Trust
me they are all related as you will surely see by the end of this article. Allow
me to narrate what was told to me by late Flight Lieutenant, Mohammad Siraj-ul-Haq
of Pakistan Air force. But before I do that let me tell you a few things about Siraj
sb. Like
M.M. Alam he also belonged to Bihar and as such Bengalis did not
consider him to be Bengali. In fact part of Siraj sbs family was murdered by
Bengalis after separation of Pakistan. Even though ethnically they both didn’t belong
to present day Pakistan but they both were more loyal to Pakistan than many present
day leaders who call themselves Pakistani. Like M.M. Alam he was also a true
mujahid. He participated in Afghan jihad with his own resources, no money from
CIA or Arab donors. Not only that, when he went to Afghanistan he left behind
two daughters and a wife who was blind. He eventually came back from Afghanistan,
but imagine leaving behind two daughters, a blind wife and going on jihad on
your own, not on an officially army backed mission. With these very strong common attributes, Siraj sb and MM Alam were very close friends.
Coming
back to the main topic, this is what Siraj sb told me. After Russians invaded
Afghanistan, Americans offered Zia-ul-Haq 150 to 200 F-16 fighter planes. Not
only that, Pakistan was to get underground bunkers made for these planes. The
pilots were to be given training in Saudi Arabia. All of this for free. The catch
was that P.A.F was to challenge U.S.S.R air force. Zia-ul-Haq ran this proposal
by M.M.Alam and asked him if he can pull this off. After discussing with his
daredevil companions like Siraj sb, M.M.Alam told Zia-ul-Haq that approximately
60% of our pilots will become “Shaheed” but we can pull it off. After M.M.Alam
left the meeting, Zia-ul-Haq’s advisers told him that he (M.M.Alam) is crazy
and so are his companions and he should not listen to them. Moreover, they
hinted, what will happen to you (Zia-ul-Haq) if M.M.Alam and his volunteers are
successful and become heroes. Zia-ul-Haq withdrew the proposal, but this
greatly upset M.M.Alam and he called Zia-ul-Haq a “munafiq”. This eventually
led to “forced retirement” of M.M.Alam from P.A.F.
I
asked Siraj-ul-Haq what was in it for America apart from downing of few dozen
Russian jets and killing their pilots. You don’t understand war and weapons
Nadeem, said Siraj sb. A war tested weapon is a real weapon, no amount of
simulation can tell you how it will perform against enemy weapon. When you have
missiles approaching you at supersonic speeds and your life depends upon your
wits and capability of your plane, then and only then you will know the
performance of your plane. Americans wanted to know the performance of their
planes and those of Russian air force, so that they can predict the outcome if
they have to face Russian air force in a real war at some time in future.
What
does this has to do with India and China you may ask. It is the same scenario,
with America now egging India to confront China. Americans are giving India
weapons, money and moral support so that India confronts China. This way
America will learn about Chinese weapons and war capability. But this is a case
of snake biting another snake. India is one devious entity. Throughout the cold
war India benefited from both Russia and America while being the champion of
Non-Aligned movement. Indians will keep fooling Americans into giving them more
weapons, more money more international support etc but will not dare confront
China. So we will see which snake gets the poison.
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