Khalistan Calling newsletter dated January 01, 2003

The three million strong diaspora Sikhs, unlike their 21 million compatriots captive in India, are free and prosperous and they are determined - as they believe it is their destiny and pray for it every day; Raj Karay Ga Khalsa; Sikhs will rule - to create a sovereign, democratic, egalitarian Sikh buffer state of KHALISTAN in South Asia, stretching from the Jumna river on the East, to the Pakistan border on the West, China on the Northeast and Kashmir on the North, playing its God-given role of a granary for countries of Central Asia and acting as a 'bridge of prosperity' between Central and South Asia.

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Washington DC: January 01, 2003: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf (according to the Washington Post) said in Karachi on Monday, December 30, that Pakistan had warned India that, "it should not expect a conventional war from Pakistan" if India dared to lance across the Kashmir Ceasefire line (or the international border) during the ten-month long Delhi-engineered siege of Pakistan which saw over a million uniformed men massed eye-ball to eye-ball all along the Indo/Pakistan border.

In a December 30, 2002, Karachi-datelined article, by an Associated Press Writer, Zarar Khan, (headlined, "Musharraf says Pakistan Was Ready to Wage Nuclear War - Dramatic Admission Shows how close region came to Atomic confrontation.") the Washington Post reported yesterday that General Musharraf told a Pakistan Airforce (serving and retired) audience in Karachi, Pakistan, on Monday that, "I personally conveyed messages to Indian Prime minister (Pundit) Atal Bihari Vajpayee through every international leader who came to Pakistan, that if Indian troops moved a single step across the international border or Line of Control (in disputed Kashmir) they should not expect a conventional war from Pakistan". "President Musharraf was referring to the nation's non-conventional nuclear force," explained the Washington Post. For details of the December 30, 2002, Washington Post article click at:> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53206-2002Dec30.html <

According to a PTI dispatch published in the Hindustan Times on December 30, 2002, India's retiring Army Chief, Gen. S. Padmanabhan, during a farewell ceremony in New Delhi, tried to dispell notions that Pakistan's nuclear capability deterred India from going to war earlier this year. Along with his brave statement he is also reported to have meekly admitted that, "We were absolutely ready" but waited for a "political decision". We Sikhs, don't believe Gen. S. Padmanabhan as he is just passing the buck to the inept politicians for a useless and expensive 10-month long exercise which destroyed tens of thousands of acres of fertile Punjabi farmlands. How did India get ready for nuclear war? The retiring General knows the truth but is obviously lieing. For details of what Gen. S. Padmanabhan said yesterday please see story in the Hindustan Times, headlined, "We are ready to go to war: Army Chief" by clicking at: > http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_128864,0008.htm < The Indian government spokesman, a rent-a-Sikh, is also reported to have dismissed as nothing new in Pakistan President Musharraf's remarks. See full story at: > http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_129009,0008.htm <

It is obvious that the jingoist BJP rulers - fascist Hindutva students of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister, Joseph Paul Goebbels (1897-1945) are not telling the truth - they never do - to the Indian people in general, and to us Sikhs (whose homeland is at great risk) in particular, about the permanent Indian nuclear, strategic 'geographic' inferiority viz. a viz. China and Pakistan. A fact which has surfaced after India's 'Himalayan' blunder when it tested nuclear devices in May 1998 (despite the fact that New Delhi had already tested one in May 1974) thus giving Pakistan a 'mother' of an opportunty for its 'tit for tat' half dozen nuclear tests at Chagai and Ras Koh in Pakistani Baluchistan which has established Islamabad's nuclear, 'geographic' and strategic superiority over India in South Asia. Our readers will recall that Khalistan Calling earned a noble mention by Ms. Elaine Sciolino in her dispatch published in the May 16, 1998, New York Times. She mentioned this column for its May 07, 1998, scoop when it correctly predicted India's stupid intention to secretly test a nuclear device at Pokaran, in Rajasthan state ninty miles from the Pakistan border and in the backyard of the Sikh Homeland. The episode and our May 07, 1998 column in Charhdi Kala was also prominently mentioned by Gregory Treverton, former Vice-chair of the Washington-based National Intellligence Council, on page two of his outstanding, and much acclaimed, 2001 book (ISBN 0-521-58096-X : Cambridge University Press), "Reshaping National Intelligence for an Age of Information."

