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Proxy War After the humiliating defeat of 1971 and the creation of Bangladesh Pakistani rulers had understood that they cannot defeat India in the battlefield in the straight confrontation. So they initiated proxy-war against India to destabilize it. The result of it was the origin of terrorists who were imparted religious teachings and thus their minds were washed. During the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani military and its secret agency ISI thrusted terrorists into India, especially northern states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Since his rule this process was followed by various Pakistani rulers.

Role of ISI Cold war era indirectly helped the Pakistani policy towards India when thousands of terrorists ware trained in Pakistan with financial and military help of Anglo-American block to fight and defeat the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. US secret agency CIA used Pakistani secret agency ISI to provide training and arms and ammunition to the Islamic Jehadis. At that time these terrorists were considered the heroes of Pakistan and America. Since then Pakistani rulers have used these terrorists to achieve tactical objectives. When Soviet forces left Afghanistan, the Pakistani government played an important role for the establishment of Taliban rule in the war-torn country. America had always supported the Pakistani maneuvers in the region. It used ISI services to its full extent to destabilize the former Soviet states.

Pak-Taliban Relations When some suicide bombers of Al-Quaeda blew up the World Trade Center buildings and US military headquarter in Pentagon, US leaders especially President George Bush realized that the same terrorists have become the biggest threat to the US existence which it had nurtured during the war against Soviets in Afghanistan. Despite their promise to help and participate in the ‘war on terror’ Pakistani leaders kept close relations with Taliban leaders and their sympathizers. This policy was followed for many years but they could not keep the world community in dark for long time.

Results India has suffered most from the Pakistan supported terrorism. Indian leaders had repeatedly warned Pakistani rulers that the same terrorists who are being used by them to destabilize India, will, one day become the biggest threat to the stability and existence of Pakistan and this prediction has proved out to be true. Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhuto was murders by the same terrorists who used to be the heroes of Pakistan in the past. These terrorists have become so courageous that they have started to challenge the Pakistani military. They took over the Swat valley and implemented ‘shariyat’ (Islamic rule) in that region. Girls’ education was barred and hundreds of girl schools were burnt. Women were forced to live inside their homes. It resulted in the form of migration of not only of the civil government but also of the millions of people from the region. Pakistani military had to declare war against the Taliban terrorists in the Swat Valley. The war is still on and has expanded to other Afghanistan bordering parts of the Pakistan. Terrorists are present in every part of Pakistan. They have carried out innumerable bomb blasts almost in every city of Pakistan to make their presence felt. There is no city in Pakistan where innocent people have not lost their lives in the hand of the terrorists.

Post 9/11 These are the harsh realities that have prompted President Asif Ali Zardari to give a statement during an interview to a London based newspaper that who were the heroes of Pakistan post 9/11 have now started to target Pakistan. It was Pakistan that gave birth and nurtured these terrorists for the achievement of some short-term tactical objectives but now they have become so courageous and powerful that they have started to challenge the authority of the elected government. To defeat the Taliban, Pakistani military had to come to the battlefield. Zardari’s statement has its own place but Pakistan can not save itself from the ‘ghost of terrorist’ till then it does not desists from encouraging religious fundamentalism and works honestly to root out the menace.