should also be put on notice that the Pakistani Army should be consulted on matters of military policy so that such important decisions which impact on the defence capability of our borders, and the strength or weakness thereof, is a part of the preserve of the Army. The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made a strong statement to the nation, making it clear that the sacrifice of these children will not be forgotten nor forgiven. The perpetrators, and their facilitators the Achakzais will be hunted down. General Bajwa in assuming command of the Pakistan Army must realise that we, the Pakistani people,are acutely aware that our new chief has taken an oath to defend our borders against enemies inside Pakistan and outside. No weakness shall be tolerated. It is up to the COAS to spread this message throughout Pakistan. This message should also be conveyed to our neighbours, making it clear to the Indians and their surrogates, the Afghans, that the new chief will act strongly against any incursion and the Afghans should realise that their small size does not offer them a guaranteed protection from Pakistani retaliation, but may trigger a much bigger conflagration. The world should beware. And General Bajwa, the people of Pakistan will not be satisfied by singing sad songs, but will get the perpetrator and their facilitators to shed tears as well.