The Chanakyian mindset impacting India's strategic thinking is not something new, but with Hindutva-driven BJP in power it seems to have acquired high priority, as manifested in a number of false-flag operations conducted by its forces. There was this Ganga 'hijacking' in 1971, an excuse to deny Pakistan flight right over India to reach East Pakistan. In March 2000, when the BJP was in power, the Indian agencies staged false-flag massacre of 38 Sikhs in Chattisinghpura on the occasion of Bill Clinton's visit. The Uri was a Pathankot-like false-flag operation. Now it is the killing of seven Amarnath pilgrims, and this raises suspicion that it is yet another operation of that kind to discredit Kashmiris' uprising against Indian occupation. As expected, even before proper investigation could be conducted, the Indian authorities made the claim that two of the suspected attackers were Pakistanis. The charge was rebutted by the Muslim leadership across Occupied Kashmir. In addition to the widespread condemnation of these killings over social media platforms, the Kashmiris held a sit-in in which several civil society members, human rights activists, journalists and students participated. Given the suspicion that it is a false-flag operation by Indian troops, the human rights group Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society has called for a probe by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR). But that's what New Delhi would not like, as shown by its abiding rejection of the Indian forces' ceasefire violations being monitored by UNMOGIP, the United Nations Military Observers' Group in India and Pakistan. Indian ceasefire violations are on the rise: India has committed 542 ceasefire violations so far this year with 18 killings consonant with the uprising in Occupied Kashmir. "It is paradoxical and farcical that India on one hand alleges infiltration as an excuse for its ceasefire violations and at the same time prohibits UNMOGIP access," the Pakistan Foreign Office notes.
Be it ceasefire violations or false-flag attacks, India hasn't succeeded in diverting world attention from its atrocities in Occupied Kashmir. There is growing concern in the international community over the deteriorating situation on the Line of Control due to India's belligerent posturing. China has offered to "play a constructive role to improve the relations between Pakistan and India." To quote the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, "the conflict between the two countries along the Line of Control in Kashmir is neither conducive to their own stability nor development nor for regional peace and tranquillity." While Pakistan has welcomed the Chinese offer India has rejected it, insisting it is "ready to have a dialogue ... but in a bilateral framework." And this lame excuse by New Delhi: "All of us know that the heart of the matter is cross-border terrorism perpetrated on India, including Jammu and Kashmir." In other words, a few Kashmiris "from across the border" have forced India to station half-a-million troops in Kashmir, but despite this troop strength the uprising by Kashmiris refuses to die down. There must be few reasonable minds who accept this tattered old excuse.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017
