India befuddled by internal fissures

There is nexus between extremists’ groups, Indian military and select group of print and electronic media who are out to project Pakistan in bad light. Such a dominant select group of Indian elite create situations in which innocent people are targeted while powerful media is used to exploit the situation to blame Pakistan. Indian media uses extremely derogatory and insulting language against Pakistan, posing it as a rogue state.
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For some time, Indian military seems to be calling the shots not only in India’s security matters but also in foreign policy domain. On the other hand, Pakistan’s military is supporting the peace initiatives of Pakistan’s elected government, and does not create roadblocks in the way of peace in the region. India’s military top brass spew venom against Pakistan, but statements from the government functionaries are reflective of their desire to have good relations with Pakistan. Indian government seems to have realized that India can implode from within, and upping the ante with Pakistan would not help create cohesion.

It is perhaps in this backdrop that India’s Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were running training camps with the objective of promoting Hindu terror across the country. To prove his point, he cited the examples of the Samjhauta Express blast (February 18, 2007), the Mecca Masjid (May 18, 2007) and Malegaon explosions (September 8, 2006). 

Whatever the motive behind this statement, India’s Home Minister has been candid in acknowledging the injustice meted out to minorities and in exposing Hindu Terrorism. In January 2012 a month before the 5th anniversary of Samjhauta Express tragedy, startling revelations were made by RSS worker Kamal Chouhan who explained how Samjhauta Express bombs were brought to the capital; who had taken these bombs to railway station and sequence of events leading to the tragedy that killed 68 passengers, most of them Pakistani nationals. Chouhan, had reportedly said that he had no “regrets” over the Samjhauta bombing. He told interrogators that there were four “planters” who came in two separate groups to Old Delhi Railway station with four suitcases, each one carrying a bomb. Chouhan said that he was among 11 people who were given arms training at Bagli and also the “firing lessons” - organised by Sunil Joshi (now dead). Indian Home Minister’s statement read with the confession of Chauhan is reflective of the fact that Hindu Terrorism is to blame for many acts of terrorism in India.

Human Watch reports often point out about the violence against 150 million former untouchables and millions belonging to other minorities. Human rights organizations regularly publish reports about atrocities committed on Christians, Muslims and Dalits. Kashmiris are, however, the worst sufferers on earth, perhaps only second to Palestinians. In June 1984, Indian army had attacked the Golden Temple with Tanks and armored cars killing more than 2000 Sikhs though government count was 492.

In another episode, with more killings and subsequent flight of nearly 400 Christians who walked over 300 km through mountains and forests to reach the Young men’s Christian Association camp in Bhubaneswar to take refuge speaks volumes about the plight of Christians in Hindu-dominated India’s eastern state of Orissa. Despite condemnation of violence by Pope Benedict and Italian government’s reaction, Christians were being forced to change their religion in Orissa. Muslims are also being forced by Hindu extremists to convert to Hindu religion.

In many provinces, there is disaffection because of policies of the Indian government, and when pushed against the wall they resort to acts of terrorism, but India has been blaming Pakistan for every act of terrorism. In 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had acknowledged that home grown groups were now carrying out bombing in India. The facts narrated in Shinde’s statement about RSS-BJP nexus in promoting Hindu Terrorism have been confirmed by India’s Minister for External affairs Salman Khurshid. He backed home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s statement on Hindu terrorism saying it was based entirely on facts made available by investigative agencies. He, however, added that terror has no religion and color. “Let me just say this to you very clearly that our stated position, that is shared fully by the home minister and past home minister, is based entirely on facts as the investigative agencies have made available to the government,” Khurshid told reporters here.

It appears that there is nexus between extremists’ groups, Indian military and select group of print and electronic media who are out to project Pakistan in bad light. Such a dominant select group of Indian elite create situations in which innocent people are targeted while powerful media is used to exploit the situation to blame Pakistan. Indian media uses extremely derogatory and insulting language against Pakistan, posing it as a rogue state. The objective is to create anti-Pakistan feelings and maintain negative public emotions against Pakistan. Recent clashes between Indian and Pakistani soldiers on the Line of Control is a case in point. They not only martyred Pakistani soldiers but also propagated against Pakistan Army for having crossed the LoC and beheading two Indian soldiers. In fact, this was done to counter Pakistani protest on martyrdom of Pakistani soldiers by Indian attackers. On 16th January 2013, Indian News TV Channel reported that Raj Thakery an extremist Hindu leaders (MNS leaders) has said that recent killing of Indian soldiers at LoC was an act of Indian Government to divert the internal crisis.

