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Friday March 29, 2024

Is held Kashmir about to erupt?

By Waqar Ahmed
January 03, 2020

The Hindutva ideology has finally divided India into two separate camps and the deadly fire New Delhi had lit in occupied Kashmir by revoking Article 370 on August 5 has now spread across the whole of India.

The supporters of secular India are protesting against the highly discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act, which targets Muslims and other minorities. On the other hand, the Modi government is committing ceasefire violations across the Line of Control to divert the world attention from growing internal turmoil.

Top Pakistani leaders have revealed several times recently that India has cut the fence at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary at several points and installed Brahmos missiles that are aimed at Pakistan.

The Pakistani leadership has informed the world about possible Indian strikes time and again, while Islamabad had written the seventh letter to the United Nations Security Council about the worsening situation.

The chances of a false flag operation at the LoC have drastically risen as India comes under pressure and could try to divert the world attention from its growing internal strife and atrocities of its forces in held Jammu and Kashmir.

The world watches as there is no political consensus or sincere commitment of BJP to bring in peace and reconciliation with Pakistan. On the other hand, New Delhi continues to blame Islamabad for stage-managed terror incidents in the Valley.

The Balakot strike was a failure in all sense and one hopes better sense now prevails in New Delhi. But it could turn out to be a false hope as the situation at the LoC and Working Boundary show.

On the other hand, the killings by Indian troops of Kashmiri youth continues while most young men are killed during cordon and search operations. The Indian police and military routinely claim that the youth they killed are militants and who were killed during clashes with the troops. The killing of Burhan Wani by Indian forces was a major mistake.

For the Kashmiri youth, Wani is a symbol of freedom and a big inspiration for all youngsters in held Kashmir. Wani was forced by Indian forces to join militancy at the tender age of 15 when his brother was brutally beaten up by Indian forces and then subsequently killed. In the same way, the detention and harassment of Kashmiri political leaders at the hands of Indian forces goes on. The situation in held Kashmir has become an international issue. Not a single Kashmiri leader is supporting the Indian narrative on Kashmir and almost all of them are behind bars.In fact, the whole of India has turned into the held valley after large-scale protests in almost all the Indian states against the Citizenship Act exposed Indian extremism and the advancing Hindutva. Ten of millions of people in India now realise the alarming developments in the country. Human rights organisations and international media, who are covering the protests over the controversial anti-Muslim citizenship law, are beginning to see the end of secular ethics in the country. Meanwhile, the new chief of Indian defence staff General Bipin Rawat is now openly talking in support of BJP narrative. He has made the fears of Indian armed forces veterans come true who had expressed concern at the politicisation of the Indian armed forces. Maj. Gen.

Vombatkere had told The Hindu newspaper before the Indian polls last year that a request to the Indian president was made "to advise all political parties not to use the army in furtherance of their political agenda as it will affect its apolitical character and adversely affect national security." In a letter dated April 11, 2019, some 156 veterans, including eight former Indian chiefs had appealed to the supreme commander of the armed forces, the President of India Ram Nath Kovind, to “ensure the secular and apolitical character of our armed forces is preserved” and direct all political parties to desist from using the military in any manner for political purposes or to further their political agendas. But the chief of Indian defence staff is now ensuring that India and its armed forces shed the cover of secularism and embrace communal agendas and character.