NEW DELHI: Speaker of the now dissolved Pakistan parliament, Gohar Ayub Khan, who was here last week to attend Inter Parliamentary Union meeting here caused considerable embarrassment to India as he made a series of critical statements about India.
Gohar is the son of the late Pakistan president Mohammed Ayub Khan. His Statements attracted equally critical editorial comments in Indian media although Indian authorities countered him by making anti-Pakistan statements for the sake of record.
Gohar said in an interview with Pioncer, a New Delhi daily. Khan said “Even if it rains more here, Pakistan is held responsible for it. If anything goes wrong in Pakistan we blame it on Allah, but not so in India,” he said.
Kashmir Issue On the contentious issue of Kashmir, Khan said he could not understand why the Indian government was not giving the people of the state their right of self-determination, Kashmir, according to him, is a disputed area and was never a part of India. “Let the people of the state decide what they want,” Khan said, adding, “If you can have a bomb blast in the police headquarters, which has maximum security, it only shows that the people are not with the government.”
Pakistan, he said, is being accused of running training camps for militants but his government had made an open offer to the Indian government to inspect the border areas for themselves. “We have told them…take a helicopter and go anywhere see for yourself, You can land at the camps if you find any,” Khan said, declaring that Pakistan is an “open, democratic country,” placing no restrictions on the movement of foreigners.
He said he has even extended an invitation to the Lok Sabha Speaker, Shivraj Pati, to visit his country with a parliamentary delegation. What the two countries need is confidence building measures and some good public relations, Khan said, stating that when there is a dispute, it is best to talk it over.
Pakistan Democracy stable Even as Pakistan is allowing Indians free access to any part of their country, Khan wondered why the Indian authorities were not allowing the international media and foreigners to visit Kashmir so that they can document the numerous instances of human rights violations taking place there. “Democracy in Pakistan it’s stable and flourishing,” Khan announced proudly, which, he said, can only be possible if there is a free press and equality among men. To that extent, he said, India does not have a functioning democracy because it has caste system.
Which does not treat all men as equal. “A Muslim society is always tween men,” Khan admitted that there had been an extremely Strong reaction in Pakistan to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India, but that, according to him, was justified. Most Indian Muslims, he said have relatives in Pakistan and whenever something like this takes place here, they naturally get very cited and emotional about it.
“The masjid,” he said, “was built more than 300 years ago by Babar. Why didn’t the Hindus do something about it then, Why did they get so excited about it now, after so many years.”
Khan said in the Valley a“ war of liberation” was being fought by “freedom fighters” but the Indian Government chose to unleash State terrorism here with the help of over four lakh troops of the Army and paramilitary forces.
He said he would be very keen to visit the State with a delegation of parliamentarians or human rights activists but would seek the protection of the freedom fighters and not the Indian security forces for his visit.
“Today, your leaders cannot protect themselves, how will the protect us. You have armed guards at Sheikh Abdullah’s grave so that the boys you call militants do not dig him out and thrash his bones. So what protection is the Indian Government talking about?” he demanded. The Pakistan Speaker said he was convinced events in Kashmir would take a turn for the worse and that India would disintegrate the way the USSR had.
Taking the parallel further he said, “The USSR entered into Afghanistan and fought a nine year war. The Mujahideen in Kashmir will fight an in year war and you will be stuck here in the neck. The USSR army realized the futility of the exercise when bodies of their soldiers started to come back in large numbers. It is when the bodies of your soldiers are brought back from what is actually foreign territory that the Indian Government will realize how useless it is to hang on to the border State.
“Kashmir will bleed India, Ayub Khan warned, and carried on dramatically with “Mark my words. You are young enough to sec it. It will start with Kashmir and eventually India will disintegrate into nice little states.”
With a laugh he contended that the stand India was taking on Kashmir would soon be put to shame.
“You were cocksure, not once bul twice that India would not be divided, But we divided it” It was, according to him the short sighted policies of the then Indian Government and the Nehru family that caused the problem of Kashmir.
He continued that off and on he met relatives of Indian Army officers stationed in Kashmir and they were convinced India would not be able to hold on to the disputed territory for very long.
On the prospect of a general election improving the situation there he retorted, “What are you talking about? It is a plebiscite that Kashmir needs. Not an election. In an election you will get free votes but quislings like Sheikh Abdullah.”
In fact, he added, even if the atrocities, killings and rapes in Kashmir were glossed over, still India could not be cited as an example of a functional democracy. “Like the language you have only the veneer and trappings of a democracy left by the British. Otherwise, you have a vicious caste system, untouchability and inequality. The basic foundations of a democracy are nonexistent In India,” he claimed.
He said he challenged any team of observers to take a ride on Pakistani helicopters and try and precisely locate what India claimed were militant training Camps to the Indo-Pak border. Bombay Bombings On the allegations being made against Pakistan masterminding the Bombay bomb attacks, Khan insisted his country had nothing to do with the incident and, in fact, he regarded the allegations as compliments for the Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Memon Brothers: Mr.Khan, who is here for the 89th Inter Parliamentary Conference, also indicated that even if they are hiding in Pakistan, it would be difficult for his government 10 track down the Memon brothers, who are believed to be the main conspirators in the Bombay seal blasts.
We have 5,00,000 illegal migrants in the country and the authorities are struggling to track them down,” he said in an informal chat with this correspondent, adding that 60% of the Indian Muslims, visiting Pakistan disappear on reaching there.
Retenting that the Pakistan authorities will do their best to trace the Memon brothers if they come in this country, Khan said there was also a possibility that they were back in India. “Who knows where they are, After all, they are travelling on fake documents,” he added, The Pakistan speaker, however, wondered why the Indian authorities had not been able to catch these persons, especially since they are known gold smugglers.
“We in Pakistan are not really concerned about happenings in India. We have enough money, we cat well, live well, like nawabs. Our living conditions are far better. In fact, one reason why so many visiting Indians chose to live illegally in Pakistan is because of this. They get more money and better jobs.”
Article extracted from this publication >> April 23, 1993