He further said that Indian government has been stage-managing such acts to divert the attention of public from internal crisis, and once again Indian government has manipulated the incident to ease internal pressure. On the other hand, most media men in Pakistan keep mum and do not counter Indian media’s propaganda blitz. In fact, domestic media should have exposed India for having done it deliberately in order to divert the attention of its masses from the case of gang rape of a medial student, who succumbed to her wounds and the issue had the potential of becoming an anti-government movement. Pakistani media must tell the world the fact that on 6th January Indian forces had actually crossed the LoC and raided a Pakistani post, killing one of our soldiers and wounding another. Indian Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s statement accusing Hindu nationalists of promoting terrorism and blaming it on Muslims goes to prove Pakistani stance that internal fissures in Indian polity force India to target Pakistan. 
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By Mohammad Jamil


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LoC: Pakistan Solid Response

Against the backdrop of Indian attempt to malign Pakistan and mounting tension across the Line of Control, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has stated in categorical terms that Pakistan was the one pressing for amity and it was New Delhi that was upping the ante. “We don’t take political mileage through hostile narratives,” she said adding that Islamabad believed in keeping the doors open for dialogues rather than speaking through public and media.
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First two weeks of the New Year saw the worst spike of violence in the Kashmir region since Pakistan declared a unilateral cease fire in 2003. Recent report by “The Hindu” indicates that: ‘an Indian army unit had started building observation bunkers along the LoC; ceasefire agreement of 2003 bars such construction, but Indian commanders argued that the bunkers face out towards and posed no threat to Pakistan, Indians refused to stop the work; as the construction continued, Pakistan and India are persisting with exchange of shelling for weeks slowly degenerating into death of soldiers on both sides’.

Pakistan says three of its soldiers have been killed in firing by Indian troops since January 6. India in turn has accused Pakistani troops of killing two of its soldiers on January 8, and blamed that one dead body was mutilated. Pakistan has denied the responsibility for the attack as well as the allegation of mutilation, and has proposed an inquiry by a third party.

In this backdrop, various tiers of Indian leadership resorted to increasingly harsh tone towards Pakistan. In his first public reaction to the flare-up, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned that there “cannot be business as usual” with Pakistan. Speaking to reporters at a ceremony to mark India’s Army Day, he termed the killings, on January 8, a “barbaric act”. He said, “What has happened is unacceptable…Those responsible for this crime will have to be brought to book.” Indian army chief, General Bikram Singh, threatened to retaliate. He said that he had directed his military commanders to be “aggressive” in the face of provocations. India’s chief military commander in Kashmir also cranked up pressure on Pakistan, saying that flag officers meeting aimed at calming tensions was fruitless. Indian Air Force chief NAK Browne threatened “to look for some other options” to secure Pakistan’s compliance with the ceasefire. Defense Minister AK Antony described Pakistan’s conduct as a ‘turning point’.

Pakistan sought to lower the temperature by opting not to react to some of the hostile statements made by Indian leaders, including their army chief. India must be apportioned much of the share of the blame for deteriorating bilateral relations. However, there were saner voices as well which cautioned against “jingoism.” Indian Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said: “professional armies’ respect rules of engagement … transgressions are surmounted through tactical responses and not driven by jingoism”. He added that the mappings of tactical responses were best left to ‘professionals’ in an apparent disapproval of the Indian opposition’s strong military advice on the issue. Some commentators have accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government of “caving in” to hardliners: “Over the past few days, as an increasingly jingoistic clamour has been worked up in television studios and outside, the government has passed up every opportunity to underline the imperative of keeping the bilateral dialogue process separate,” opined an editorial in ‘Indian Express’.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar rightly warned against “upping the ante” between the two countries. “We see warmongering,” Khar said at the Asia Society session in New York. “It is deeply disturbing to hear statements which are upping the ante, where one politician is competing with the other to give a more hostile statement…The doors to dialogue are open…We need to meet at any level, I think we need to call each other, we need to become mature countries which know how to handle their truth.” Khar denied Indian accusations that Pakistani forces had beheaded one of two soldiers that India says were killed. She said an inquiry had found “no evidence” of the deaths. Pakistan’s foreign minister proposed a meeting with her Indian counterpart to recommit to the cease-fire. Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, “We will await the prime minister’s direction in this regard…India was hopeful that Pakistan had understood the “strong message” of the prime minister….Talks have not frozen between India and Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, at the professional level, the two Armies have successfully defused the tensions following the talks between the Director General Military Operations (DGMOs) from the both sides. Spokesperson for the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said: “Both sides agreed on the need to reduce tension on the LoC.” Indian Army also confirmed the development. “An understanding has been arrived at between the two DGMOs to de-escalate the situation along the LoC,” Indian Army spokesperson Jagdeep Dahiya said. He added that Pakistan’s DGMO Major General Ashfaq Nadeem said strict instructions had been passed not to violate the ceasefire. Dahiya pledged that Indian troops stationed along the LoC would also not breach the ceasefire forged between the two countries in 2003. “No fresh incidents of firing or violation of the ceasefire agreement have been reported from the Line of Control,” Rajesh Kalia, the spokesman for the Indian army’s Northern Command, told the media.