Readers may also recall that this column (Khalistan Calling) has already trashed the Indian nuclear doctrine/posture and the pre-emptive theories of Hindutva 'chicken-hawks' (who rule the roost in New Delhi) in the November 06, 2002, Khalistan Calling, headlined, "South Asian Military pre-emption theories: China, Bhakra Nangal Dam, Kashmir and hush hush Indian nuclear proliferation to Taiwan". For details please click at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc11062002.htm <

We egalitarian Sikhs want peace to pursue happiness and all of us welcome an oil/gas pipeline and trade, to and from Central Asia, into Sikh Punjab. As it is a matter of life and death for us Sikhs, and we do not want an Indo/Pakistan nuclear war - any war - which could make a 'Hiroshima' out of the Sikh Homeland of Punjab Khalistan, we asked our time-tested Sikh friend Mr. Ahmed Sheikh to do an errand for us to put the record straight on matters nuclear. We requested him to find out, if he could, from the former Pakistani Information minister, Syed Mushahid Hussain, (an articulate Nawaz Sharif government insider) the Pakistani perspective on the BJP's May 1998 Nuclear test 'Himalayan' blunder. Mr. Mushahid Hussain, as a powerful Information minister, was a member of Pakistan's ruling 'inner circle' in May 1998, when Pakistan decided to go nuclear thanks to the BJP 'Chicken-hawk Mad-bombers' in New Delhi who by testing a nuclear device presented the grand-mother of an opportunity to Islamabad on a silver platter to do the same.

Appended below is a reply Mr. Sheikh has received last week (on December 26, 2002) from Syed Mushahid Hussain which proves this column's oft repeated argument that the BJP rulers did indeed make a historical Himalayan strategic blunder by testing nukes, in May 1998,when India had already tested one in May 1974. A negative development which could, and should, turn positive if as a result of it all, war is outlawed in squalidly South Asia where 80% of the population lives on LESS than US$. 2 a day.

This NO WAR positive development can only happen if the international community enforces a Nuclear-free regime on ALL of South Asia and the BJP 'chicken-hawk' rulers in New Delhi remember the adage that, "one who makes a mistake and continues making that mistake is making another mistake". Senator (D-NY) Patrick Moynihan Ph.D., LL.D, (1927- ) a brilliant American Indophile scholor/politician known for his presciently vision, who was the US Ambassdor to India in 1974, is on record for having tried to dissuade that 'Hindu-godess' Indira Gandhi from making the first mistake - testing a nuclear device at Pokharan in May 1974. US Ambassador Patrick Moynihan is reported to have told Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi that she was making a terrible mistake as geography was against India and that she was creating a situation where, twenty five years down the road, a Pakistani General will call New Delhi on the phone one day and demand a surrender or, "we will all meet in heaven on Friday."

One thing is sure, and the Hindutvaa 'chicken-hawks' residing in Delhi ought to know it, that we Sikhs will not be anybody's cannon fodder! We will do our level best - we have to, in order to survive - to thwart any plans of the octogenarian, jingoistic, myopic BJP leadership to turn our sacred Sikh homeland, with its holy shrines and its 21 million captive and persecuted Sikhs, into a battlefield to satisfy their megalomania and Hindutva jingoism. Mr. Mushahid Hussain's illuminating E-mail to Mr. Ahmed Sheikh should be 'food for thought' for everybody! It is appended below in full:-

First, in your postscript, you had an interesting comment about Pakistanis should be grateful to India for giving an opportunity to Pakistan for going nuclear. Well, what you suggested actually happened. When Prime Minister Vajpayee came to Lahore on February 21, 1999, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif opened the formal talks with a smiling thank you to the Indian leader stating his action of testing the Bomb in May 1998 had provided Pakistan the opportunity to respond in kind a fortnight later.

Third, the nuclear factor has developed a South Asian version of the balance of terror which preserved peace in Europe between the two superpowers after World War II. Not just the 2001-2002 crises between India and Pakistan, but the 1999 Kargil Conflict confirmed it. I was in Monterey, California, in May 2002 for a conference that brought Indians, Pakistanis and Americans together. India was represented, among others, by General Ved Prakash Malik, Army Chief during Kargil, and as I discovered, a thorough gentleman.

