Editorial appeared in "The Times of India" on June 12, 1999

The return of the mutilated bodies of six Indian soldiers on the eve of the Pakistani foreign minister's visit to New Delhi raises a number of important questions for this country. According to the international media, Pakistan has disowned responsibility for this act of barbarism. Even worse, there has been no expression of regret or apology from those commanding the Pakistani Army. All over the world, the uniformed fraternity observes normal courtesies and considerations even during active hostilities. By their action, complicity or silence, however, Pakistan's generals have disgraced their own uniforms. Even now, Army men in India recall with appreciation the gesture of General Ayub Khan who promptly informed General Cariappa that his son -- an Air Force pilot who had been shot down over Pakistan in the 1965 war -- was safe. Ayub Khan even offered to release him but General Cariappa turned down that offer on the ground that he did not want any discriminatory favours for his son. How the Pakistan Army has deteriorated since those days 34 years ago. The genocidal killing and rape it indulged in in Bangladesh was the beginning of its brutalisation. Then came the long period of martial law, which gave the Army in Pakistan an unlimited license to suppress civil liberties and oppress its own people. Along with that, the Pakistani Army got involved in Afghanistan. During that war, Russian prisoners were subjected to the kind of brutalities now being inflicted on Indian soldiers.

The Pakistani Army also trained mercenaries who subsequently spread all over the world as extremist warriors. Wherever they have gone, these extremists -- known as `Afghanis' -- have committed similar brutalities. As a general practice, the `Afghanis' in Algeria slit the throats of children, women and men whenever they attack a village. India is aware of the unspeakable atrocities these elements inflicted on innocent Kashmiris, including the Pandits, who were ethnically cleansed from the valley. This steady brutalisation of the Pakistani armed forces -- and of the mercenaries they trained -- has been accompanied by Islamabad's loss of control over both the army and the organisations of marauding terrorists financed by the narcotics trade. The present barbarism displayed towards Indian prisoners is the result of this degeneration in the norms and discipline of the Pakistan Army and the total lack of democratic scrutiny. India is not dealing with a disciplined force proud of its uniform and its soldierly code of conduct. When he arrives in Delhi on Saturday, Mr Sartaj Aziz has to be asked whether his government is in control of its army and whether that army is a civilised and disciplined one. Since this act of barbarity is proof that those who have intruded on to our soil and are operating across from the Line of Control are not men who respect the laws of humanity or war, they will have to be treated as bandits. Mr Aziz has to convince India that the government of which he is a member is in a position to deliver the goods following any agreement. At the present moment that is in grave doubt. It is only because of India's extraordinary generosity and commitment to peace that civilised courtesies are being extended to Mr Aziz and talks being held with him.