Reaction to the event indicates how fragile the peace overtures between Pakistan and India are; it has also demonstrated the relevance of resolution of Kashmir dispute to the maintenance of durable peace between the two countries. 

Experience has it that though bilateral initiatives could lead to substantial progress; these processes are often liable to instant un-raveling. India and Pakistan have recently made significant progress in engaging each other on important issues such as the Siachen glacier and Sir Creek, improving trade and economic relations, developing energy-sector cooperation, and greatly liberalizing visa regimes. 

Sports and cultural exchanges had just begun to create confidence in the viability of peaceful co-existence. In this context the LoC clashes couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The facts surrounding the deaths of Indian soldiers are still disputed and the initial Indian claim that one of them was beheaded now seems to be incorrect. 

Yet, elements in the Indian government and media exhilarated anti-Pakistan sentiment to such an extent that a souring in relations was inevitable.  

Hockey boys and artists visiting India were sent back packing in a hurry as if war had started. Operationalization of much touted visa regime for the senior citizens has been withheld on flimsy grounds and Pakistan Women cricketers visit to play for the World Cup in India is in doldrums.

This is a moment for sobriety, leadership, prudence and statesmanship, not frenzied responses and beating of war drums. Indian response to this trivial incident has indeed been erratic. India should muster the political will to settle the Kashmir dispute in line with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. In the presence of this tipping point, practicability of all efforts towards durable peace between the two countries would remain questionable.
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  By  Air Commodore (R) Khalid Iqbal





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LoC: Indian baseless allegations

The current Indian unprovoked firing on LoC should also be seen in the light of her covert design against Pakistan. It would not be wrong in saying that India has accelerated covert war because adverse security environment in the region. She is exploiting and fueling the foreign sponsored militancy in Balochistan, Karachi and other parts of Pakistan.
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On 16 January 2012, Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of Pakistan and India established contact with each other on hotline and decided to tone down the tension between the deployed troops on the Line of Communication (LoC). Meanwhile Hina Rabbani Khar, Foreign Minister of Pakistan has also spoken to her Indian counterpart to play his positive role for reduction of tension on Kashmir front. There have been three deliberate violations by Indian troops within the five days, which has given a waft to the ceasefire of 2003 along the 740 Km LoC.

In fact, concerning aspect of increasing hostility is that, if not tamed then it might lead to global disaster since both the states are holding more than 100 nuclear arsenals each. Moreover, they have also fought four major and minor wars. Similar kind of concern has also been shown by the world community and superpowers. On 17 January U.S. foreign office and its ambassador at Islamabad also emphasized that India and Pakistan should avoid border confrontation and resolve the issues bilaterally. Now question arises that whether the establishment of peace between India and Pakistan will be possible without resolving the real bone of contention i.e. “Kashmir”.

Past history reveals that New Delhi has been stressing to strengthen the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) with Islamabad to normalize the relations between two capitals, but she always shown reluctance in discussing the Kashmir and water problems as major issues between two capitals. She has never given any positive signal of taking a step forward for settling the Kashmir conflict rather preferred to put it aside on the name of continuation of peace process.

Anyhow, the recent tension escalated when Indian soldiers crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir on January 6, this year and attacked a Pakistani check post in Haji Pir setor, killing one Pakistani soldier and injuring many others. Besides, Indian troops shot dead another Pakistani soldier at Hotspring on the LoC on January 10.

On 16 January, Indian troops again resorted to cease fire violation and carried out unprovoked firing at the Line of Control in Hot Spring and Jandrot sectors from 2200 to 2300 Hours. Resultantly, Naik Ashraf embraced Shahadat at Kundi Post. It may be mentioned that Naik Ashraf is survived by a wife and three daughters. He was the fifth soldier reported to have been killed in Kashmir in recent weeks but politicians on both sides have said the skirmishes should not derail a bilateral peace process.

