ALI SUKHANVER

Contamination is a term used for the action or state of making or being made impure by polluting or poisoning. The target of this action of polluting or poisoning could be food, water, human minds, passions, thoughts, feelings and countless other things physical or metaphysical. I remember, somewhere in the first week of May 2018, a Pakistani scholar Professor Shazia Ghaffar presented a paper at the 3^rd International Conference on Integrated Management for Sustainable Development at Tunisia, Sousse. The presentation paper said, Water is the most precious resource on the earth. Unfortunately, advancement in technology is resulting in the deterioration of quality of water by contaminating it and this contamination is a direct threat to the food chain which guarantees the quality of human life.” It means advancement in any field of life does not make sure the enhancement in quality of life. A bitter truth is that things are getting painfully complicated rather contaminated with the so-called human progress. The sublime social values and serene human traditions seem breathing their last. Just for trivial worldly gains we are contaminating rather distorting the pure essence of life.

Terrorism is also an act which is contaminating and disfiguring all societies. Though terrorists are no doubt the most heinous characters in this rapidly contaminating world but more horrible are the faces of those who patronize the terrorists; the master-minds behind every act of terrorism. If we analyze the case of the Indian Naval Officer Kalbhushan Yadav, we find the master-mind behind is the government of India; always supervising and patronizing him in accomplishment of his heinous plans. It is a more painful reality that the government of India tried all its best to label this terrorist by labeling him as innocent. Thank God that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) did not fall a prey to the crocodile tears in case of Kalbhushan Yadav. The recent verdict of the International Court of Justice against Commander Kalbhushan Yadav has simply shown to the world that no terrorist deserves any sympathy or kindness. In other words the honourable court has given a line of action to the world that the terrorists must everywhere be treated as criminals as they are responsible for contamination of a society.

‘Founded on June 26, 1945 in San Francisco, California, United States, the International Court of Justice is ranked as the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its primary functions are to settle international legal disputes and give advisory opinions on legal issues referred to it by the UN’, says a report on ICJ. Taking the Kalbhushan case to the International Court of Justice is itself a step of the Indian government largely criticized everywhere. People are asking if the arrest of Kalbhushan Yadav was really an international legal dispute. The story of Commander Kalbhushan is very simple, without any legal complexities or diplomatic confusions. Kalbhushan is a proven officer of Indian security services who traveled to Pakistan for more than 17 times with a fake identity. He himself admitted in his confession statement after his arrest that he was on a mission assigned to him by Indian Intelligence Agencies. He being a very competent officer performed his duties marvelously and set up a very integrated type of net-work in Pakistan to disturb the peaceful social atmosphere of the country. His target areas were Balochistan and Sind specifically. He was arrested in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The government of Pakistan provided his mother and wife an opportunity of meeting him in a very respectable manner. According to the international rules and regulations, a terrorist could not be given the facility of meeting his country’s consular, so this terrorist was also not given this facility. A legal case was registered against him after very careful investigations. The court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Commander Kalbhushan filed a mercy-petition which is still under consideration of the honorable President of Pakistan. In short Pakistan did no injustice to this Commander of the Indian Security Services. Even then, the government of India dragged the matter to the International Court of Justice but there was nothing the International Court of Justice could do.  The Indian government simply wasted its time and money over a useless matter. Certainly the Modi government will have to clarify its position to the people for this wastage of time and money. Pakistan being a peace-loving and international law-abiding country would certainly keep in mind the directions given by the ICJ in Kalbhushan case not as a compulsion but simply for the supremacy of international harmony. Recently, keeping in view the same sublime spirit, the Government of Pakistan has decided to grant consular access to the Commander Kalbhushan as Pakistani law does not stop it from doing so. Hopefully this kindness of the Government of Pakistan would be portrayed as a ‘legal-success’ in India but realities are realities and they could never be buried under the dirt of false hue and cry.