As an aside, I may mention events in May 1998, after India had gone nuclear and Mr Advani was using rough, aggressive and threatening language against Pakistan, particularly his May 17, 1998 statement from Srinagar. However, that ceased after Pakistan s response. We noticed through television and other channels that the Indians seemed shocked and surprised when Pakistan tested on May 28. A visibly pale Vajpayee cancelled the session of parliament and convened an emergency meeting of his Cabinet. The bellicose rhetoric was gone, and India promptly agreed to come to the conference table with the Lahore Summit in February 1999, preceded by an earlier meeting in New York in September 1998.

When Mr Vajpayee came to Lahore, I asked an influential and informed member of his delegation regarding this somewhat inexplicable Indian reaction to Pakistan s nuclear tests. He cited two reasons: There was one view within the Indian Establishment that Pakistan was bluffing all along and didn't really have the Bomb. And the other view was that even if Pakistan had the Bomb, it would'nt dare test, because of American pressure since the Pakistanis are under so much American influence. Thankfully, the Indians were proven wrong on both counts.

Mushahid Hussain

http://www.satribune.com/archives/dec02_08_02/opinion_chellaney.htm

We are having a lively debate on the popular and widely read (4 million hits in four months) South Asia Tribune forum on the above subject. > http://www.satribune.com/thread.jsp?forum=3&thread=281 <

2. As you had a major role as Information minister when the Nawaz Sharif's government wisely and boldly accepted the 'manna from heaven' (delivered on May 13, 1998, by Indian Prime minister Pundit Atal Bihari Vajpayee & Co., via Pokaran on a 'silver platter' like the Rajputs of yore) I need some input from you as I have posted the following Open E-Mail to Prof. Hoodbhoy (with a copy to you) which has aroused a lot of interest among my numerous Sikh friends. They have inundated me with requests for more information as the valiant Sikhs are concerned as they clearly see a 'red' nuclear cloud hovering over their homeland and their holy shrines in India & Pakistan. They want to know more. And I want to oblige.

2. I have no doubt that you know your subject, Professor. Allow me therefore, to respectfully submit as Appendix 'A' below, my thinking on "Nukes in S. Asia" for your perusal and criticism which I have posted on the South Asia Tribune forum as I considered it a duty to trash the orchestrated Indian campaign to break Pakistani political WILL. I will appreciate a response.> http://www.satribune.com/thread.jsp?forum=3&thread=281 <

CC: To Mr. S. Mushahid Hussain. I would love to hear your views as I have great respect for your opinion - always honest.

Subject:"Are Pakistani nukes more effective than Indian?"

2. You Indians amaze me with your sense of ancient glory, Mahabharata et. al., which never was, and which has bloated Indian ego out of all proportion by India's success in tiny principalities in the neighbourhood - coercive diplomacy in Nepal and Bhutan, invasion in Junagadh and Hyderabad and annexation in Sikkim, invasion and annexation of Portugese colony of Goa. And now synchronized 'bomb blast' coercive diplomacy in fraternal Bangla Desh. As Barbara Crossette, the famous New York Times foreign correspondent mentioned in her excellent 1993 book, "India: facing the 21st century", (ISBN 0-253-31577-8) that, " Hindu India, with its many divisions, lacks a sense of community - it's a country with a lot of spirituality but very little charity and a society of maximum conflict in caste, class and politics. It is the strategy of Hindu militants to create a sense of community by welding Hinduism to Indian nationalism."

3. Some neo-Nazi fundamentalist-Hundutva students of Chanakya thought that confronting isolated Pakistan - misruled, confused and economically weak - with a million Indian troops concentrated on its border, (after playing up the orchestrated phony 'attack' on the Indian parliament last year in the international media) would pay political dividends at home and strategic dividends abroad. I grant, that the border confrontation helped in welding Hinduism to 'goondah' nationalism in the state of Gujrat but the Pakistani leadership did not fall on its knees and did not 'cry Uncle'. Instead, Islamabad scared the daylights out of everybody, specially the vulnerable Sikhs in Indian occupied Punjab, Khalistan, by testing two nuclear capable, 600-mile range, Shaheen missiles on October 04 and 08, 2002, one from a mobile launcher and the other from silos under the ground.

