At a time when the entire nation is calling for revenge after Jaish e Mohammed, a Pakistan backed terror outfit carried out a terror strike against a CRPF convoy resulting in the martyrdom of more than 40 soldiers, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu seems to be adamant at continuing his old narrative. He has reportedly said that terrorism has no religion, no caste and no country. He said that when journalists asked him about this terror strike carried out by the Pakistani establishment. Instead of condemning Pakistan and demanding aggressive action against it, Sidhu opined that terrorists don’t belong to any particular country.
At a time when politicians across party lines ought to stand with the security forces and strongly demand action against Pakistan, Sidhu has given this weak statement. Sidhu has time and again shown immense love for it, often letting down India on Pakistani soil. In the month of November last year, the Kartarpur Corridor was inaugurated by Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan. The 4-km long corridor connects Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sri Guru Nanak Sahib, to Gurdaspur district of Punjab, India. Pakistani PM had then raised the issue of Kashmir in his speech in the presence of Sidhu. However, Sidhu raised no objection when Imran Khan brought up the Kashmir issue at the event. In the month of August, Sidhu had attended Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s oath taking ceremony, even though it was boycotted by others in India. At the ceremony, he was seen exchanging pleasantries with Pakistani Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and even hugged him. Sidhu appears to have forgotten that he was hugging the chief of an Army that regularly conspires with terror outfits to destabilise India. However, the moment that exposed his unconditional love for the country was a speech made by him in October, which seemed to suggest that Sidhu thinks that Pakistan is better than South India. To quote his speech, ‘……….Neither the language changes in Pakistan nor the people living there. But when you go to South India, everything changes from language to even the staple food. You need to learn English or Telugu if you want to live there, but there is no such compulsion in Pakistan.’
However, his comment after the Pulwama terror attack is highly misleading and shameful. Out of his love for Pakistan and its people, Sidhu was constrained to make this remark. But the reality is that as far as the subcontinent is concerned, terrorism and Pakistan are perfectly synonymous. In today’s time and India’s geo-political conditions, terrorists do belong to a particular country and that country is Pakistan. The Islamic Republic openly harbours and promotes terrorism in the name of religion and in today’s time Pakistan’s identity as a democratic state in international relations is a mere eyewash. Pakistan is a terror state and the state instrumentality including its military and civil establishment actively raise terror outfits and factories.
Sidhu’s remarks demonstrate everything that is wrong with a section of India’s political spectrum and the intelligentsia. A feeling of affinity towards India’s foe and insistence on giving it a clean chit even though the role of Pakistan in abetting terror activities within India needs no evidence is the chief concern of Sidhu and his ilk. Such careless and irresponsible remarks are a naive attempt at creating an illusion. The fact remains that terrorism is an agent, our real fight is with Pakistan, the country behind all terror activities in Kashmir and elsewhere in India. We have to fight terrorism but we also have to fight Pakistan for if we can defeat Pakistan, terrorism will also be defeated by necessary implication.