In his I-Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to
Pakistan violating human rights in Balochistan and Gilgit, the latter a
part of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was preceded by his recalling how
people in those two areas were appreciating his government’s handling
of the violence in the Valley.
The interpretation by a section of
the Opposition that the reference to Balochistan was playing into
Pakistan’s hands, as it has been alleging Indian interference in the
strife-torn province to foster the anti-Pakistan movement there, can
only be termed as born out of jealousy on their part. Such jealousies
are part of political skullduggery and could be ignored.
What
cannot be ignored is the inability of some of the critics to appreciate
the Prime Minister’s counter strategy when Pakistan is now intensifying
its efforts to get international interest revived in Kashmir. The
National Investigation Agency has, in its hold, a Pakistan-trained
terrorist and he has revealed the untiring efforts of that country to
keep the pot boiling in Kashmir. It is true that the stir over the
elimination of a Kashmir militant leader Wani has continued over a whole
month. More deaths are taking place daily. That helps Pakistan raise
human interest issues — a sure shot to reawaken international interest
in the Valley in the name of violation of human rights. Even after over
30 days of the stir, that interest has not been seen to be reawakened.
So,
the next strategy from Islamabad is to invite India for talks on the
various events concerning Kashmir disturbances even as Pakistan itself
is keeping the pot boiling, sending trained infiltrators across the
Line of Control. It’s a ploy to hoodwink the world to believe that the
violence in the Valley is an entirely local phenomenon.
Every step
to stop infiltration is used by Pakistani agents to provoke residents
into protesting against ‘Indian atrocities’ against ‘innocents.’ The
resulting tension is an opportunity to gain one more ‘martyr’ for the
cause and then work up a high stream of people to defy the curfew to set
off a fresh wave of protest and violence. New Delhi has taken a
consistent stand that any resumption of talks would be only if, first
and foremost, it takes up the issue of Pakistani infiltration of
terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir. On this topic, the assurances from
the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have never gone beyond
the writing on the paper. As our Prime Minister earlier indicated, the
Indian government is quite aware that Sharif is not a free agent
presiding over his government.
Last December, after our Prime
Minister flew to Lahore and attended Nawaz Sharif’s family wedding
function at his ancestral home, the planned talks in January were
thwarted by the terrorist attack on our airbase in Pathankot. The
Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif and PM Nawaz Sharif have both been to
Washington in the last 10 months but found no takers in the US
government and the US Congress as well as Pentagon for Pakistan’s pleas.
This is in sharp contrast to what it used to be between Washington and
Islamabad till five years back.
The different parts of
Washington’s administration and the executive and the Congress all have
now blocked the sale of F-16 aircraft that Pakistan wanted. This
blocking is the message that comes from the entire US administration to
Pakistan. In such a context, it is no wonder that Islamabad and its
powerful military that has an equal say in the country’s policy has
rushed to hang on to Beijing for support. To bolster its strategy of
seeking to tire India out in Kashmir, the only line left for Pakistan is
to intensify terrorism and advance the jihadi ideology to drum up
support among a section of the Kashmiri Muslims. Using social media, it
has sought to magnify the appeal of the slain militant Burhan Wani, the
so-called poster boy of local militants in the Valley, ignoring so many
civilians that these militants have killed over the last few years.
The
Prime Minister reminded his Kashmiri listeners of this wrong appeal of
such militants, being peddled by the jihadis, when he recalled from the
ramparts of the Red Fort with dramatic power the killing of
schoolchildren in Peshawar some time back. It is also a corrective to
Pakistan, which is talking of human rights violations in Kashmir, and
the sort of emotional bonding it is seeking to create with murderers of
innocent children to whom this so-called martyr Wani belongs.
Both
in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, there is a simmering
discontent over lack of democracy and ill-treatment of the majority Sufi
population. Even otherwise, the Sunni jihadis have, with almost daily
bombings, turned Pakistan into hell. And the civilian government seems
to be powerless.
In such a situation, any negotiation with the
Sharif government would be a fruitless engagement. Even the theory,
fashionable among some of our own academia and peaceniks, that by
engaging the civilian administration there, India can tilt the power
balance in favour of Nawaz Sharif does not seem to be logical. There
could be no break-through in India-Pakistan negotiations so long as the
power balance in that country remains heavily weighted in favour of the
military-mullah combine and Pakistan continues to be under the sway of
the divisive Islamic mindset.
By Balbir Punj, a former BJP MP and a Delhi-based commentator
punjbalbir@gmail.com
Courtesy: The New Indian Express
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