ALI SUKHANVER
Before going into further details, one thing must be kept in mind that now battles are not fought in battle-fields; the war-fields have been shifted to the screens of TV channels and to the pages of newspapers and magazines. Today the target is not to cross the boundaries and capture the territories; the target is to conquer the brains, to enslave the thoughts, to depress the passions. The task of arresting the brains, governing the thoughts and crushing the passions becomes easier if the target nation is lacking determination and fortitude somehow or the other. Moreover a lot could be done simply by spreading misunderstandings and misconceptions. For the last many years, Pakistan and Iran have been facing the same war of nerves. The world around has been trying its best to make these two nations realize that they are heading towards a darker future. As far as Pakistan is concerned, the international media has tried its utmost to label Pakistanis as a terrorist and extremist nation. Pakistan is linked up with patronization of different terrorist organizations. From Al-Qaeda to Daesh, the origin of every militant organization is tried to be excavated from Pakistan. No one is willing to except the bitter reality that Pakistan itself is the ever-worst victim to terrorism. Thousands of our innocent citizens and countless of our soldiers have sacrificed their lives in the war against terrorism but still we are considered terrorists not the victim to terrorism. Our closest neighbor India had been on the front in this blame game against Pakistan. The problem with our Iranian friends is that they blindly believed in this concocted story against Pakistan. They are insistent upon their opinion that the Talban are favored and supported by Pakistan. And this opinion of our Iranian friend is the root-cause of their getting away from Pakistan. Our Iranian friends need to understand that Pakistan has its own geo-political problems; if Pakistan has soft corner for the Talban, it does not mean that Pakistan is their supporter. A peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan is in the larger interest of Pakistan and it is also a daylight fact that there could be no peace and prosperity in Afghanistan if the Taliban are not dealt with equality and impartiality. We cannot oust them from the affairs of Afghanistan. India is taking full benefit of Iran’s misconception with reference to the Talban. More and more misunderstandings are being spread so that Pakistan and Iran could never come close to each other. Our Iranian friends must keep afresh in their memories that India has never been a trust-worthy friend of its neighbours; if it were a sincere friend of Iran, it must not have dragged Iran in the Kulbhushan Yadev episode by showing his presence in Chahar Bagh.