In statecraft, especially in that fine craft called espionage, there is a term which is very commonly used. Plausible deniability. It was first used back in the fifties by the CIA’s legendary Director Allen Dulles, after whose family the Dulles Airport in Washington is named. Back then the US used to run a series of covert operations, many of them were geared towards assassinating Fidel Castro. It also included regime changes in countries whose rulers were not favourable to America, like Iran and Guatemala and culminating in the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
Some of these operations were successful, others were not. But the important thing was the US President had no direct knowledge of any of these covert goings on. And it was deliberately kept so by the top dogs at the CIA. The reason was simple. Plausible deniability. If it got to a stage where the US President had to testify before Congress or before the courts or before the American public, then he or she could plead innocence citing no direct knowledge.
India’s involvement in Balochistan always fell in that grey area called plausible denial. Up until Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech. Although India’s covert operations in Pakistan had officially been called off back in 1997 when IK Gujral was prime minister, no one quite took it to be the gospel truth. Certainly no one in Pakistan did. Look no further than the August 7 attack at Quetta’s civil hospital which wiped away almost all of that city’s legal fraternity. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan.
News by: Mehak mehra
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