By Moorthy Muthuswamy, October 2002

Dealing With Pakistan

The escalating attacks by Islamic extremists call for a comprehensive approach to the problem of terrorism and national security. First, it is important to unequivocally identify where the problem lies. The behavior of a community is best expressed when they have power.

The secular and democratic nature of India can only be attributable to the tolerance and inclusiveness of the majority Hindus who constitute about 80% of the population. Two of India’s neighbors are Islamic states with overwhelming Muslim populations. One of the states, Pakistan, discriminates against its non-Muslim minorities in voting, law and employment. It also uses the blasphemy laws to persecute them. There is yet another grave observation: every Muslim majority region in South Asia – Pakistan, Bangladesh or the Kashmir valley – has seen massive religious ethnic cleansing – achieved by driving out most non-Muslims to the rest of India. However, India still has a large Muslim population, almost as many as in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

When Hindu majority hold power they are tolerant and secular. However, when Muslims hold power through majority status in South Asia, beyond any doubt, they tend to be intolerant and violent, suggesting, -- the South Asian Muslims are not willing to coexist with others.

We have reached two important conclusions: In South Asia, non-Muslims are being victimized in the name of Islam & India is the only secular land non-Muslims can live free and secure.

About nine months ago a poll conducted in Pakistan by an American newspaper found over 70 percent of its citizens admiring the Afghan Taliban. Such an admiration, has a flip side to it: the hatred of infidels, in particular, -- Hindus. Religious indoctrination is the source of this bizarre outlook.

In 1971, in the then East Pakistan, the Pakistani army selectively chose Hindus to kill, rape or drive them out to India. The fifty years of pathological hostility and terrorism under both democracy and military dictatorships is geared toward one goal: destroy India and Islamize it.

Both paragraphs tell us, the people of Pakistan are the real problem, not just their establishment. How then do we stop Pakistanis from continuing this undeclared war? We turn to history for an answer.

The nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki made it clear to the Japanese, they couldn’t possibly win this war anymore. In these attacks many tens of thousands of civilians died. Lesson learnt: when civilians are forced to choose between life and death in a losing war, they disengage from war. It is therefore critical to impose an unbearable casualty count across the Pakistan’s military and religious establishments, initially, through covert operations. To permanently restrain Pakistan, India needs a larger set of strategic goals based upon accountability and justice.

Pakistan has managed to drive out most non-Muslims from Muslim majority areas of South Asia to India. It has rightly concluded, it could conduct any level of criminal acts against India and get away with it. Had India made it accountable, this behavior would have stopped a while ago. Accountability here would call for annexing about a third of its real estate (without subjects) as a compensation for creating this land imbalance.

Even to control the ongoing Islamic fundamentalism within Indian borders, India must first crush Pakistan militarily and punish its citizens for waging jihad, regardless of the cost. Half-measures would mean India becoming a graveyard of non-Muslims and its key economic and strategic installations destroyed one-by-one through terrorism supported by Pakistan.

Internal Security

Internal security can only be improved by measures directed at the root of the problem. Such measures must include liberating Muslims from the clutches of medieval mullahs, – the root cause of Muslim backwardness, poverty, lack of education, intolerance, violence, and fundamentalism.

What can be done to liberate Indian Muslims? Regrettably, Mosques have been used as a gathering and planning ground for indoctrination, subversive activities, or initiating riots. This puts the majority Hindus at a disadvantage, with Hinduism not being institutionalized or politicized. Only an organized state can ensure the safety of Hindus. Indian Muslims need to be nudged to return to the indigenous religions of their ancestors – a permanent way of liberating them from the fascist and non-performing ideology.

If one were to take the above measures, wouldn’t it be called religious persecution? No! This is about liberating Muslim masses from religious oppression in the name of Islam and bringing religious freedom to them. Besides, one must understand, a new kind of war based upon the hate ideology has been imposed upon us. This ideology claims to rely on the God given edict to hate and destroy. It is not interested in dialogues or accommodation, but only in the utter eradication of anything deemed different. This is why peaceful measures and attempts at accommodation have not worked so far. Seeped in violence, overwhelming force is one language this ideology understands.

Since India has once been divided on the basis of Islam, and has been victim of non-Muslim ethnic cleansing, India has every right to neutralize the fascist ideology to ensure the survival of its non-Muslim population.

Let us remember that non-Muslims didn’t have any other choice when they were forcibly expelled to India from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Thus, belatedly, to ensure the survival of its non-Muslim population, India has every right to expel Islamic extremists to Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Expelling Indian Muslims can also be seen as correcting the wrong done at the time of Partition. In 1947, Muslims sought and partitioned India on the basis of Islam. The 24% Muslim population got 25% of the land. If all Muslims had moved to Pakistan and all non-Muslims to India this would have been a fair deal. But about a third of the total Muslim population stayed back in India. Still, Pakistan managed to expel most non-Muslims to India. So, India had to accommodate 85% of the population in 75% of the land in the aftermath of the Partition that had gone horribly wrong.

India should set the stage for achieving these goals by first identifying Pakistan as the ethnic cleanser of non-Muslims in South Asia, -- as the evil nation. It is amazing, India has not bothered to publicize the fact, -- while Muslims form majority in the Indian part of Kashmir, the Pakistani part of Kashmir is virtually free of Hindus.

India is no longer defendable and is almost ungovernable. It must take the war to the enemies both outside and inside. The mode and means of governing India must be determined by the goal of winning the war, likely requiring the state of emergency. The establishment must set the goals, articulate them to the people as I have done here and relentlessly work towards achieving them.