In this respect, the Pakistani Foreign Office summoned the Indian High Commissioner and lodged a “strong protest on the repeated, unacceptable and unprovoked attacks on Pakistani soldiers by the Indian army.” The Pakistani foreign secretary reiterated the offer to hold an independent inquiry through the UN Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). However, India has rejected Pakistani offer of independent investigation through third party. Her Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne stated on January 12 in threatening tone that India will be forced to consider other options, if ceasefire violations continue from the Pakistan side across the LoC.

In the same context, on January 14, Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh threatened to hit back Pakistan for the alleged killing of two soldiers in fighting near the border of the disputed region of Kashmir, saying he had asked his commanders there to be aggressive in the face of provocation.

On the same day, senior leader Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajnath Singh asked the Manmohan Singh-led government to stop all dialogue and CBMs with Pakistan due to the brutal beheadings of Indian soldiers and recall its High Commissioner in Islamabad in the wake of entire nation being angry over the alleged ceasefire violations. Moreover, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also demonstrated unjustified annoyance towards Pakistan at different forums while discussing the ongoing violations at LoC.

It is also added here that as anger in India continues to rise, Pakistani singers have canceled concerts in Delhi and Mumbai, Pakistani field hockey players scheduled to participate in a private league have been sent back to the country and a question mark looms over the participation of the Pakistani women’s cricket team in a tournament in India later this month. Delhi has also postponed implementation of the decision of easing the visa restrictions on elderly citizens.

While in order to justify its open belligerence; India concocted a story of accusing Pakistan of killing and beheading its two soldiers. In this regard the Former President and General retired Pervez Mushrraf while giving an interview to Indian channel rejected Indian allegations and categorically said that Pakistani Army cannot carry out such a ruthless act of brutality since the army is a disciplined force and cannot act like an African Army. He also stressed that Indian media is in the habit of crafting groundless stories against Pakistan He very rightly said that Pakistan has the capability to give prompt and timely response against any sort of aggressions.

General (R) Pervez Muhsarraf Interview to Times Now Channel:

Pakistan’s civil and army spokesmen have too denied Indian baseless allegations. In short, Indian top officials, the opposition party and media have repeatedly been launching a blame game to distort the image of Pak Army and Pakistan. In the meantime, while referring to the recent breakthroughs in bilateral ties Hina Rabbani Khar has pointed out in the wake of Indian propaganda that she did not see the recent violations of the LoC ceasefire derailing or setting back the peace process with India, explaining that the government and people of Pakistan were committed to normalizing relations with India including steps to normalize trade relations and a new visa agreement.

Whereas, India’s reaction remained only to make noises with the assistance of its media to foment poisonous propaganda so as to show to the world that Pak Army is involved in violations along the disputed border of Kashmir, and Pakistan intends to derail the CBMs.

Regrettably, our media anchors are so engaged in manipulating other controversial issues that the incident of indiscriminate firing on Pakistani soldiers at LoC could hardly get any coverage on our media. Countries media commentators have totally failed in countering Indian propaganda campaign in this respect.

In fact, Indian setting aside of peaceful negotiations under the title of composite dialogues clearly indicates that Delhi is not serious in settling down the issues like spreading of terrorism in Balochistan, Siachen, Wullar Barrage, water, Kashmir and Sir Creek. Notably, the said issues were touched upon in length between India’s External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khar in September 2012. Sir Creek which sits in the Rann of Kutch marshlands is the 96 km narrow piece of water between India’s Gujarat state and Pakistan’s Sindh province is sovereign part of Pakistan’s territory.

The current Indian unprovoked firing on LoC should also be seen in the light of her covert design against Pakistan. It would not be wrong in saying that India has accelerated covert war because adverse security environment in the region. She is exploiting and fueling the foreign sponsored militancy in Balochistan, Karachi and other parts of Pakistan.

Concluding, I would say that India has adopted an inflexible and dubious approach in resolving the issues with the regional and neighbouting countries. Now it is the time that Pakistan should ask India to resolve the issue of Kashmir on priority. In this context, world community and the global powers should realize that Kashmir is a flash point and real bone of contentions between two countries. Not resolving of Kashmir issue can triggered anytime and lead us to another global nuclear war. Thus the issue of Kashmir should be settled through negotiation and mediation immediately so that tension between two South Asian countries could be diminished permanently.
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By Zaheerul Hassan


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