4. Within a week of the Pakistani missile tests India's leadership realized its ten-month long folly. New Delhi came down to earth rather quickly and announced, with a straight face, a stand-down on October 14, 2002. I believe the world reaction in general, (specially countries with commercial interest in Bangalore) and the Sikh reaction in particular - and ofcourse the two Shaheen missiles - did the trick. To read the very well written Sikh point of view, which talks of survival and peace, not war, about the Indo/Pakistan nuclear confrontation please go to the internet and click at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc10092002.htm <

5. It would be safe to conclude that the Hindutva 'chicken-hawks' in their jingoistic excitement forgot that, Chairman Mao Tse-tung's famous 1966 adage applies, with a small modification, to the South Asian situation today, that, "Political power grows out of the tip of a missile." Thanks to 'General Geography' the all-weather missile does not have to be nuclear tipped - a conventional load can also play havoc with the umpteen targets of value that Indian planners and decision-makers have been foolish enough to place, in the last half century, within Pakistan's or China's easy missile reach. That is why, I believe, Pakistan, a la China, will NEVER by the first to use nuclear weapons - it does not have to - but it won't be the second either. Pakistan is secure in its calculation that its 'baby' nuke mines, a la Israel, will be triggered by an invading force on Pakistani territory after which Pakistan will have the high moral ground and it can, and will, retaliate swiftly and robustly as India's geographical depth, and Pakistan's lack of it, gives Pakistan a year round nuclear 'window'. India on the other hand (as ex-Prime minister of India, Mr. I. K. Gujral used to tell his Pakistani guests - he does not say that any more - that, "we cannot hit Lahore with nukes without destroying Amritsar, Ludhiana and Delhi") has only a four week iffy 'weather/wind-pattern window' in May when it might get away unharmed after targetting Quetta and Peshawar with its nukes.

6. Yes, Indian commandoes can lance across the border in Kashmir and attack so-called Kashmiri 'terrorist' training camps at will as Mr. Shishir Gupta's article, posted above, claims India was about to do twice in disputed Kashmir. But these Hindutva 'chicken-hawks' have much to learn. They forget that Pakistan can also do the same and can lance across the Kashmir border and hit so-called Tibetan 'terrorist' camps near Dharamsala and Jogindernagar in the vicinity of the Bhakra Nangal Dam. What happens then? Isn't it better that India and Pakistan sit down and talk peace, oil pipelines, trade, power, etc., instead of strutting around shouting 'war, war, war' which is NOT an option in South Asia anymore?

PS: Pakistan defence planners should be grateful to the stupid Indian Hindutva leadership of Advani, Vajpayee & Co., for their Himalayan blunder of testing a nuclear device in Pokharan, in May 1998, when Delhi had already tested a nuke in May 1974 - thus giving Pakistan an opportunity to share the South Asian 'stage' as a nuclear superior. I ought to know a little bit about the subject of missiles and nukes as I was in uniform when most of the 1,600 flag officers in India (and 400 in Pakistan) were wetting their pants or were still a glint in their Pappa's eyes.

Khalistan Calling weekly newsletter can be viewed on the South Asia Tribune site at: > http://www.satribune.com >

It can also be seen at: > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc01012003.htm <.

The above newsletter has been published in the leading Punjabi-English newspaper of the Sikh diaspora, Surrey Canada-based CHARHDI KALA, - Issue of Janiary 01-07, 2003 : Vol. 19 : No. 01. Last week's Khalistan Calling is available on the Khalistan Affairs Centre website at: ( > http://www.khalistan-affairs.org/Main/K_Calling/kc12252002.htm <) The Khalistan Calling newsletter was also published in the first week of January 2003, in the Vancouver-based PUNJAB GUARDIAN, and Akal Guardian, Toronto-based SANJH SAVERA, Calgary-based SIKH VIRSA and numerous other Punjabi/English weekly and monthly publications which cater to the three million strong Sikh diaspora in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

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