All the wrong claims

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Houston got carried away by the praise heaped on him by US President Trump.

Modi made an attempt to equate 9/11 and 26/11, saying that those who carried out those attacks came from the same country. Without naming Pakistan he said “Some people have problems with what India is doing. Those people are not able to tackle their country. They have made their country the place of hate. These people are those who spread terrorism”. In the same vein he tried to justify the scrapping of Article 370 of the Indian constitution by saying that the situation was being exploited by separatists and terrorists.

One really wonders at the audacity of Modi to make such false claims about both incidents. It is a matter of record and an irrefutable reality that the 9/11 attack was orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and none of those who executed it was a Pakistani citizen. And Al-Qaeda was not based in Pakistan.

It sounds really bizarre when a person like Modi, who was responsible for the massacre of Muslims in India, and has been responsible for state terrorism against the people of IOK besides sending out agents to Pakistan to foment insurgency, raises an accusing finger towards Pakistan. The arrest of Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav and his confession of involvement in fomenting insurgency in Balochistan and acts of terrorism on behalf of RAW is a ranting testimony of Indian involvement in acts of terrorism.

It is pertinent to mention that even the International Court of Justice, while announcing its decision on Kulbhushan case, rejected all remedies sought by India which included the annulment of the military court decision, securing his release and ordering his return to India. It clearly was an endorsement of the facts of the case regarding the involvement of Kalbhushan in acts of terrorism within Pakistan. The court only ordered allowing consular access to him, asking Pakistan to ensure effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences within the judicial system of Pakistan.

Unfortunately Modi is encouraged to portray Pakistan as an exporter of terrorism by the indifference of those countries which see the entire scenario through the prism of their strategic and economic interests in the region.

Modi’s claim that he changed the special status of IOK because terrorists were exploiting the situation is absolutely fallacious. The Pulwama incident which he often refers to corroborate his claims was actually carried out by a local freedom fighter and not by any terrorist from Pakistan. The credentials of the attacker being a native are a proven fact. The people of Kashmir are fighting for their legitimate right of self-determination as enshrined in the UN resolutions. The freedom movement in IOK is purely an indigenous movement which began in 1989.

The indigenous character of the movement has been acknowledged by even Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat who in an interview with Economic Times last June said “peace should be given a chance in Kashmir. I am in favour of dialogue to break the cycle of terror groups recruiting more Kashmiri youth. The issue is that a lot of locals are joining militancy. We kill them and more will join. Infiltration can be controlled but this cycle of recruitment of local youth can go on and on. Let us give peace a chance and see”.

The people of Kashmir were forced to pick up arms in 1989 to win their right after having been frustrated by the Indian intransigence to give them their promised right to self-determination. According to figures compiled by different human rights organizations including Amnesty International, since January 1989 till August 2019, the Indian security forces have killed 95,438 people including 7128 custodial killings, gang-raped 11,140 women and destroyed 109,409 homes. Reports compiled by the UNHCR, Amnesty International and a group of UK parliamentarian reveal harrowing stories of human rights abuses in IOK by the Indian security forces.

The unilateral action by Modi government on August 5 to scrap Articles 370 and Article 35-A of the Indian constitution, ending the special status of the state and paving the way for changing its demographic features is not only a well-conceived plan to subjugate the people of Kashmir but is also a part of a bigger scheme to target Muslims all over India to realise the objectives of ‘Hindutva’ It also repudiates the UN resolutions on the issue, which is an affront to the world body as well as the international community. The move has also nullified all the bilateral agreements between Pakistan and India, including the Simla Agreement.

The humanitarian crisis unfolding in IOK in the backdrop of the Indian action and the issue pertaining to right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir are matters of international concern and not an internal issue of India. It is therefore obligatory on the UN and the world community, particularly the big powers, to prove their humanitarian credentials by asking India to lift curfew in the valley and also pressurize it to allow the people of Kashmir to exercise their right of self-determination.

The emerging scenario is fraught with great dangers and if the international community and the UN do not act now in recognizing the ground realities it could have disastrous consequence for the region and the world at large because it has brought the two nuclear powers face to face with each other. Humanitarian considerations must take precedence over self-defined strategic and economic interests.

The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: ashpak10@gmail.com