Ceasefire violation, provocation, ecological crimes, state-sponsored terrorism, and planting landmines have remained prominent strategies of the Armenian offensive realist approach. Over the past month, the provocations of the Armenian armed forces have exaggerated manifold in Azerbaijan’s districts, i.e., Dashkasan, Lachin and Kalbajar, near the state border. Azerbaijani Army's positions in those regions have been fired from different types of weapons which are intensive, including mortars. The recent attacks clearly manifest Armenia’s hypocrisy and rivalry against Azerbaijan and the peace process. As a result, there have been a lot of casualties among Azerbaijan’s armed forces as well as massive damage to the military infrastructure.
The most troubling reality is that the last meetings held in Brussels between both states with the facilitation of the European Union were just a false façade of cooperation from the Armenian side. The leadership of Yerevan was never true to the cause of peace and humanity. The hostile armed forces have been continuously escalating conflict and military interventions near Azerbaijan’s border areas along with the deployment of large-caliber weapons and heavy equipment, indicating Armenia’s vicious agenda to sabotage peace. Azerbaijan has taken retaliatory measures and ensured the safety/security of the civilian workers involved in infrastructure activities in the Kalbajar and Lachin regions.
Unveiling Armenian Hostile Agenda and Pessimistic Approach:
As a result of Armenia's thirty-year illegal occupation of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, large-scale and difficult humanitarian demining activities were carried out, but Armenia continues to plant mines in the territories of Azerbaijan deliberately. Therefore, it is a high-time the international community must witness Armenian aggression toward Azerbaijan and stark violation of the fundamental norms and obligatory rules of the ceasefire agreement. The country must be held accountable for its provocative acts and violations. These recent military escalations, vandalism of resources, and blasts have sabotaged the trilateral truce protocol and regional stability due to the Armenian conventional nature of war. The leadership has been yet again exposed due to its aggression and pessimistic strategic approach. This radicalization by the Yerevan administration will be detrimental to the peace and security of the South Caucasus.
Moreover, during the nearly 30-year illegal Armenian occupation of the Karabakh region, environmental crimes, including deforestation, illicit trafficking of natural resources, and contamination of water reserves, became common. It has also been confirmed that Armenians have been deliberately contaminating the rivers to disturb the environment, and agriculture and create humanitarian disasters in Azerbaijan. Such belligerent moves would aggregate a geostrategic competition and conflict in the South Caucasus region by Armenian.
The Pashinyan administration has been fully trying to overturn the trilateral ceasefire agreement. It wants to wage war to redraw the political map of its Eastern neighbor. Armenian could have learned a constructive lesson from the lost war. However, it preferred to play a vindictive card, enhanced state-sponsored terrorism in liberated regions of Karabakh, and vice versa. War has always been futile, yet Armenia, through its hostile moves continue to annihilate deaths, atrocities and jeopardize security via agreement violation. A major challenge rests with Armenian actions of remaining insensitive to basic human security in the region and not obliging to the international compact. Despite the international interventions to establish peace, the ill-will of Yerevan is blunt to defy the efforts.
Strategic Discipline for Regional Stability:
The war has been over, and the world has come to know the rightful claim of Azerbaijan as it liberated the regions. However, Armenia has been still trying to light a fire beneath the ashes and igniting hostile sentiments through its violations, resulting in chaos and causalities. Yerevan leaders have a narcissist approach and are war-obsessed, aiming at creating instability in the region. Azerbaijan, on the other hand, has always remained true to the cause of peaceful co-existence and cooperation. The visionary leader, President Ilham Aliyev has showcased strategic discipline and followed all protocols for regional development and joint collaboration. Due to recent Armenian provocations, Azerbaijan has also taken effective retaliatory measures to counter aggression and ensure security.
In a nutshell, international organizations and the world media must shift their focus toward recent Armenian atrocities and take stern actions. Pakistan has unconditionally supported Azerbaijan and will always stand with its brotherly nation. As an expression of solidarity with Azerbaijan, Pakistan neither recognized Armenia nor established diplomatic relations. Our country will never back from its principal stance and will not accord recognition to Armenia. Pakistan will continue to disseminate facts and unveil Armenia's vicious motives that have threatened regional peace and caused humanitarian crises in Azerbaijan.
Khalid Taimur Akram is an Executive Director at the Pakistan Research Center for a Community with Shared Future (PRCCSF), Islamabad.
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